Did you know that Halloween is a billion dollar industry? It literally is the kick-off to all of the shopping that must be done at the end of each year. According to Forbes, people will spend $2.6 billion dollars on purchasing costumes this year, $2.08 billion on candy, and $1.96 billion on décor.
Who says you can’t go broke celebrating Halloween?
So whether you just really get into celebrating Halloween, or you have a kid in public school and you’ve been assigned to help with the annual Halloween party, you may be looking for tips on how to do Halloweeb on a budget.
Well, that is exactly what I have for you.
Halloween on a Budget
Here are my tips for doing Halloween on a tight-budget this year:
1. Decorations…Don’t Buy Them, DIY Them
Decorating for Halloween is something people love to do. The scarier the better. Yet, we spend all kinds of money trying to make our (otherwise beautiful) homes into a place of gloom and fright.
Well, why spend a fortune to do that! Instead, create your own DIY decorations. You can make your front lawn look like a graveyard with this idea.
Or you can make your own scary cob webs using this tutorial. Don’t think that you have to go buy all of these items pre-made. In fact, you can even find great décor ideas with stuff from your local dollar store.
So don’t spend all of your money decorating for Halloween. Instead, get your creative juices flowing and have fun creating decorations yourself.
2. Pull Out the Needle and Thread
Costumes are where most of the money goes for Halloween. Believe me, I understand. When my youngest was born I spent a ridiculous amount of money on a pea pod costume so I could have the picture for his first Halloween.
Don’t get me wrong. He was the cutest little pea pod I had ever seen, but I look back at that and think, “What was I thinking?”
Now, I get more creative with my kids’ Halloween costumes. In fact, DIY is our preference.
So if you love to have unique Halloween costumes, then start thinking about what you’d like to be and how you can create it yourself.
For instance, if you have a child, this jack-in-the-box is a great DIY costume idea.
But if you’d like an adult DIY Halloween costume, consider a few of these options.
As you can see, you don’t have to spend a fortune buying a costume. You can make your own, save some money, and still have something totally unique.
3. Collect that Candy
When children go around on Halloween they need bags to hold all of that wonderful candy. You have multiple options to save money.
First, you can buy the little plastic pumpkins that usually go on sale for about a dollar around this time. The only problem I have with the pumpkins is they don’t hold much and when my kids go out collecting candy, they always come back with a ton.
Second, you can run to your local dollar store and buy one of those Halloween cloth bags. They usually hold a little more candy and still cost only a dollar.
Third, you can give your kids the trusty grocery bags. You can either give them the plastic kind, or your big reusable grocery bags. Granted, this isn’t themed for Halloween, but they sure will hold a lot of candy, and you already have them which means you have no added expense.
Finally, you can make your own DIY candy bags. I love these bags because they are no-sew, and they look very trendy. As you can tell, you have many options to choose from.
4. Keep the Home Fires Burning
If you are having a Halloween party at your home, a great way to save money is to make all of the Halloween themed food yourself.
Granted, this may take more time and planning, but creating the food yourself should obviously be much cheaper.
Not to mention, it is a great way to add your own personal touch to your party instead of having a cookie-cutter menu.
So if you would like to make your own food, then you should consider making these witch hat cupcakes, or use this idea to turn your donuts into monsters.
Or you could put a twist on pigs-in-a-blanket, by turning that idea into little mummies. You could also go a little healthier by making this skull shaped fruit pizza.
Again, as you can see, your options are pretty limitless with creative food ideas for your party, and it should save you quite a bit of money too.
5. Plan in Advance for Halloween on a Budget
This one is probably a no-brainer, but anytime you’d like to save money, it requires a little extra planning.
So if you know that you are going to throw a Halloween party every year, then begin to shop sales right after Halloween has passed. That is when a lot of décor and costume items will go on sale.
Also, if you know that you are going to need a ton of candy, then you should start shopping for that early as well.
Because if you start early, then you have time to shop around and find out where you can buy candy the cheapest, or you have time to actually shop the sale rotations at different stores.
Obviously, this will save you money. If nothing else set a budget on candy, and begin saving your money early on so you don’t have to get hit in the wallet all at once. These simple tips could save you a bundle if you plan properly.
Also, this is something almost anyone can do. Some of these DIY options could be difficult for some because of craftiness ability (I struggle in that department as well.)
But most of us can plan ahead, budget, and try to search for shop sales in advance, to have what we need when we need it.
6. Put Your Hands in the Candy
Have you ever considered skipping buying candy altogether? This might be a little difficult if you are passing out candy to strangers because most people want to see something prepackaged for safety purposes.
But if you are just needing candy for a Halloween party that includes friends and family, then you might want to consider making your own candy this year. There are lots of great ideas. You can make this Halloween candy bark.
Or you could make these ghost pretzels. Don’t forget about these delicious looking pretzel rods either.
So as you can tell, there are also options for making DIY candy too. They require a little extra effort but could save you a bundle in the process.
7. Grow It Yourself for a Halloween on a Budget
Along with Halloween candy and costumes, comes fun and game and more decorating. Not everyone decorates for Halloween to be scary. Some people like to decorate for fall or just have a simple jack-o-lantern.
Well, if this fits you, then you might want to consider raising your own pumpkins to decorate with. You could also raise your own mums as well to add some pretty color to your yard.
Or if you plan on making candy apples, you could consider planting an apple tree so you could actually produce your own apples to help save money.
Granted, both of these options take some investment and time, but it could save you money for years to come if you learned how to grow some of your own items.
8. Simple is Better
When planning a Halloween party, remember that simple is usually better. Don’t plan really complicated games that require plenty of supplies.
Instead, go with something fun and familiar, like bobbing for apples. You could actually do a whole apple theme. You could make these delicious candied apples, and then play bobbing for apples too. You could also use these fun alternatives, stringed apples, and stringed donuts.
Or you could pull out an old classic, like pin the tail on the donkey. Only use this great printable version for pinning the spider on the web.
Obviously, there are many ways to keep celebrating Halloween simple so keep them in mind when planning your party.
9. Skip Handing Out Candy
No, I don’t mean turn trick-or-treaters away. To me, this is the most fun part of Halloween. I love seeing all of the different costumes, and I love seeing how happy all of the kids get when you hand them candy and compliment their costume.
So I would never suggest skipping out on handing out candy just to save a buck.
But I will recommend handing out things other than candy. For instance, you can often buy small toys in bulk or these dinosaurs even, to pass out to kids. Children like toys just as much as they like candy.
Often times more because the toys last a little longer than candy. You could easily make a little goody bag with small toys, stickers, and maybe one piece of candy. This will give kids a variety and will save you some money too.
Or if you wanted to be really healthy, you could go to the dollar store and make goody bags filled with items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, stickers, some fruit, or other fun items that kids need and would actually use.
So get creative this Halloween season. You will find that there are lots of ways to save money while still having a good time. Not to mention, you will still bring a smile to many children’s faces as well. To me, that is the best part of any celebration – making people happy!
Well, you now have 9 different ways to do Halloween on a budget this season. Some require some planning and creativity, but with enough forethought, you will be surprised at what you are capable of and how great it could all turn out.