According to Investopedia, Americans spend about $10 billion each year on Halloween items. This amounts to over $75 per person. Here are a few things you can do to spend wisely this Halloween.
- Make your own costume, re-purpose a costume, or buy costumes from a second-hand store. Good Housekeeping has a helpful website with ideas for making your own costume: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/halloween-ideas/g1709/homemade-halloween-costumes/. You can also see what types of clothes you have or your kids have in their closets that might work for a costume. Second-hand stores such as Goodwill and Salvation Army may also have relatively inexpensive costumes. Costco carries reasonably priced ones as well. For the kids, consider swapping costumes with your friends so the kids have new ones to wear each year.
- Instead of sending greeting cards in the mail, consider emailing out your greetings. If you are sending out Halloween party invitations, save money and trees by emailing them out with evite.com or another email invitation service.
- If you stay home to greet trick or treaters, consider buying a certain amount of candy and then when that amount is used up, closing up shop. Buying candy in bulk and at least a few weeks before Halloween can save you money. Getting kid-sized candy bars can be more economical as well.
- After Halloween ends, stock up on decorations for the following year. You can often get decorations much more cheaply in November. The dollar store is a great place to check out for Halloween décor.
- Check out Freecycle were people give away things they do not need, and also ebay were you can bid on Halloween costumes and decorations and get them at lower prices.
- Instead of buying your pumpkin at a pumpkin patch, grab one from your local grocery store.
Sage Personal Finance 