Thank you all for your help. I ended up deciding on an owl and an acorn. Making two now because there are going to be around 30 kids, one wouldn't be enough for them all to get a couple good wacks at, nor hold enough candy.

I was going to make the owl and horn of plenty. But all the paints I could find were brown, tan, and a tiny tube of burnt orange.

Just finished the cardboard shells now working on the paper mache. My room looks like newspaper confetti canon went off. LOL