Halloween is over. Candy wrappers have been ripped open and now litter the kitchen floor. Pepto has been administered. And one sad costume has been kicked into a remote corner of the bedroom where it won’t be seen again until sometime in February, when you will notice an unrecognizable stain that resists all attempts at erasing.
So let’s recap, shall we? My goal this year was to celebrate Halloween as a family of four, without spending more than $20 total for the entire holiday. Here’s the breakdown:
- Dinosaur Costume, 5T: $14 at a consignment sale
- Giraffe Costume, 18m: Free through friends’ costume swap
- Doctor costume with scrubs and plastic stethescope: Free, scrubs borrowed from a friend (Thanks, Rob!) and accessories taken from the kids’ doctor kit.
- Halloween Party for friends: $2 — we had food, drinks, games, and bobbing for apples. See how I did it here.
- Halloween Candy: $2.50 (using a coupon), but we ended up not giving it out so I guess I’m just going to have to eat it myself.
Total Spent for all Halloween-related festivities: $18.50
I’m actually a little shocked that I was able to pull this off. As with many of my undertakings, I have big plans but life somehow gets in the way. With the costumes, in particular, I was really determined to dress my family using creative, free costumes. I highly recommend the costume swap for kids, and for my husband, we really had to be creative and make do even though it would be easier to go to a costume shop and purchase something.
And yes, my son’s dinosaur costume was $14 — by far the largest line item percentage, even though it was secondhand. My reasoning was this: it was exactly what he wanted, it was warm, it was his size, and since he’s one of the taller children in his peer group, there weren’t a lot of “hand-me-downs” available. Also, the dinosaur voice he uses while wearing the costume is just too cute:
How was your Halloween? I’d love to hear how my readers saved money and had fun this year!
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Those photos are too cute! I kept reading and re-reading your post because I couldn’t believe you did it all for under $20! Nice work, mama!