Do you buy expensive Halloween costumes every year?

[Anonymous]

Kmart currently has all their costumes at 50% off (at least they were last I checked) and they aren't bad. Lots of selection.

[Anonymous]

no way. we got ours (lil' lion costume) for $12 through craig's list. i think a new one sells for $35-40 on amazon now. not only did we save a lot of money, but this costumer seemed to be better made with better materials years ago.

[Anonymous]

We buy the catalog costumes...and have a great dress-up box that's always a hit with visiting kids and leads to lots of imaginative play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last year for the first time I told my kids we would not buy costumes -- they could raid the already-existing supply of dress up, borrow stuff from me and DH, make their own (and I'd be willing to fund some fabric or such) . . . at first they were upset but in the end, it worked out GREAT. Cost about $10 for two costumes, they had fun being creative, and it only took about a day. I thought they looked better than the Party City stuff we got previous years for $40-50. And hopefully we evaded some of the holiday consumerism.

Great idea... how old are your kids?

[Anonymous]

Two income, one child family. To date, DD gets whatever costume she wants for Halloween. BUT she plays dress-up 3+ times per week, so I always know that we'll get a lot of use out of whatever we buy. Otherwise, I'd probably care more about how much the costumes cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I spend a LOT of money on Halloween costumes. My kids usually wear them to 3-5 events. We are sort of into Halloween at our house.

Us too! Halloween is a season at my house.

[Anonymous]

We've gone pretty cheap so far. A couple years, we found the costumes on sale at Old Navy or Kids R Us. (under $25 each.) One year, I created something when I couldn't find a pre-made costume. This year my daughter wanted to wear a costume she already had - one of her princess dresses. I was pretty psyched. We keep the costumes on the dress-up rack all year round after they've been worn on halloween, and we donate them when she outgrows them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year for the first time I told my kids we would not buy costumes -- they could raid the already-existing supply of dress up, borrow stuff from me and DH, make their own (and I'd be willing to fund some fabric or such) . . . at first they were upset but in the end, it worked out GREAT. Cost about $10 for two costumes, they had fun being creative, and it only took about a day. I thought they looked better than the Party City stuff we got previous years for $40-50. And hopefully we evaded some of the holiday consumerism.

Great idea... how old are your kids?

7 and 9.

One of them accepted the idea right away, the other pouted for awhile. Then when he saw what his little sister was going to make for her costume he got interested and ended up being so excited about what he made.

FYI, there was a section of the Wash Post last weekend or the one before that featured all homemade, mainly kid-made costumes (not the homemade meaning Martha Stewart type).

So . . . now to deal with the candy.

[Anonymous]

We have a dressup bin after one DD wanted dressup clothes for her birthday and leftover costumes from Disney World and last Halloween. So we didn't have to buy anything this year! But I usually ask them what they want to be and order ahead from a Halloween online shop, it's much cheaper and there's a better selection of characters than in Target, etc.

[Anonymous]

We can afford a more expensive costume, too, but keep it at around $35.

[Anonymous]

Yes, we do. But this year, when we topped $300 for 2 kids because of all the stupid accessories that go with the Wishcraft costumes, I told them this was the last year I am doing that kind of craziness. One of my kids only got one of the accessories or we would have been over $400.

Now it's a bad habit we have to break. I wish I had never let them start ordering out of that catalogue.