Hoping to make this year’s Halloween a Budgetween? I normally buy Halloween candy early because the specially bagged versions have always seemed expensive. I also mix less costly favorites in with pricier ones so that every child can grab a handful. In spite of this, and other penny-pinching measures, Halloween does not come cheap.
The typical US household spends between $100 and $500 on Halloween. This year, many of us will need those dollars to cover the increased cost of necessities. This leaves us needing alternatives that keep the holiday fun for the kids and affordable for the adults.
Here are a few options to explore:
Shrink it down. Instead of buying pumpkins you won’t eat, make smaller jack-o-lanterns out of food you can use. Hollow out butternut squash, acorn squash, eggplant, or potatoes and use the internal meat in recipes.
Draw it on. Make cabbage pirates, aliens, or skulls using a nontoxic marker. Place on a clean, food-safe surface for Halloween night. At the end of the evening, peel off the outer two layers. Later you can cook the cabbage or use it for coleslaw.
Put creepy removeable makeup on your kids’ dolls. Add witches hats made from construction paper. Drape the dolls in ghostly gowns and hang them from the porch ceiling.
Draw a bat pattern onto black paper. Cut it out. Use fishing line to hang groups from the ceiling using removeable hanging strips.
Change it up. Instead of purchasing decorations, Line the sidewalk with Halloween luminaries made by the kids using paper bags. Hang a couple of ghosts made from balloons draped with white trash bags or use milk jugs, markers, and battery-operated tea lights to create porch ghosts.
Stretch it out. Buy party favors or fidget toys in bulk. Some assortments include 1000 pieces for around $24. The inexpensive toys will make the candy go further while still giving the kids a treat.
Party on. Consolidate the efforts on your street with a porch party. Everyone brings their own drink, a dish for potluck dinner, half the candy they’d buy for their house, and any decorations they have on hand. Party with three or four neighbors while greeting trick-or-treaters.
Halloween may not be the only holiday that’s different this year. When things are uncertain, we sometimes have to batten down the hatches and do what it takes to get by. There’s no shame in having a simpler, less flashy, more connected way of life.
In fact, if this sort of life were more common, we’d probably be healthier both physically and emotionally. The largest decorations, flashiest house, and most expensive candy don’t automatically signal you are a wonderful person who has a wonderful life.
Trappings are often deceptive and easily avoided. Perhaps foregoing the trappings is the fastest way to a successful Budgetween.