As Halloween approaches, parents are scrambling for ways to make the season fun for kids. Parents too find joy in the season, releasing their inner child by stringing spider webs on the shrubs and transforming the front lawn into a graveyard—but they still need to be mindful of their budget. Finding affordable and fun Halloween decorations is easier than ever when you make sure to seek out items that can be reused, find coupons for purchasing Halloween gear and make your own Halloween decorations. By following these tips, you will be set to enjoy a frightfully good time this year at a ghoulishly frugal price tag.
Purchasing Reusable Halloween Items
Any item that can be used one year to the next is more of an investment than an expense. While you may not be able to reuse your Elvis costume from five years ago, you can reuse the fog machine. If the fog machine can be used for ten years, your actual annual expense is only a tenth of the cost. This approach can help make certain items and experiences more affordable to you in the long term. Purchasing one durable item each year (instead of many disposable ones) allows you to eventually build up an impressive collection of Halloween gear normally reserved only for those with a massive holiday decoration budget.
Finding and Using Coupons
Coupons are one of the easiest ways to save money at Halloween, and you can find them for everything from candy to costume accessories. Coupons are available online, in the newspaper, in circulars and in stores. Seek out coupons for the kinds of Halloween gear you want to have, but normally have to give up because you cannot afford it. Most coupons allow you to save a certain dollar amount on your purchase price, and combining these coupons with store sales helps you afford even more of the gear you are looking for. Many of the coupons found online can be printed on demand to be brought to the store, but to save money and time, consider using online coupon codes when making purchases from the website.
Making Your Own Halloween Decorations
Halloween decorations do not necessarily have to be purchased from a store to look good. Cobwebs made from cotton balls and fake blood made from water and food coloring are great examples of Halloween decorations you can make yourself for pennies. There are thousands of tutorials available online explaining how to transform everyday items in your home into scarily good Halloween decorations, and best of all, many of these projects are perfect to get everyone in the family working together and having fun. Suddenly, the chore of getting your home ready for Halloween is turned into an exciting bonding experience for the whole family.
These are just a few of the suggestions for creating the right look for Halloween. Before you know it, you will have a frightfully fun night planned out and your home will look like something out of a magazine!
This year the budget is really tight due to some unexpected health expenses so I need to recycle a lot of my Halloween decorations but I still want to have something new – specially if I can make it with the grandkids. I love the milk bottles in the picture!
I don’t have any young kids at home, however, I still enjoy decorating for Halloween. This year hubby was laid off, so we have very little cash on hand. We made ghosts from old sheets and hung them from trees. We also used corn stalks from our garden, along with some spider webs from the dollar store, old clothes stuffed with leaves to make a pumpkin head man and some cheap spiders we picked up at the goodwill. It actually looks quite nice and we spent less than $10.00. 🙂
I agree with making Halloween budget friendly an reusing if you can! All your stuff will always be in season (just like Christmas items). Also make sure to look for stuff in the offseason when they clearance items.
I really like the plastic jug ghost luminaries! Recycled and thrift shop decorations are the best.
These things are great because they let you see how creative (or uncreative) your kids are.