Halloween should be a night of fun. But, many parents dread this holiday coming round. It's bad enough having to come up with great costume ideas every year. Paying through the nose for them can just make things worse. With a little forward planning, however, both parents and kids can have a great time without breaking the bank.
Making Halloween Costumes at Home
There's no reason why parents can't make their own costumes at home. They don't need to have ace sewing skills or even to be particularly creative. An old sheet with some holes cut out for eyes can make a perfect ghost. A black t-shirt and black trousers can be used as the base of a skeleton costume. Some face paint and bones cut out of white paper can finish off the look. Looking for the simple answer can often create a great costume with minimum fuss and effort.
Look for Halloween Costume Ideas Online
Parents who can't come up with an idea that their child likes can spend some time with them looking at ideas online. There are many different websites where parents share their home-made costume ideas. Some will simply give some inspiration and others may even give step by step instructions. Looking at stores that sell Halloween costumes can also be a good option. Parents don't have to buy from the sites at the end of the day but they could be a good way of finding a costume idea that they can make at home.
Borrow Halloween Costumes From Others
As parents know, kids grow fast. A costume that was too big for them last year could now be way too small. Why not get together with other parents and pool resources? Costumes that are too small and accessories that won't be used this year can all be swapped. Parents could also get together and split the cost of some face paints if they are planning a joint trick or treating trip or a Halloween party.
Adapt Existing Costumes for a Halloween Theme
Any costume or set of dressing up clothes can be adapted for trick or treating or Halloween. All parents need to do is to make it look scary. So, for example, a pirate outfit could be turned into a pirate zombie with some face paints. A Harry Potter cloak could be transformed into a vampire's cape. Looking at what is already in the house (and again swapping with other parents) can be a quick and easy way of creating a costume.
Buying Halloween Accessories and Costumes Online
Whilst many parents won't want to spend a lot buying a costume there are ways of doing this at a lower cost. Many online costume sites will sell outfits at discounted rates. They are also an extremely useful source of accessories. Stuff like a mask, a wig, some vampire teeth or some face paints can turn a kid in even normal clothes into something quite scary for hardly any money. Free Halloween crafts sites may also be worth a look.
Get the Kids Involved
There is no point thinking about creating a Halloween costume before talking to the child that will wear it. Small kids may happily wear whatever their parents give them, of course, but as they get older they will start to develop their own ideas about what they want to wear. They may also not want to wear the same outfit two years running. Talk through their choices here and get them involved in putting the costume together. This will also make it much more fun for them.
Carol Finch - Carol Finch is the Topic Editor for Retirement Planning, Budgeting, E-Commerce & Technical/Business Writing on Suite101.
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