28 Ways to Have Cheap Halloween Fun
By Carrie Kirby
Halloween can be costly, especially for parents: House decorations, candy for trick-or-treaters, trips to the pumpkin farm or other creepy attractions, and especially the costumes can easily add up to hundreds of dollars.
And yet you don't have to spend a lot to have a lot of fun. The amount people pay for new Halloween costumes is especially mind-blowing — hit any temporary Halloween shop to see some of the hugest mark-ups for the lowest-quality junk you'll ever encounter. There are higher quality kids' costumes available for order online — and many are already marked down now — and yet there are so many used-once costumes in circulation you can pick pretty much anything you want if you just look around a little and practice a little flexibility. (I couldn't believe it when I read this post about how the "hot" costumes get sold out early and the prices get jacked up 400% — really, parents, it's just Halloween!)
Here are 28 ways to have a spooktacular Halloween without heading into the holiday season broke. Some of these ideas require planning ahead as long as a year, but there is still time to do many others this year. (In fact, waiting until the last minute is frugal idea #19.)
1. Grow your own pumpkins. Pumpkins are not all that expensive — this week they're $2 at Aldi and $3 at Whole Foods. But a packet of seeds costs $1.95 and (although some fanatics go to great lengths to baby their pumpkins) in my dad's garden the pumpkin plants get no care and still manage to produce two or three fruits each year. How fun would it be for your kids to monitor their jack-o-lanterns all summer?
2. Save the seeds and grow your own pumpkins next year for free.
3. Make the most of the jack-o-lantern by scooping out and cooking the pumpkin's meat before you put it on display. Although small "pie pumpkins" make the best pies (of all places Menards usually has a great price on these), we made some perfectly delicious soups and breads out of large pumpkins last year that I got for free outside Dominick's the day before Halloween.
4. Make roasting and eating the seeds part of your pumpkin carving tradition.
5. Watch the drugstore and discount store sales to get candy for the trick-or-treaters for next to nothing, especially with coupon matchups. I got more than enough this year for FREE by buying coupons to use at Kmart Super Doubles. (CVS will be offering $5 ExtraBucks when you spend $20 on candy through 10/24, for example, and adding coupons can bring your expenditure down to $5 or $10.)
6. Making Halloween treats at home for special kids or parties is a fun activity and a lot cheaper (and better) than buying holiday cupcakes at the grocery store. Pillsbury has lots of ideas using those ever-versatile and ever-bad-for-you cans of dough. If you have a Jewel-Osco in your area, you can pick up eight cans this week for a net profit after Catalina coupons and make all the hot dog mummies or witch ...
