Simply Thrifty

Halloween for Thrifty People

by Katelyn Thomas on August 24th, 2008

Can you believe that Halloween is just a bit over two months away? It used to be almost a throw away holiday for most people - slap a decoration on the door, stick out a bowl of candy and go watch a movie between groups of kids at the door. Now, it seems like people are into decorating, costumes and parties a lot more. So, how do you make your house spooky and find costumes and candy without blowing your budget?

I started preparing for this year’s Halloween during the first week of last November by buying plates, napkins, a few decorations and costumes that were a size or two larger than the ones the kids wore on Halloween. I got everything for 75-90% off, put it in an airtight storage bin and stowed it away.

Candy is a bit more of a challenge because it has a definite shelf life and you can’t simply pick up a big bag of M&M candies. Everything needs to be individually wrapped. I’ve heard of people who gave away toothbrushes to trick or treaters instead of candy because the toothbrushes were free after rebates, but I think that it would be pretty depressing to get something like that when you were expecting candy.

This year, I’ve been checking summer clearance sections regularly and managed to get a ton of plastic snakes and insects from the summer toy area at 75% or more off. I’ll be going buggy for Halloween and won’t bother with looking for candy at all. Other ideas for things that can be stored for some time are:

• Target dollar spot stuff  when it gets marked down to 75% off and there are several different things in the bag.
• Fun back to school supplies bought during the current big sales. Shaped erasers, pretty pencils, etc. will all hold up well for a few months and will be appreciated in October, since many children will be running low on some of the school supplies their parents bought in September.
• Big craft kits from any of the craft stores. They sell them for summer camps in large amounts. Just buy one or two kits on clearance and re-bag them as individual kits.

Image by Juliet James

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POSTED IN: Holiday Thrift