What are ‘boo baskets’? Expensive new Halloween trend puts money on cash-strapped parents

Boo baskets are a treat for kids — but they’re a trick for parents.

Exhausted moms and dads are hitting on a new Halloween trend that requires them to gift their offspring a basket full of the spooky season’s goodies.

While the concept of a “boo basket” started a few years ago, it has now become a hot Halloween phenomenon thanks to TikTok and other social media platforms.

One distraught parent took to Reddit to complain that Halloween was over the top, writing, “There are now costumes, trick or treating, fall festivals, hayrides, pumpkin carving, corn mazes, the state fair — do we really need to add more?”

“Absolutely no hate if you enjoy doing this for your kids, because I know I definitely do [over the top] in other fields. It just feels off to me.”

Many parents in the comments felt the same way.

“It’s not just you. I have made it a personal goal not to get caught up in this shit. Materialism is not what makes memories,” quipped one. “My child will be happy without all this crap. I don’t want to teach him that he always NEEDS or GETS things.”

“It’s all about spending more money so we can Instagram it to say we did it,” wrote another.

“I personally think we can make it memorable without buying all the crap that’s going to be thrown away anyway. I’m going to stick to my normal traditions and carve pumpkins and go trick-or-treating like I did when I was a kid.” stated another parent.

However, some said the new trend was hard to pull off.

If you are the recipient of a boo basket (described as “getting boo’d”) you are required to collect your gift basket to give to another person.

“The person who breaks the chain because they can’t afford to reply or don’t have time (or other reasons) should feel like crap,” someone noted.

This puts financial and time pressures on already stressed parents who are struggling to make ends meet amid rising costs.

“It sounds fun, sure, and I have nothing against spreading holiday cheer to other kids, but in my mind, having to make a boo basket is just another task to complete on my Halloween to-do list, which is already endless,” one mom wrote to Parents.com.

“Now, I’m off to the Dollar Store to try to create a bucket to compete with what my kids got that evening.”

However, not everyone hates the idea. One mother told Today.com that she is bitter about the new tradition.

“I like boo baskets because my kids have fun with them,” Rachel Zawada of Charlestown, Massachusetts, told the media while running errands for a school fall festival. “But it feels like one more thing on an ever-growing October to-do list.”

Chrissy Wade Roach of Penfield, New York, loves the tradition, telling Today that “Boo Baskets are just one example of the ways communities come together. Plus, I love a good theme!”