If you are anything like me, I love making Halloween extra special for my kids in any way that I can. However, I don’t want it to break the bank and have weeks of regret (which has happened before) because I spent way too much money on things that only lasted for a short time. I have come to realize the memories do last forever, but most of the time it didn’t matter if I spent a lot of money, or a small amount of money, they were equally impressed and had just as much fun!
With Halloween on the way, I wanted to share with you some of the best tips that I have learned over the years to help you celebrate Halloween on a budget.
Plan Costumes Ahead of Time
Although I’d like to think I can be pretty crafty, my skills are not in the sewing area, so I know that every year I likely will need to purchase some or all of the pieces to our Halloween costumes. The sooner you start planning the better. That gives you time to see what items around the house you may be able to use.
Make a list of each costume and what you will need for each one. Brainstorm if you can use anything around your house (i.e. old clothes, previous costumes, cardboard, leftover material, etc.). You might be surprised at how creative you can get.
Pinterest is a great tool for finding ideas on budget-friendly costumes. There are so many creative and unique ideas that can be found here. See my post on the 8 Best Ways to Save Money on Your Halloween Costume for even more ways to save big on your next Halloween costume. There is nothing wrong with trying to be thrifty here. No one needs to know how much money you spent (or didn’t spend).
Buy Candy Early
Who knows how 2020 will turn out with the traditional Halloween Trick or Treating, but a lot of stores start having sales on candy at the end of August, early September. Some of my favorite places to grab candy on the cheap is at Costco, CVS, and Target – in that order.
Costco tends to put their large candy bars (if you want to be the house everyone admires) on sale in September with a coupon of $5.00 off (that is the current coupon value starting 9/30/2020). That usually brings the price down to about $.50 per candy bar.
The drug stores including CVS and Walgreens will clearance some of their candy throughout the year. I am a CVS freak!!! and when I figured out their Extracare Buck programs many moons ago, I have never looked back. If you have those coveted Extracare Bucks you may able to pick up cheap or free candy.
Check out my 9 Best Tips and Tricks to Save on Halloween Candy for even more ideas on how you can find cheap or free candy too!
Pumpkins – Don’t Buy at the Orchard or Pumpkin Patch
I love the pumpkin patch and orchard experience like most, but the cost of those pumpkins makes me choke every time I decide to buy them there. The goal of the pumpkin patch is always to see who finds the largest pumpkin…fun and exhausting trying to carry it back to the car! Unfortunately, for the wallet, they usually charge by the pound for the pumpkin. I’m all about finding the largest pumpkin, but we are going to leave it there. I don’t want to pay $20, $30, or more for one pumpkin! Multiply that by 4 and now we are talking a small fortune.
Buy your pumpkin at the local grocery store or warehouse. They tend to be a flat price. My favorite place now is Costco. Although they have their pumpkins for a very limited time (and I mean limited…sometimes only days), they are cheap for large pumpkins. And the bonus is they tend to be pretty large…AWESOME!!! The price is usually $4.99 or $5.99. I like to know exactly what I am going to pay when I check out instead of getting sticker shock.
Recently, I have also noticed a lot of local farmers with pop-up stands. This is a great way to support locals and an awesome way to stay within your Halloween budget. Keep those eyes open.
The Krazy Coupon Lady has an awesome Round-up for 2020 on where to find pumpkins and they fit about any budget. Check it out here.
Clearly, the cheapest way to celebrate with Halloween pumpkins is to grow your own if you have the yard for it. It can be a fun experience for the entire family tending to your pumpkin patch and is a great way to save money on this Halloween decoration.
Make Your Own Decorations
There are so many cheap and inexpensive decorating ideas out there. Use Pinterest and google to find endless amounts of reasonably priced DIY decorations. Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Target, and any dollar store will have some very inexpensive Halloween decorations.
Keep these decorations as long as they are still good. I have had some of my decorations for well over 10 years and just store them away as carefully as I can each year to prevent breaking. This is one area that if you have the money, I am ok with you spending more for quality. I have found the better quality the decoration the longer life it has.
This also becomes a fun tradition each year pulling out the decorations and thinking back on all of the memories (and trying to remember where each decoration was supposed to go!).
Recycle, Recycle, Recycle
This tip really applies to everything we have talked about when it comes to celebrating Halloween on a budget and not only helps you save more money, but helps the environment too!
Recycle your Costume – You can recycle (or borrow) old costumes. You can reuse items around your house to create costumes. There are so many genius Halloween costume ideas! Again, Pinterest is a great tool for looking for ways to save on Halloween and create a Halloween costume for very cheap.
Recycle Candy – Did the kids have a Halloween party already? or for some reason, you have a ton of unopened candy around the house? There is no reason you can’t pass out that candy. Just please remember it needs to not be expired or opened. This needs to be candy that you would allow your own family to eat! However, if you have candy you don’t like and would eventually end up throwing it out anyway, pass it out and save your money on buying a ton of new candy for Halloween.
Recycle Your Pumpkins – Ok, so this tip might be tricky – it’s hard to recycle pumpkins – especially real ones, but they can be used for more than just decorations. Carve them for a scary, spooky, or whimsical decoration and a night of family fun. Use the seeds for a tasty snack, and after Halloween have a pumpkin smashing night (just remember to clean up the mess). Look, already various ways you can use you Halloween pumpkins to help you do Halloween on a budget!
Recycle Halloween Decorations – Keep your Halloween decorations for as long as you possibly can. There is no shame in using the same decorations year after year. When you’ve used them long enough and you may not want them anymore…Sell them! One man’s trash is another man’s treasure! Use this money to add to your Halloween budget, get that new decoration you’ve been dying to get or packet the cash! Just make sure if you plan to buy anything new that it fits within your budget.
All of these Halloween budget-friendly ideas become a tradition each year for our family when we look through old Halloween costumes (ah the days when we were in Disney for Halloween!), a moment to have a sugary snack with the kids, memories of the intricate pumpkin carvings, and the spooky times of putting the Halloween decorations up as a family.
Consider these thrifty tips, not only to be ways to save more money on Halloween, but ways to teach your kids about money, get creative around Halloween, and most of all have fun!
Need more great ideas or didn’t click the Halloween links above? Take a read through these posts for more tips on how you can do Halloween on a budget and still have fun!
- 8 Best Ways for a Budget-Friendly Halloween Costume
- https://savemoneyspendwisely.com/eight-ways-to-save-on-halloween-costumes-this-year
- 9 Best Tips and Tricks to Save on Halloween Candy