{"id":5346,"date":"2023-10-03T14:46:33","date_gmt":"2023-10-03T19:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/?p=5346"},"modified":"2023-10-03T14:46:34","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T19:46:34","slug":"boo-on-a-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/boo-on-a-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Boo on a Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Given the high prices of groceries, you may have to boo on a budget this year. Here are some tips for making Halloween budget friendly, even when your kids are gluten-free.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"691\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/c2tblog-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Witch_Flying_at_Night_Over_the_Moon_-_Halloween-691x450.jpg\" alt=\"halloween witch\" class=\"wp-image-5348\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/c2tblog-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Witch_Flying_at_Night_Over_the_Moon_-_Halloween-691x450.jpg 691w, https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/c2tblog-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Witch_Flying_at_Night_Over_the_Moon_-_Halloween-345x225.jpg 345w, https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/c2tblog-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Witch_Flying_at_Night_Over_the_Moon_-_Halloween-768x500.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/c2tblog-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Witch_Flying_at_Night_Over_the_Moon_-_Halloween-1536x1000.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/c2tblog-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Witch_Flying_at_Night_Over_the_Moon_-_Halloween-2048x1334.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/c2tblog-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Witch_Flying_at_Night_Over_the_Moon_-_Halloween-1200x782.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>1)Right size your candy purchases.<\/strong> If you have lived in a neighborhood for a while, you probably have an idea how many trick-or-treaters you average each year. Don\u2019t buy too much. You can always limit what each child gets if you see more traffic than usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2)Consider bulk pack candy or bubble gum with lots of small pieces when buying for a large group.<\/strong> Bubble gum is gluten-free and can be purchased for as little as $.07 per piece. Dum-Dums\u00ae are gluten-free and can be found for $.08 each. Other bulk candies to consider are Tootsie Roll\u00ae Midgees $.075 and Charms\u00ae Mini Blow Pops\u00ae $.05 each. Both are gluten-free, peanut-free, and kosher. Smarties\u00ae are a long-standing popular gluten-free choice $.075. If you lean toward chocolate, Snickers\u00ae Mini Chocolate Bars can be found for $.20 each when purchased in bulk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3)Get the neighbors together.<\/strong> There\u2019s economy in numbers. Have several households gather on one front porch. Block your home\u2019s entrance with a decorative spider web that holds a sign telling trick-or-treaters where to find the treats. Create a costume theme and dress up as a group or simply pass out candy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In my neighborhood, we\u2019d choose the biggest porch and have a signature cocktail. Each household buys less candy, but we\u2019ll still make the kids happy we\u2019re their neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t worry about children getting less candy. They don\u2019t technically need candy in their diet. It\u2019s much more about them feeling powerful through getting adults to do their bidding, enjoying the costumes and decorations, and getting a treat. They\u2019ll enjoy the experience even if the treats aren\u2019t large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4)Make a witch, goblin, ghoul, or werewolf photo companion.<\/strong> Use cardboard from boxes. If you\u2019re like me, it won\u2019t take long to amass enough cardboard to create a witch cutout. I have some house paint I can use for the large surfaces and paint markers to fill in the details. Create a few ghosts using white balloons draped with white trash bags and hang them by your cutout. Let all the kids pose with the cutout and ghosts for a photo. An optional takeaway can be a single sticker, sucker, or plastic skeleton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>5)Make crayon bundles<\/strong>. Boxes of 800 crayons would yield 50 bundles of 16, 100 bundles of 8, and 200 bundles of 4. The crayons can be purchased for $.05 each. Secure them together with a rubber band, black &amp; orange ribbon, or string.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of us remember a time when it was okay to accept a homemade treat. Having the flexibility to prepare something at home without all the packaging made it easier to keep costs down. If you use these tips to spark your own ideas, you\u2019ll find Halloween doesn\u2019t have to be scary. It\u2019s still possible to provide a good boo on a budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Happy Halloween!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/ten-halloween-treats-for-any-child\/\">Ten Halloween Treats for Any Child \u2013 in thriver words (cooking2thrive.com)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/c2tblog-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/STC_ad_22_OL-9.png\" alt=\"ad\" class=\"wp-image-4951\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/c2tblog-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/STC_ad_22_OL-9.png 600w, https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/c2tblog-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/STC_ad_22_OL-9-350x175.png 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Given the high prices of groceries, you may have to boo on a budget this year. Here are some tips for making Halloween budget friendly, even when your kids are gluten-free. 1)Right size your candy purchases. If you have lived in a neighborhood for a while, you probably have an idea how many trick-or-treaters you &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/boo-on-a-budget\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Boo on a Budget&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,12],"tags":[2826,3491,1085,1082,3490],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5346"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5346"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5350,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5346\/revisions\/5350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}