Have Some Thrifty Fun At A Frugal Halloween

Planning a frugal Halloween this year? The rising popularity of Halloween has placed another pressure on the old purse strings, especially as you don't want to disappoint the kids.

It used to be easy to ignore the holiday but now every shopping mall screams Halloween at you (see what I did there?), and that means the children are now demanding to be a part of it.

Never fear (I'm getting good at this), a frugal Halloween can be just as scary and fun for everyone, all it takes is some forward planning and a cunning use of imagination. Frugal Halloween by Peasap on flickr

Plan ahead

The day after Halloween is the day to start shopping for all your scary items. Face Masks, costumes, and grisly sweets will all be at a much reduced price.

All of which can be stored away until next year, even sweets can be frozen to keep their freshness. I was told that chocolate tastes even better after being frozen, as it changes its chemical composition or something. All I know is that it is a great way to store up on discounted chocolate treats.

Costumes

The alternative to buying an expensive costume, which probably will only ever get used once, is to make one your self. Try these solutions:

Face Paint
Mix cornstarch, water, cold cream and food colouring for a great frugal Halloween alternative to scary masks.

Mummy Costume
Tear up an old white sheet into strips and wind round arms and legs. Attach strips of the sheet to an old white tee shirt for the body and wrap the head in the cloth and paint the face with grey face paint.

Punk Costume
Tear holes in old tee shirts and jeans or tights. Spike the hair up using lots of gel or hairspray. Use the face paint mixture to add some colour to the hair. Use lots of black and bright red makeup or face paint for the zombie punk look. I used to attach lots of paperclips together into a chain and attach them to the tee shirts.

Octopus
Dye an old sheet green or paint it with kid's water paints. Cut a hole in it for the head to go through. Attach the inside of toilets rolls or similar together to make long tube like tentacles and paint them green with black spots and fix them to the sheet. Paint the face green with black circles around the eyes.

Tramp
Dress the kids up in old torn clothes that are too big for them. Paint stubble onto their chins with either face paint or an eyeliner. Mess their hair up.

Pirate
Make an eye patch using card and some elastic. A knife can be made from cutting a cardboard box up and painting it to look like a knife. Black trousers and a white tee shirt painted with red stripes. An old thick belt can be used or tie a scarf around the middle. Use face paints for moustaches or beards.

Frugal Halloween decorations

It just wouldn't be Halloween with out decorating the front door to scare the trick or treaters who come a visiting.

Spiders web
Buy a cheap roll of cotton wool and take chunks of it and stretch out the fibres to make a spider's web and attach to the corners of the door and windows.

Jack o lanterns
Paint a black outline of a pumpkin face onto an old jam jar or similar glass container. Then paint the rest of the jar orange. Place candles in side and either leave them around your door or on window ledges.

Ghost
Hang old white sheets with faces painted on them around your door, so that they sway in the breeze. Popcorn for a frugal haloween by cyclonebill on flickr

Old Man in chair
Make a scarecrow by stuffing old clothes with newspaper. Attach a balloon with a face painted onto it and place an old hat on top. Then place the old man on a chair near the front door.

Use little white Christmas lights to highlight your creations.

Trick or treat

Instead of letting kids pick handfuls of candy from a bowl themselves, save on the candy bill with these frugal Halloween tips:

Buy cheap bags of small sweets and make up a small package of sweets for each caller by wrapping them in green painted squares of paper scrunched up at the top and tied with string.