Budget Friendly Halloween Fun

By Lisa Kothari

Ghouls, ghosts, and goblins- oh my! This year, take your ‘All Hallows Eve’ from spooky to spectacular! Whether it’s just the family or all of the neighborhood kids, these fun and easy, budget-friendly activities and costume ideas will be a hit!

 

 

Activities to keep them busy

• Make Spiders, using Styrofoam balls, spray paint them black, and add black pipe cleaners. Have the kids assemble the legs and attach a smaller ball as the head.
• Make little ghosts using Tootsie Roll Pops, small little squares of old white sheets, some colorful string, and a black marker for the eyes. Easy and festive.
• Play Pass The Pumpkin, have the kids sit in a circle and pass small pumpkins and gourds to music. When the music stops, whoever isn't holding a pumpkin is out!
• Have some Mummy Fun. Break up the kids into two teams, provide several rolls of toilet paper to both teams, choose one person to mummify. The team to wrap the mummy in toilet paper the fastest wins!
• Build a Scarecrow by dividing the kids into two teams and provide old clothes, pillowcases, newspapers, and markers. Give them 20 minutes to build their scarecrow.

Budget-friendly costumes

Bunch of Grapes
Wear purple and green sweats or tights, etc. Blow up purple and green balloons and attach all over your body with safety pins. Wear matching makeup on hands and face to blend in.

Bubble Bath
Take a white laundry basket and cut out the bottom. (Try to find one that does not have holes in it otherwise tape a white cardboard piece to the inside of the laundry basket so as to show no holes.) Attach two stripes of material to each side of the laundry basket, connecting front and back for shoulder straps. Blow up white, lavender, pink, and pearl colored balloons and safety pin them to the basket for your bubbles. Wear all white underneath, and add a shower cap, slippers, and a washcloth or poofy brush for added effect.

Dresser
Take a large cardboard box and attach long flat boxes to the front and back and hot glue small balls on the front for pulls. Cut out holes for arms on the sides and hole on top for head. Use a hot glue gun to attach foam to the inside of the box where your shoulders will rest to hold it up. Paint the dresser and write on each drawer: sweaters, socks, underwear, shirts, etc. Use your hot glue gun to place dresser accessories on top, a hairbrush, baubles, hair clips, etc. Complete the costume by hanging (again use the hot glue gun and use old stuff) socks, shirt, and sweaters out of the drawers. Place a small lamp shade on your head so your neck and face appear as the base of a lamp.

Window Box
Take a plastic window box and cut out the bottom. Place rope suspenders on each side of the window box to wear over your shoulders. Use plastic flowers placed in Styrofoam and Spanish moss attached to the inside (with a glue gun) of the window box for the flowers. Make a flower head piece. Cut out large petals from bright construction paper, and attach the pieces to a headband.