Is your family’s social calendar filling up this season? The autumn brings a wealth of holidays, festivals, children’s parties, and of course, Halloween – all of which often require costumes! We all love to play dress-up, but outfitting the whole family in costumes for each party can really add up over time. Here are six ways to cut costs on family costumes, whether they’re for Halloween or for other seasonal festivities
- Arrange a swap with friends and family.
Before you spend any money at all, why not try to get some new costumes for free while getting rid of the ones you don’t need at the same time? A good way to do this is to arrange a swap with your neighbours or friends, particularly those who also have children around the same age. If you want to get even more ambitious, you could arrange a larger-scale swap at the library or community centre.
- Shop online to compare prices.
Even with swapping old bits and pieces of costumes, you still might need some new elements to put your look together. Before you head out to the nearest party store in town, try shopping online first to get a feel for what’s out there. Costume sites like Funidelia often have better prices that brick and mortar retailers, or you could shop via merchants like eBay or Amazon to garner steep discounts.
- Shop at the tail end of the season.
If you leave your shopping until the week before Halloween, you’ll be paying for your costumes at a mark-up. Consider shopping a few weeks in advance, or even just after the holiday has passed. Autumn brings with it a number of harvest festivals and other occasions for costumes, so think beyond Halloween and be ready to swoop in after the 31st for the best deals.
- Sell your old costumes.
Have your kids outgrown their old costumes but left them in great shape? You could try selling them on sites like eBay or Craigslist. Another option is to take them to consignment stores, where you’ll be able to get some cash to pay for a brand new Corpse Bride costume from Funidelia!
- Plan to reuse costumes for next year.
Do you have a full brood where costumes can be handed down, or are your kids at the age where they’ll want to be the same thing year after year? Buy your costumes a size too large and you’ll be able to reuse them.
- Follow costume shops on social media.
Remember good, old-fashioned paper coupons? You may still use them to do the weekly grocery shop, but many retailer now take electronic discount codes as well. Rather than turning to the Sunday paper to cut them out, the best place to look for these is on retailers’ social media accounts. Follow Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat to gain access to coupons and discounts that you wouldn’t otherwise find.
Preparing for autumn costume parties doesn’t have to leave you broke for the rest of the holiday season! Just shop around and reuse costumes whenever possible, and you’ll be left with happy kids and more money in your pocket.
Halloween is one of my favorite days of the year. We like to throw a big bash and go all out in costumes and decor. Thanks for these money saving tips.
Costumes are so expensive especially knowing they only get worn once most of the time. Thanks for these awesome money saving ideas.
These are all great tips. I hate that costumes are so expensive. We usually make something by ourselves for my girls. It’s easier and less expensive that way.
A costume swap is a great idea. I will have to organize one with my friends.
I am always looking to save money on Holidays. I will have to try selling the kids old costumes.
Great ideas. My daughter’s favorite holiday is Halloween. And she did wear the costume for a few years in a row cause she loved it so much.
I would never think to shop for Halloween after Halloween has ended. This is a great idea though, especially for young kids who don’t yet particularly care what they are for Halloween.
My kids would wear there costumes all through the year like clothes so I always figured they were good investments. My daughter would often repeat the same costume for years. A costume box at our house was a must.
I have all our old costumes. That would be such a great idea to share with others, but I can’t part with them yet!
As a mother of three I love these ideas. I never budget enough for how expensive Halloween is!
These are awesome tips for saving money on costumes – I tend to get carried away every year with the 3 kids!
These are great ideas, especially the costume swap – I tend to DIY a kids costume every year, but if I ever run out of time, a swap with another family with toddlers and preschoolers would be a great idea!
Buying new costumes every year for Halloween can be expensive. Thanks for sharing these tips, I love reusing materials that I’ve purchased once. Liam was a shark last year wearing a costume that I got for $5!
We have been buying new costumes every year and for 6 kids it gets so expensive. Now 7, I will for sure need to be saving lots! I am dreading it this year.
I love Halloween, it is one of my favorite holidays! These are great tips on costuming. Enjoy all you festivities. 🙂
~Lorelai
Life With Lorelai
With Halloween coming up, this is a really great post full of wonderful ideas. Thanks for sharing!
I usually shop the after Halloween sales and get the next year’s costumes. I wait until they are $1 and $2 and get about 10 to 15 costumes. Save on Halloween and tons of outfits to play dress up in. It’s a win win!
It’s always nice to look out for discounts and sales especially with items like your child’s Halloween costume. They’re only going to use it once a year so it’s good to be able to save.
These are all great ways to save money on Halloween costumes. I can’t believe it is already time for Halloween. The idea of swapping costumes with friends is an awesome idea and I will have to share this with family members with little ones. Thanks for sharing the money saving ideas.
I usually borrow mine from friends…their kids are all older. I can bear to spend a fortune on a costume that my kids are going to wear one time!
These are great tips and I love comparing the different stores online and looking for coupons. When they were younger, I would buy them second hand to save money.
These are wonderful tips. We love to make costumes but when selling the old costumes would be a great way to earn some money!
I love Halloween and all of the costumes. I use to sell the old costumes on tag sale sites on Facebook and then my daughter would use the money to make a new costume.
That pic is too cute! I love Halloween and getting ready with new costumes each year.
What great ideas. We swap and reuse and I’ll have to implement some of your other tips too. I love saving money where I can.
Halloween can get kind of expensive, especially when you have more than one kid to buy for. I definitely would recommend a swap, or buying second hand. Great tips.
We love Halloween and sometimes to save money on costumes, we just make our own. Thanks for sharing your awesome tips!