How To Celebrate Halloween On A Really Tight Budget
Halloween on a budget…Is that even possible, these days?
One of the scariest things I’ve read recently is how much Americans spent on Halloween, last year. Are you ready for this? According to the National Retail Federation we spent almost 9 billion dollars, last year…on Halloween!!!! What’s more, is it’s expected to top 9 billion, this year! That’s over $85 per household! I just can’t wrap my head around that! Looking at those numbers, you might think it’s impossible to celebrate Halloween on a budget! It’s one night a year to dress up and fill your kids full of sugary candy! I don’t mean to sound like a Scrooge, but that’s a crazy amount, especially when so many Americans are just trying to make ends meet, these days.
I know we, as parents, want to make this holiday fun and special, but you don’t need to sacrifice a weeks worth of groceries, that would feed your family, to do it.
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How to Celebrate Halloween On a Budget
First of all, make sure you HAVE a budget for Halloween. Don’t try to wing it and hope you won’t spend too much. It’s much easier not to over spend if you set your budget and pull the cash out of the bank. If you go to the store for anything Halloween related, take the cash and leave the debit card behind.
Get crafty…
When my kids were much younger, I looked at this occasion as an reason to get my crafty side on. From costumes to decor to candy, I looked at this as an opportunity and a challenge to produce the maximum amount of fun and memories for the least amount of money. To this day, my children will still say, “Mom, do you remember when I went trick or treating as a werewolf or a zombie or a cheerleader or whatever it may have been. I can’t remember everything that they went as, but they sure can! And the majority of the time, we spent little or nothing on the costumes.
There are countless ways to have a blast and celebrate Halloween on a budget and I would love to tell you how we did just that!
Costumes
We’ll start with the most obvious Halloween expense, which is the costume. I can honestly say, that I don’t believe we ever purchased a store bought costume. We usually went to the closet first. Old or out-of-style items were what we looked for. It was a good excuse to do a much needed clean out.
One year, I did buy a werewolf kit from a dollar store, for my son, which contained some glue on fur, a set of plastic teeth and some fake blood. He wore a black t-shirt with one of my husband’s shirts and I added some makeup from my supply and viola! His costume was awesome! My girls also got creative with their costumes. In the pic below, my oldest daughter went as a “hippy” (all items she already had) and my youngest used a twirler costume that belonged to her sister. The only thing that cost was the werewolf makeup from the dollar store and, you can bet they had a blast!
Some other ideas for costumes might be to swap with friends. Maybe their kids have outgrown last years costumes. It may be used, but it’ll be new to your kids!
Check out the thrift stores!
This is probably my next favorite place to look, next to my closet, because thrift stores are like a treasure hunt, because you never know what you might find.
Another idea is to find a cute pair of pajamas, maybe with their favorite cartoon character and let them trick or treat in them. I love this idea because it’s practical. For one night, it’s a costume and then they can actually use it again and again. It kills two birds with one stone!
While it is fun and extremely frugal to make your kids costumes, if you’re short on time or if you don’t have a crafty side, Amazon has some awesome costume choices for children (and adults) at great prices!
Candy & treats
If you’re not careful, candy can totally blow your budget out of the water. The best thing to do here is plan ahead. Buying in bulk is probably the most economical way to save some cash.
Next, stay away from chocolate. It can be expensive. You can get some name brand chocolate candy at the Dollar Tree, but the bags are not very large. You could buy a couple of bags and mix it in with the bulk candy. I would do this sometimes and dole the chocolate out sparingly (1-2 bars) to each trick or treater, giving more of the bulk candy.
Be sure to watch the coupon ads that come in the Sunday newspaper, starting in September. If you buy name brand, this is a great way to save. You can also go online for coupons.
You don’t always have to give candy, either. My kids have received, pencils, erasers, pencil toppers, fake vampire teeth, glow sticks, bubbles, stickers, spider rings, money/change, play doh, little bouncy balls, just to name a few. Try to think outside of the box. It doesn’t always have to be sugar.
Decor
I love decorating my home for the Fall Season. To save money on this, I used artwork that my kids made in school or I would let them create something at home when there were days of boredom. Some construction paper, newspaper stuffing and an old sheet will make a great ghost!
On several occasions, we made adorable scarecrows for the front porch! The head was made from an old pillowcase stuffed with newspaper. We then used an old work shirt, an old pair of bluejeans and some boots or tennis shoes stuffed with newspaper, for the rest of the body. Top him off with an old straw hat, a draw on face and Shazam! It’s amazing how creative they would get!
When I did purchase decorations, I would get things that I could reuse year after year and ALWAYS bought clearance, usually right after the holiday. Halloween decor is just something I could never bring myself to pay full price for.
Best places to shop for decor…
One of my favorite places to get cheap Fall/Halloween decor is…you guessed it! The Dollar Tree! If you are limited on funds, you can’t beat that place. From their beautiful Fall flowers (which I have a post on how to make a beautiful DIY Fall Centerpiece) to their awesome, creepy decorations, you can find all of it there!
Hobby Lobby is also another favorite store for discounted decor. It’s usually 40% off prior to the holiday and after, it can go to 80%-90% off.
I love nothing better than to decorate my front porch with pumpkins. Usually the grocery stores are the cheapest options for this colorful gourd, instead of pumpkin patches. I know it’s fun to take the kiddos to these outdoor markets, but be careful. Some charge entry fees and may end up costing way more than just going to the store. If it’s pics your wanting for your little goblins, buy your pumpkins at the store, find a pretty backdrop and take your own.
Entertainment
There are so many fun, cheap or free ways to have a bundle of fun for Halloween, even with a low budget and here’s a few ideas:
- Carve a pumpkin – I usually saved this until a day or two before Halloween. We live in the south, so humidity tends to be high. We didn’t want the pumpkin to be mildewed by Halloween, so we waited, thereby creating a tradition for the kids and lots of excitement leading up to it.
- Church Fall Festivals – Just about every church does this and they provide tons of free fun for kids and adults, alike.
- Rent scary movies from Netflix (age appropriate, of course) – Older kids might be able to handle Michael Myers, but you don’t want your younger children anywhere near the tv if this is on. Personally, I’ve never watched any of the Halloween movies. They’re too scary for me, still.
- Buy movies from Amazon! You could opt for Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Sleepy Hollow or It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown… just to name a few. Again, you can find these great movies and more, at Amazon and their prices are hard to beat! Plus…you’ll have them in your movie repertoire to watch year after year!
- Throw a Halloween potluck – Invite a few friends over and pool your efforts for food and drink.
- Head to the country for a hayride!
- Let your kids bob for apples – My daughter’s birthday is right before Halloween, so this was one of the party activities for her guest. Those kids were a hoot! A bag of apples, a washtub and some water was all that was needed. We never laughed so hard and they loved it!
- Go to a haunted house!
- Check out your local Chamber of Commerce/Community calendar for free local Halloween/Fall events.
Final thoughts…
You can celebrate Halloween on a budget and still make it a fun, memorable event for your family with just a little pre planning and some good, old fashioned creativity! It should be about enjoying time with family and friends and should never give you nightmares over sacrificing you budget!
What are some frugal ways you have saved money for Halloween or Fall? Be sure to leave me a comment!
Also, be sure to subscribe to Love To Frugal so you never miss a post!…And if you’re needing help setting up a budget, check out my posts on 8 Simple Steps for Setting Up a Budget The Easy Way! and How To Use The Half Payment Method.
