Kim Danger shares more than a half dozen costume ideas that cost under $10 and use items you probably have around your house.
Whether you are having a big shin-dig or a hosting a few friends while the kidlets harvest candy, it’s fun to make Halloween-themed food. Here are a handful of recipes that look appealing. I have not tried them but they come from two sites I use frequently, Epicurious and All Recipes.
A recipe for skeleton fingers calls for white asparagus. Dim the lights and your guests will never know the difference! Sweeten things up with monster eyeball chocolates that use green M&Ms to accentuate the spooky eyeballs.
This recipe for carmelized spicy pumpkin seeds sounds AMAZING! If you want something simpler, just toss the cleaned seeds with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake for a few minutes until crunchy.
Jack-o-lantern butter cookies look tasty but you could probably skip the candy step. The tricky part will be finding a pumpkin cookie cutter. An easy alternative would be to make sugar cookies in the shape of pumpkins.
Making pumpkin tarts sounds hard but really it is just mixing a few things together and pouring it into pre-made tart shells (look for these in the frozen food section). A recipe for bat cupcakes, above, takes the cute prize.
Drink of the Week has a slew of specialty Halloween drinks, like an eyeball martini, pumpkin margarita and brain hemorrhage.
Still looking? Browse Halloween-themed recipes on All Recipes or Epicurious. What’s your favorite Halloween recipe?
If you are getting dressed up for Halloween, chances are you’re going to need some make up. EyesLipsFace (ELF) is a great source of super cheap make up. Most everything on the site is $1. Their video shows how to make yourself into an angel or vampire, though you can probably figure it out from looking at the page.
Oriental Trading is more of a party supply store, but they have three make up kits, including a glitter kit, a clown kit and a glow-in-the-dark white make up kit. At $2-$3 each, you can’t beat the prices!
If you’re not interested in buying make up online, drop by your local drugstore. Rite Aid, CVS, and Walgreens have low-priced make up and there are *always* make up coupons in the Sunday newspaper inserts. Rite Aid has a few beauty coupons online.
If you have a sizeable budget, check out MAC, which is known for BOLD colors, a must for Halloween, or Sephora.
Just looking for ideas? I Googled “Halloween make up ideas” and clicked on images. The results may give you a good idea of how to paint your face.
If you’re still looking for a costume, support BargainBabe.com and check out the clearance section at CostumeDiscounters.com!
Here are some of the best personal finance blog posts I’ve read recently.
Wise Bread knows how to make use of every part of the Halloween pumpkin you are about to carve. Recipes included!
The Digerati Life questions whether a 10,000 Dow will last, which means you’re going to be hearing the term “double dip recession” for a while. Haven’t we had enough bad news?
Cash Money Life writes about the IRS’ newly-released IRA contribution limits. No changes for 2010.
Trent at The Simple Dollars says there are 15 things he loves than money.
The Street shares a survey that says price is the biggest factor for where folks will do their holiday shopping. That’s good news for Wal-Mart and Target. “In fact, 80% of the survey’s respondents said they require at least a 10% discount in order to justify making a purchase,” the story says.
Still looking for a Halloween costume? PureCostumes.com has a range of traditional costumes like jailbird, witch, and 50s poodle skirt girl, above. Plus, you can get 12 percent off using code BargainBabe. If your tab is $100 or more, get free shipping with code SHIP100.
I saw costumes for as little as $8 on the site and for as much as $90. Most were priced between $10 and $40. Toddler costumes ranged from from $8-$45, most kids costumes were $20-$30, adult costumes were mostly $20-$40, and the majority of the plus size costumes were $30-$40.
Under each age category there is a clearance section with slightly lower prices. You can also search for costumes by price.
The site lets you calculate the shipping before you fully check out, which is a nice feature. Shipping to Los Angeles was $8.70 and up.
Readers have already shared a ton of great ideas for the frugal Halloween costume contest.
Lisa has a costume that makes money:
Get a large trash bag, cut holes in for legs and arms, then fill out around you with assorted bottles, cans, etc. and go as a Recyclable. Then you can cash in the costume for $$ – very bargain babish!
Lynda has a veggie suggestion:
I went to a party one year where a woman wore a long orange dress, and tied several piece of fern to her head…said she was a carrot!
A friend who was pregnant wore an old girl scouts uniform with a sign: It’s the Boy Scouts who are supposed to be prepared. Got a lot of laughs. Whatever you choose, have fun!
Georgie is super resourceful:
Put a pair of green tights and top on and blow up green balloons and go as a bunch of grapes, we did it for the whole family last year, cheap as chips. I will email you a photo. (above)
Hilary says go incognito:
I had an old fake christmas tree, and I reworked the branches to hang from my body I was inside the tree. Battery-powered lights, ornaments, the whole bit, and they couldn’t figure out who it was.
Debra’s costumes are especially clever:
My mother was the original cheapskate for Halloween. My brother and I had 2 choices – ghost or “hobo.” We either had to wear the sheet with eye holes or dad’s old clothes with fireplace ash on our face. Good times.
Now my husband and I usually dress up with topical themes. A few years ago, when I was 7 months pregnant, we went as pregnant Britney and K-Fed. All we needed was a wife-beater for him and some bare feet, Cheetos and a Red Bull for me.
Although if you really want to be cheap, once I forgot to wear a costume to a costume party, so I told everyone I was dressed as apathy.
Meital has a sweet idea:
Everyone’s name in my family start with an M. One year, the 6 of us in my family dressed up as the M&M’s. The 4 kids were different colored M&M’s and my parents were the M&M package. It was very cute!
Missed the rules? You describe a low-budget Halloween costume in a comment. On Halloween I dress up as the cheapest, most bizarre costume you’ve suggested. With pictures of the winning costume, of course!
So what frugal costume do you want me to dress up as?
Retailers are going crazy with Christmas decorations, but I think counting down to Halloween is much more appropriate. So I’m kicking off October with 11 ways to save on Halloween, courtesy of CouponShack.com. No. 7 is particularly good!
- Buy early or buy late to get the best deals on candy, costumes and decorations.
- Look for a Halloween coupon first before making any purchase.
- Check the Sunday circular and mailers for local coupons, Google costume coupons online.
- Browse sites like CostumeDiscounters.com, AnytimeCostumes.com, BuyCostumes.com, and CostumeHub.com for the top 2009 Halloween costumes: Michael Jackson, Harry Potter, Wolverine, Star Trek characters, and Hannah Montana.
- Retailers continue to mark down prices as it gets closer to Halloween, so hold out for extra discounts and special coupons before purchasing.
- Shipping adds up, look for stores with a standard free shipping policy.
- Pull out costumes from past Halloweens and update them for this year. A vampire cape can easily be transformed into a Hogwart’s cloak with a few new accessories like wands, owls and a Nimbus 2000 for a Harry Potter costume. Try BuyCostumes.com for deals on last year’s costumes.
- Make your own costumes using crafts and supplies from stores like Joann.com or Michaels.
- Buy candy in bulk online and use a coupon, try Candy Crate Stores, CandyWarehouse.com or the 99 Cent Only Stores.
- Make your own Halloween decorations and look for coupons for MisterArt.com or Fabric.com to help get you started.
- Buy costumes and decorations for next year after Halloween for huge savings.
Part of being a blogger is putting yourself out there. Well folks, this time I am *really* sticking my neck out. Here’s how it’s going to work:
You describe a low-budget Halloween costume in a comment.
On Halloween I dress up as the cheapest, most bizarre costume you’ve suggested. I promise I won’t stay in for the night but beg for candy door-to-door or go to a party where people can laugh at me!
Leave your comment by October 25 to be considered (gives me a week to put the costume together).
So fire away! What’s a low cost costume that you’d like to see me dress up as?
UPDATE: Reader Georgie made this fabulous suggestion – and she followed up with a pic! As soon as I get my photo uploads working, I’m going to share it.
Put a pair of green tights and top on and blow up green balloons and go as a bunch of grapes, we did it for the whole family last year, cheap as chips. I will email you a photo.
