Frightfully Frugal Family Fun - Halloween 2009

Halloween is right around the corner...along with it will come the extra expenses of costumes, candy and decorations. Down right frightful just how much this one night of ghoulish fun might cost!!!
I have compiled a few frugal tips to make this Halloween a little more budget friendly.

Costumes:
1. Check out the consignment shops for second hand costumes.
2. Borrow one.
3. Enter to win one HERE!
4. Make your own. I love making my children's costumes. Keep in mind that I do not sew. There are a lot of easy costumes that you can make yourself for very little out of pocket.

Here are a couple of my favorites:
Classic Ghost-Old sheet, cut circle out for the eyes.
Using a sweat suit or tights/leotard make the following:
Turtle- Green clothing, cut oval out of (green) poster board or cardboard(paint green), add shell marks. Use elastic to attach shell like a backpack.
Ladybug- black clothing, cut an oval out of (red) poster board or cardboard(paint red), add black dots, headband with 2 black pipe cleaners. Use elastic to attach oval like backpack.
Skunk-black clothing with strip of white paper paper down back.
Spider-black clothing, red dot on back cut out of construction paper, 8 legs(use old black socks stuffed with filler or crumbled newspaper) attach with safety pins.
Bunny-white clothing add a white pompom for tail, headband or hat with ears cut from construction paper, little face paint for a pink nose and whiskers.
Doctor-White button down shirt(lab coat), add a label(Dr. John), play stethoscope
A Bunch of Grapes- purple clothing, attach purple balloons with safety pins, green hat.

Candy:
Print coupons like these Nestle coupons!
Request coupons from popular candy companies.
Check sales(CVS and Walgreens)!!!

Decorations:
Stick to the basics. Carve a pumpkin with the family!
Make a scarecrow using old clothes and hay.
Use black construction paper and cut out bats tape in window.

Now if I could only find that picture of the lobster costume that I made in college...

Share your money savings Halloween tips by commenting below!