Halloween Costume Money Saving Tips That Won’t Break The Bank

Halloween Costume Money Saving Tips That Won’t Break The Bank

Halloween is one of the most festive holidays of the year and parents spend millions of dollars every year to turn their little tots into grueling goblins, bossy witches, cartoon characters, darling angels, and more.  

As with everything in your budget, there are ways to cut costs and still have the same amount of fun and look great. No need to break the bank for one night of fun!

Things have definitely changed over the years. I remember going one year with a wig of my Mom’s, a long full skirt, and all the jewelry I could find. I remember going as many other things, too.

What I don’t remember is kids going as cartoon characters when I was young, we usually came up with homemade costumes sometimes at the last minute.

However, as with everything over the years, it’s gotten more complicated, more involved, and costs more! lol Now we have to plan days and weeks in advance, make sure the costume we want is available and not sold out since some are only available for limited times, and make sure all the accessories are right, which can lead to more money than we wanted to spend.

Let’s look at a few of the ways you can cut the cost of Halloween costumes for your whole family this year.

These money saving Halloween costume tips will come in handy.

Make Your Own

Of course, this would be the first thing you’d expect to hear but think about it this way: making your classic costume can be both money-saving and valuable for you and your entire family. DIY projects are so much fun, promote family bonding time, and strengthen relationships between you and your kids.

Making your own easy DIY costumes can also teach your kids how to use their creativity to satisfy a need. Go online and google for the best DIY projects for a costume or your favorite character and discover fun and easy costumes projects that you can do.

An example of simple, easy Halloween costumes is Batman. Purchase some face paint and black fabric. Create a cape from the black fabric and use the face paint to paint your child’s face, and now, you have created a perfect low-cost kids costume! 

Be creative and spend some quality time with the kids making fun costumes.

Look For Online Sales

Often you can find great sales online and have them shipped to your front door for free.  Halloween Costumes online store often has great sales on costumes.  If you have a few to purchase, then you can usually end up with free shipping, too. 

This is a great way to save and have the added convenience of doing it from home.

Shop Ahead

Most retailers have a Halloween sale and discount their Halloween products sometimes as much as 90% after Halloween to get rid of their unsold inventory. This is the perfect opportunity to think forward and take advantage of these amazing sales and clearance Halloween costumes.

You may be able to find a costume that was once $20.00 or more and pay pennies on the dollar for it. Do your wallet a favor and peruse the stores on the first week of November to stock up on all of the gory good deals that will be lurking around. This is a great way to get fantastic cheap Halloween costumes for your kids or your next Halloween party.

Costume Sharing

Here is an idea that will require you to become proactive with your friends, family, and neighbors. This can also work with a social media network.

Your five-year-old is not the only five-year-old in the city. Start a costume sharing group where you can swap last year’s costume with other parents. If planned strategically, this can be a great way to swap a costume with parents who have children that are the same size as your kids.

Be festive with this. You can plan a costume sharing party where parents from all over the city come together to swap out the costume their kid wore last year.  (This is also a great idea for school uniforms, too)

You might also like: 10 Consignment, Flea Market, And Neighborhood Yard Sale Shopping Hacks

Thrift Shop

Some thrift shops put all of their seasonal items together to make finding them easier. Many parents donate to thrift shops and these products are placed for resale. You can also buy pieces of clothing that you can ware all year long not just for Halloween.

Search The House For Things You Can Use:

• Plaid shirt
• Black tie
• Black pants
• Blue jeans
• Straw hat
• Black dress
• Long sleeves

If you’re looking to spend less on a slightly used costume, then shopping at a thrift store could be the tip for you.

Sell Last Year’s Costumes

Take advantage of apps like Offer Up and eBay. If you still have last year’s costume hanging around, place it online to sell for profit.

The money that you get from the sale can be used toward purchasing a new costume this year. Also, another great place to consider is Facebook’s Marketplace feature that allows you to sell items online to people local to your area. 

Keep in mind you can also purchase a costume from these same places while you’re selling yours. Just as you are listing items for sale, do a quick search to see if there is a costume of interest listed for sale by another seller. You just may come across a good deal on the best Halloween costume ever.

Go Fund Me Costume Fundraiser

Another way to save money on a costume for your child is to start a fundraiser. Who can resist a cute face?

If you ask all your Facebook friends to donate as little as $1.00, you could quickly raise enough money to purchase a great costume. Do this with family as well, they would love to help in exchange for a picture of your little one wearing their “gift”!.

You can raise the minimum amount of money in no time to help cover the cost of a good costume. 

Side note:  I used to do this with school pictures (they are so expensive), I would tell all the grands and so forth if they wanted pics, here’s the cost, what do you want?  They always came through – they loved getting the pictures.

Less is More

Consider the age of your child and what their personality type requires. Some kids are not extravagant and they may be very content with some bunny ears and face paint. Ask your child what they would like as a costume. You may be surprised to discover that they prefer less.

Many retailers will sell masks to wear for trick or treating. A mask can be worn with normal clothing and will still serve the same purpose that a full costume would.

Face paint may do the trick for very small children, especially those in strollers. Be creative and paint a cute animal for their face and in moments you will have saved $20 or more on a costume for your little tot, for the perfect toddler costumes and for tweens often less is more.  They want to participate but, don’t want to go full out in a store bought costume. 

Before you take out a bank loan for some extra cash (lol) for those great costumes, talk with your kids and see what they want and then try the tips above – make sure to let them help, they will benefit from seeing how you save and you’ll be teaching them life skills in the process!

Popular Halloween costumes can be very expensive, especially with multiple children. Consider these money saving tips when you start thinking about your child’s costume this year. These tips will work for costume wearers of all ages.

Please share your tips in the comments.  We love to hear your ideas!