I hate spending money on Halloween. Halloween is not my favorite holiday. I honestly am scared of being scared. Before our kids were born, my husband and I would go out to dinner or go get a hotel at a nearby city just to stay away from Halloween (my husband actually loves Halloween, he was just a good sport). I struggle every year trying to find a balance between scarey and fun.
If I don’t like Halloween, why do I spend money on it? It’s for the kids, it’s for the kids, it’s for the kids…. I have to keep telling myself that.
Here are a couple of tips for saving money on Halloween:
- How about some boo reuse? Head to your local secondhand store to find a secondhand scare! Find donated Halloween decor for only a ghost of the original price. Popular places to shop include Savers, Salvation Army, Goodwill, and church and community thrift shops.
- Hit up some end of summer, 1st of fall yard sales.
- Watch for damaged items at the store. Costumes that are missing pieces, ceramic decor that is chipped or fabric/plastic decor that have tears can usually have the prices negotiated down.
- Don’t forget off-price retailers like T.J.Maxx, Ross and Marshalls. They are great sources for discounted Halloween decor and even some costume components.
- For decor and goody bags there is no better outlet than the dollar store. You can even buy pieces there to craft into a fun DIY project or your own.
- If your son loves baseball. For this Halloween, he could dress up in his very own baseball uniform that he wears for his travel baseball games. If your daughter loves ballet, and she already has a tutu, use that and perhaps add some fun color to her hair or a little sparkle to her nails.
- Host or attend (that means talk your friend who never says no into hosting) a costume exchange.
- Faux moss, and old sheet, window decals or black spray paint are inexpensive ways to decorate or to add a little something to your DIY Costumes.
- Don’t carve all your pumpkins before they hatch… Ok I was just trying to be funny there. Real pumpkins will only last a few weeks at most once they have been carved and gutted. Preserve them a little longer by coating the inside with petroleum jelly. This way you can decorate earlier in the month. Put some pie pumpkins out that are not carved and use them in November for pie. I saw something cute once where they didn’t carve the pumpkins they just used acrylic craft paint and then washed the paint off after Halloween and spray painted them white an built a snow man. Look – pumpkins can get your through 3 holidays!
