They have cute Halloween costumes at Target and Walmart for $10. Even less now, many are being discounted

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.

We make ours. I feel like I spend too much on supplies, but much of it is art supplies that I would buy anyway for the kids (they get as much enjoyment from making the costumes as they do wearing them -- who cares if they aren't always totally recognizable).

Anonymous wrote:Tot Swap. $4-12 for a great $25-50 costume. Done. Of course, my kids are under 5. Eventually there will be more specific requests and negotiations involved.

My kids are older than yours and I still was able to find them costumes at Totswap this year. In all honesty, there were A LOT of costumes there this time though.

And, we wear them to multiple events yearly.

i would not hestiate to spend $40-50 on a halloween costume -- maybe a little more, depending on what it was. if nothing else, she'll enjoy it and the pictures will be adorable. (And I am someone who never buys expensive clothes for my kid -- this is just a fun splurge.)

i love making costumes (and not necessarily more cost efficient than buying )so that what works for me. but if i was doing store bought costumes, i would probably go for the nicer costume, within reason. if i knew none of my younger children would wear it in the future or wouldn't want it for dress up, i would try selling it the following fall. our neighborhood listerv has hundreds of emails of people looking for or selling their costumes.

I am so bad at making anything, I just buy them. They are, at most, $40, whereas I would spend hours trying to pull something together -- with probably $15 worth of materials (and in the end it would look like crap and I'd just go buy something).

Since my son has been old enough to pick what he wants to be, I spend between 35 and 50 bucks a year. I only have one kid, and it is fun for me to see him in the costume. Plus I'm not particularly crafty and have very little free time, so for the foreseeable future we are in the "buying" camp vs. "making" camp.

I spent just over $300 last year. DD wanted the rose costume from wishcraft and she also wanted the green fairy so I got her both. She will re-use the rose this year and she played dress up with them off and on all year.

Sometimes. There's really only a handful of years where kids care about their Halloween costumes, and some years have been homemade (but sometimes I spend more making it myself!) while other years have been storebought. I cheap out on stuff here and there, but we get enough use out of the costumes with parties and try to get some good photos. I remember a bunch of my Halloween costumes from when I was growing up and hated the cheap/uncomfortable ones

Tot Swap. $4-12 for a great $25-50 costume. Done. Of course, my kids are under 5. Eventually there will be more specific requests and negotiations involved.

Anonymous wrote:I buy new after Halloween each year. They are given as part of xmas presents and the kids are thrilled...they are new costumes, new for Halloween, they get a year of play out of them...and they are 75-90% off. So the answer is, yes the would be expensive but I buy them for $10 or less.

Halloween costume as a Xmas present?
WTF

yes, we use old costumes for dress-up.

I think we get our money's worth.

I would happily spend $50 on a costume this year because my 8yo wants to be a creeper, and no creeper costumes exist. NO "real" creeper costumes exist, they must be handmade. Damn you Pinterest! I was begging him last night to think of something else because I can't fathom spending 2 weekends trying to put this together for one night, and knowing him, he will think it's uncomfortable!!!

I'm all about being handy and love upcycling, but the effort for one night....I buy.

I try to spend no more than $25.