[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Igv6tgF9nI]Halloween is as much about decorations and candy as it is about trying to one-up friends and neighbors with your creativity and costumes. It is a great time to take a little risk, spend some time with friends trick-or-treating, and make some fun memories.
But it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. The trend to go “all out” seems to be increasing every year, but don’t let that fool you into thinking you need to spend more and more each year. Here are some ways to stay in on the fun while keeping more money in your pocket:
- Costume Swap With Friends – There’s no need to buy a new costume every year. Get together with some friends and see if you can go through a bin of some of their old costumes from previous years. You never know, you may just find that perfect costume at a perfect price… FREE!
- Shop Used – Look for deals on places like Craigslist and eBay. More people than you realize put their costumes up for sale instead of storing or pitching them. Also check out your local Freecycle online to see if anyone is giving them away.
- Go Homemade – Are you searching for customized makeup to perfect that scary look? Avoid buying expensive makeup and make it yourself. Use cornstarch, syrup, shortening, food coloring, and gelatin. Combined with a plethora of free instructions that can easily be found online, this homemade strategy will cost you pennies on the dollar compared to buying the prepackaged equivalent at a store.
- Use Items You Already Own – You may have much of what you need for your Halloween decorations already in your possession. Items such as styrofoam, cardboard, milk jugs, and solid-colored sweats will go a long way towards completing your home’s scary look. Add a few cotton balls for pennies each and you have a fantastic looking spider web to place anywhere your heart desires.
Bottom line, you don’t have to have a lot of money to have a lot of fun this Halloween. Creativity goes a lot farther than money alone. Frugality plus creativity will increase the fun and lower the expense, leaving more money in your pockets for the upcoming holiday season.