The Budget Diet

The Halloween countdown is on, and you still need a costume!

Don’t settle for the leftovers at the store this year! How about a do it yourself Halloween costume? This is your year to sport a creative and frugal Halloween costume! Try any of these easy last minute Halloween costume ideas, and you’ll be a hit!

Smarty Pants Halloween Costume
Supplies:

Big bag of Smarties candy

Directions:

Using double stick tape, attach the rolls of Smarties to your child’s pants!

Now you have a Smarty Pants costume!

Wall of Grafitti Halloween Costume

Supplies:

Plain white t-shirt and old jeans

Various colors of Sharpies

Directions:

Use the Sharpies to write graffiti all over t-shirt and jeans.

Bring the markers with you on Halloween night and allow friends to add to your graffiti wall!

Miss America

Supplies:

Long dress and high heels – search your dress-up box for this one!
Tiara
3″ wide ribbon
Safety pin

Directions:

Cut the ribbon to fit across the body and wrap around the back.
Using a black sharpie, write Miss America on the ribbon.
Get dressed up and proudly attach the Miss America sash using a safety pin!

Identity Thief Halloween Costume

Supplies:

“Hello, my name is”… name tag stickers

Directions:

Write different names on each sticker.

Cover your regular clothing with the stickers!

The identity thief is born!

Note: you may want to make a sign on your child’s Halloween bucket that says…I’m an identity thief, handover the candy!

Little Caesar Halloween Costume

Supplies:

White sheet

Safety pins

Rope…long enough to tie around your waist

Ivy or Jasmine vine from your backyard

Directions:

Put the white sheet on like a toga!

Start by folding it in half lengthwise.

Next, drape it over your shoulder and pull the sides together.

Use the rope as a belt.

Add safety pins if needed.

Make a crown by twisting the vine to form a circle.

Kids, teens and adults all look great a Little Caesars!

Spa Girl

Supplies:

Robe

Mud mask or some sort of colored facial mask that can stay on your face for the evening!

Slippers

Directions:

Apply the mask, put on the robe and slippers!  Relax and trick or treat!

Raid the Dress-Up Box!
Directions:

Consider this a challenge! Look in your dress-up box and look through old costumes to see what you can create. Who knows…a prize winning costume might be hiding in there!

Which last minute Halloween costume will you try this year? Please click on the title of this article to share your last minute Halloween costume ideas!

Several holidays are lurking just around the corner, and the economy is making it tough for people to figure out they are going to afford celebrating them all. This has many thinking that they must skip giving a Halloween party in order to save money for Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations. There’s no need to miss out on the festivities though – the trick is to find less expensive ways to provide party guests with Halloween fun. The following ideas fit into most budgets, and guests will never know that the party was planned with the economy in mind:
 
 
Places to Shop for a Halloween Party

Working parents often have trouble finding the time to make Halloween decorations themselves, even if they would like to do so. The following sources can provide cheaper Halloween treasures very quickly:

• Check local thrift stores for costumes at a fraction of the original cost.

• Post a need for Halloween decorations on the neighborhood FreeCycle website.

• Go to a U-pick-it farm for pumpkins and decorative squashes.

• Compare the prices of Halloween decorations at online retailers and check for clearance items.

• Shop for Halloween decorative items in the week following Halloween to use for the next year’s party.

Items to Make at Home for a Halloween Party

If you have the time and energy, it is wise to save money by creating some of the party decorations yourself. These items are easily made and can result in significant savings:

• Use leftover Styrofoam packaging to create tombstones. With a charcoal pencil, write funny epitaphs on each one; these can be found online. Add a few drops of fake blood for effect.

• Make a bat cave wall by cutting out hundreds of black bat silhouettes from construction paper.

• Hang ghosts made from tissues, handkerchiefs, or old sheets in the trees or from the ceiling.

• Make a scarecrow or dead body out of old pillows, discarded clothing, and a frightening Halloween mask with some pine straw or hay, hat and old gloves.

Things to Do to Create a Halloween Atmosphere

The perfect Halloween ambiance can be created without a budget meltdown. The following ideas should be helpful:

• Use small pieces of dry ice to create smoke around the punch bowl, in corners of the room, and in the toilet.

• Buy a CD of haunting music and strange sounds at a dollar store.

• Create some unusual food choices with a Halloween theme. Cut boiled eggs into two pieces and stain the yolks green in the center to make eyeballs. Use black licorice to make spiders and red licorice to create webs on cupcakes

• Use black plastic to cover walls or windows and replace the bulbs in lamps with inexpensive red or green ones.

• Tint the punch blood red or use cranberry juice for color.

Ghoulish fun does not have to leave the bank account empty. With a bit of planning, anyone can hold a frighteningly great party.

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This is a guest post from Emily Wilcox, who is planning her Halloween party with the help of www.halloweenpartyideas.org. She’s enjoying using her imagination to come up with creative ways to make her money go further and can’t wait to start decorating her home!

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Image courtesy of: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Looking for an easy homemade Halloween costume?

The Budget Diet’s Halloween Costume Index is where you’ll find simple homemade Halloween costumes ideas for toddlers, teens, groups or even last minute ideas!

Toddlers

• Garden Fairy
• Lil’ Farmer
• Tarzan

 
 
Elementary Age / PreTeens

• Bunch of Grapes
• Geisha
• Graveyard Ghost
• Identity Crisis
• Identity Thief
• Pippi Longstocking
• Road Trip
• Robin Hood
• Where’s Waldo

 
 
Teens

• Ceiling Fan
• Identity Crisis
• Identity Thief

 
 
Group Costumes

• Little Caesars
• Pigs in a Blanket

 
 
Last Minute Costumes

• Ceiling Fan
• Miss America
• Raid the Dress Up Box
• Smarty Pants
• Spa Girl
• Wall of Grafitti

It’s always fun for siblings or groups of friends to have matching Halloween costumes, and here are a couple of super easy homemade Halloween costumes for groups!

No sewing required!

No expensive supplies required…most supplies are ordinary household items!

Perfect for a creative, last minute costume!

Pigs in a Blanket

Pigs in the Blanket

Supplies:

1. Pig noses…available at costume stores for less than $2!
2. Blankets

Directions:

1. Wear plain clothing or all pink clothing.
2. Put on a pig nose.
3. Wrap up in a blanket.
4. Oink, oink…the pigs in a blanket go trick or treating!

 
 
Little Caesars

Supplies:

1. 1 white sheet per child
2. 1 white rope per child
3. A vine from your yard like jasmine or ivy

Directions:

1. Use the white sheet to make a toga for each child…simple drape it over the shoulder.
2. Tie the white rope around the waist.
3. Twist together the vine to make a crown.
4. My three children won a costume contest one year as The Little Caesars!

Please click on the title of this article to share your favorite easy homemade Halloween costumes for groups!

Tomorrow, The Budget Diet will have ideas for spooky decorations and treats for your Halloween party!

Today’s easy homemade Halloween costumes are perfect for the little ones in your life!

Most of the supplies for these costumes can be found in your home and all of the costumes will cost less than $5!

Lil’ Farmer

Lil' Farmer

Supplies:

1. Overalls
2. Straw Hat
3. Bandana
4. Brown Eye Liner Pencil
5. Wagon
6. Hay
7. Stuffed Animals

Directions:

1. Dress your son or daughter in overalls, straw hat and bandana.
2. Use the eye liner pencil to make freckles on his / her cheeks.
3. Fill the wagon with hay and stuffed animals
4. Let your son / daughter go trick or treating riding in the wagon!

Tarzan

Tarzan

Supplies:

1. Leopard Fabric (approx. 2 yards)
2. Rope

Directions:

1. Drape the fabric over your child’s shoulder and tie the rope around the waist like a belt.
2. If it’s cool outside, wear a black turtleneck and black tights!

Garden Fairy

Garden Fairy

Supplies:

1. White or any light colored leotard…we used her ballet outfit!
2. White or any light colored tights
3. White or any light colored skirt or tutu
4. Wings…we had to purchase these, but they’ve been used for many years since!
5. Crown made of jasmine from our backyard
6. Watering can to collect candy in

Directions:

1. Put on tights, leotard and skirt
2. Twist together jasmine, ivy or any type of vine to make the Garden Fairy crown.
3. Put on wings and “fly” through the neighborhood trick or treating!

Please click on the title of this article to share your easy homemade Halloween costume ideas! Remember…no sewing allowed!

Tomorrow, The Budget Diet will feature Halloween costume ideas for groups!

Don’t let the word “homemade” scare you because no sewing is required!

Today’s easy, homemade Halloween costume ideas are perfect for pre-teens! Tomorrow, The Budget Diet will feature easy, homemade Halloween costumes for little ones!

Identity Thief

Identity Thief!

Supplies:

1. “Hello, my name is”… name tag stickers

Directions:

1. Write different names on each sticker.
2. Cover your regular clothing with the stickers!
3. The identity thief is born!
4. Note: you may want to make a sign on your child’s Halloween bucket that says…I’m an identity thief, handover the candy!

Pippi Longstocking

Pippi Longstocking

Supplies:

1. Oversized t-shirt from Dad’s closet!
2. Striped tights…look in your daughter’s dresser drawer first, and if she doesn’t have any try Walmart or Target.
3. Fabric scraps to make patches to put on t-shirt
4. Double stick tape
5. Pipe cleaners
6. Red hair spray paint (available at most party supply stores)
7. Galvanized bucket to collect candy in…you probably have one in your garage!

Directions:

1. Use double stick tape to put patches on the t-shirt…see, no sewing required!
2. Braid hair and insert pipe cleaners in the braid to make the braid stick out like Pippi’s!
3. Spray paint hair red!

Bubble Bath

Bubble Bath!

Supplies:

1. Yellow Ducky baby bathtub ($14 at Target)
2. 1 package of white balloons
3. white string
4. shower cap
5. shower caddy to collect candy in!

Directions:

1. Cut out the bottom of the ducky bathtub just enough for your child’s legs to fit through…you want the duck to sit on her hips without having to make suspenders! Be careful not to cut the inflatable part!
2. Blow up the balloons.
3. Use the white string to tie the balloon together leaving about 12″ of space between each knot.
4. Have you child get in the ducky, then drape the strand of balloons around her.
5. Add a shower cap!
6. Note: This was a prize winning Halloween costume!

 
 

Identity Crisis

Identity Crisis

1. Assorted pieces from old costumes! Go dig in your dress-up box!

Directions:

1. Put everything on…you’ll be asked, “what are you,” and the answer is, I’m having an identity crisis!

 
 

Robin Hood

Supplies:

1. White long-sleeve button down shirt
2. Extra large brown t-shirt
3. Brown shoe lace
4. Green tights

Directions:

1. Cut a “V” in the top center of the brown t-shirt.
2. Use a hole punch to make holes on either side of the “V” in which you’ll thread the shoe lace.
3. Put on the green tights, the white shirt (with sleeves rolled up) and wear the brown t-shrit over the white shirt.

 
 
Graveyard Ghost

Graveyard Ghost

1. Cheescloth (available at fabric stores for less than $2 per yard!)
2. White and black face paint (available at party stores)
3. Grey cardstock
4. String

Directions:

1. Paint face white with big black eyes.
2. Drape cheesecloth around the head like a ghost.
3. Cut out the grey cardstock in the shape of a tombstone.
4. Write on the tombstone and attach it to the neck with the string.

This is Halloween Week at The Budget Diet, so check back everyday for more easy Halloween costume ideas, homemade Halloween treats and more!

Please click on the title of this article, and share your favorite easy homemade Halloween costume ideas! Remember…no sewing allowed!

Have your children started thinking about Halloween costumes?

Are they lured into the costume aisle at Walmart or Target?

Is your wallet begging for mercy?

This year, try a new approach to choosing Halloween costumes and save money!

1. Costume Swap – Sites like thredUP offer a both clothing and costume swaps, and just like the name says…give a box of clothes/costumes, get a box of clothes/costumes! Clothing swaps and costume swaps have become a popular way to save money, and according to AccessHollywood.com, Jennie Garth (yes, Kelly Taylor from 90210!) lists her outgrown kids’ clothes on thredUP. You might also consider getting a group of friends together for a Halloween costume swap. If you’re not swapping then you’re not saving!


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

2. Thrift Stores and Consignment Shops – Now is the time to visit your local thrift stores and consignment shops for the best selection of gently used Halloween costumes at a fraction of the cost. Consignment shops are also a great place to make a little money on last year’s costumes.
3. Use Your Imagination – You’ll be amazed at the costumes that your kids can come up with if you challenge them to use stuff you have around the house, and the dress-up box is a great place to start!
4. Make Your Own – Don’t worry, The Budget Diet has plenty of easy homemade Halloween costume ideas with no sewing required! Check out the articles below to find your perfect costume!

• Easy Homemade Halloween Costumes for Little Ones

Easy Homemade Halloween Costumes for Pre-Teens
Easy Homemade Halloween Costumes for Groups

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Image courtesy of: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net