• What Is OWN?
    Watch the preview!
    GO
  • Money News
    Advice and tools to manage your money
    GO

Spooky Savings on Kids' Costumes and Halloween Candy

By Jean Chatzky with Arielle McGowen
Spend less this Halloween.

The average family is expected to spend $47 this year on candy and decorations alone—not including costumes—up from $40 last year, according to a survey from VISA USA. That's a steep hike, and I'm betting that with the economy tighter than it's been in decades, you'd like to save rather than spend. With a little creative thinking, it's entirely possible to do just that.  

Get crafty! You absolutely do not have to buy a prepackaged costume for your kids. Last year, we took a clear plastic garbage bag, cut out a couple of holes at the bottom for legs, filled it with colorful balloons and my daughter went as a bag of jelly beans. She looked great. The year before that, my 12-year-old son pulled off a great Will Ferrell in Anchorman by taking a red blazer from my closet and putting on a cheap wig.

The National Retail Federation says the top three costumes this year are expected to be a princess, a pirate and Spider-Man—all things you can easily put together at home, says Amanda Formaro, founder of the crafts magazine FamilyCorner.com.

  • A princess dress can easily be fashioned out of a little fabric from a discount retail store if you have even basic sewing skills, or you can even use hot glue since it will only be worn for a few hours. Then, just attach a piece of tulle to a cone hat made out of cardboard, and make a wand out of tinfoil.

  • The pirate costume is equally easy and inexpensive if your kid has a striped shirt and a pair of black pants. Just add a bandanna, an eye patch made out of black fabric and a cardboard sword.

  • And for Spider-Man, your best bet is the movie-themed pajamas, if you have them, or a little face paint on a red, long-sleeved T-shirt. "Whenever you're making a costume out of something that's just hanging around, it sparks your kids' creative sides and really makes it a lot more fun," says Pattie Donham-Wilkinson, craft expert for the Lifetime Network.