My son will go trick-or-treating as a "thrilling ghoul" (black pullover cape-like thing with a hood), with gray face paint. My daughter will be wearing her grandfather's old airline pilot jacket and hat. Where money is saved for one, it's spent on the other!

When my daughter was younger, I sewed all her Halloween costumes. One year, she was a blue M&M; another year, she was the White Power Ranger. That Power Ranger costume took me about a month to sew, since it had 16 pieces! And she put it to good use afterward. I made it out of flame-retardant material, so she was able to wear the pants and shirt as her pajamas! Now that's recycling!!!

Sbozarth23, keep the frog costume if it's special to you!

My girlfriends and I share our kid's costumes, but since my kid was born first, I'm kinda getting the short end of the stick on this one!

You know, I never thought to check out the local good will for costume stuff! I will definitely donate J's old Halloween costumes. I just hate to get rid of the one he wore when he was three-the cutest frog you would ever see in your life.

eccentric,

Great story! I can't tell you how glad I am that my daughter is reusing her brother's costume. I just have to fix the reels a little, since a dozen years in the garage have made the paper towel rolls a little clunky.

My son's teacher decided to do a project where children had to pick a fable character, make costume, write the story, and present it to the class stating why they picked the story and costume! After changing themes many times, he's finally settled to become a farmer from the story "farmer and the chicken laid gold eggs!!" So far, I have spent $0. We found a straw hat and a pail through a friend, we already had a bandana, red flannel shirt, and oh many torn jeans!! The messege of the story is "greed is bad."

I enjoy sewing their costumes, every year. They tell me what they want to be, then I shop garage sales for some items, that do not need altering or making from scratch. I love our local charity thrift store.....bag of clothes and material for $3.00!!!! AND MY MONEY IS GOING TO BE USED TO ASSIST OUR AREA ELDERLY W/ THEIR BILLS, AND TO REPLENISH THEIR FOOD BANK. BIG PLUS, TO SHOP THERE!! (I do go there each week)

This year...one wanted to be Mexican. I found sombreros @ a garage sale for a dime each...got one. Had many saddle blankets, I bought for our horses this past spring that I had not used, yet.(Cheap, when bought at monthly livestock sales...paid 1.50 for each, back then) Made him a Mexican shirt out of it. Had maracas from a trip my hubby took years ago....attached a string to each handle, and he wears them hanging over his shoulders. sewed the maracas down to his shirt so that they do not flop around...and at the back of the neck. (did spend a total of a $1.60...for the costume...lol BUT did buy black hair spray, and a fake long mustache....total was less than $5.oo!!!)
The 7 yr old wanted to be a vampire....had teeth from a fall party we attended a weekend ago... Went to local thrift store....found black pants, black dress shoes, and a white tuxedo type white shirt, then was stumped on a red vest....found a really nice velvet dark red/dark purple/black, gold accented, not obvious floral, women's X2 vest....paid 1.50 since I only had a half a bag. Went home...spent about an hour cutting down the vest...saving the extra material for the CAPE!!!(I forgot about this item...oops!)
Went to Walmart, and was shocked to see that a simple black cape would cost $10!!! I waited, went garage saleing, this past Thurs., and found a new black clothe shower curtain for a buck!!!! Took it home and cut it up added a wide, pointed black collar to the top, gathered edge...and lined the inner collar part w/ the same material as the vest. Turned out, I was pretty lucky, finding what I could. This son, at the fall party actually won a vampire silver medallion necklace....lol
Had black hair spray for the other child already. Spent less than $3.00!!! AND GIRLS AT LOCAL THRIFT STORE HAD ORDERED CUSTOM COSTUMES FROM ME, once they seen what I created out of what I had gotten from their thrift store...as is custom, since they opened five+ years ago...lol ($$$$they give is always anonymouslyy" donated back....heehee)
****if I ever get my camera back from the teenager of mine...lol....will post their photos.

My first suggestion is easy. Recycle costumes. My daughter this year has decided to use her brother's costume from kindergarten--a twelve year old slot machine. If one sibling has used an outfit, it can be "new to you" for a younger sibling. Have friends with similarly aged children? Trade.

Be creative. The cheapest costumes are created from a cardboard box with a hole for the head. My brother one year took a box, added a push-down handle, painted the box red, and wrote TNT in big letters down the sides. My son's slot machine cost less than $5 in stickers for the reels. Anyone who could draw could do even better. Visit thrift stores. Last year, my son wanted to be Miami Vice, so for a couple of bucks, he got a cheap grey suit, a pink t-shirt, loafers, and a pair of sun glasses. Most of his friends didn't get it, but the teachers howled. Again, all of the parts together were about $5 because we visited on half-off day.

If your child insists on a specific type of costume, makeup is always simpler and cheaper than masks. It's also MUCH safer for travel.

If money is really tight, encourage your neighbors to go to a park or a school celebration. You might feel guilty if you're the only house in the neighborhood not passing out treats, but if everyone is at the carnival at the park, then no one misses out.

That's enough from me, does anyone else have a clue?