How to survive Halloween without scaring your bank account

Halloween is fast approaching, meaning it’s time for you to pull together your fancy dress costumes, create your list of spooky Halloween films and run to the shop to pick up the sweets and candy for those little monsters trick-or-treating at your door.

The problem is,each year the holiday grows bigger and bigger, meaning Halloween is slowly sneaking up on our money.  Since last year’s celebrations limited us to sitting on our couch watching spooky films, this year is probably going to be a big one. 

Don’t be fooled by the temptation to buy that big animatronic Halloween prop from the supermarket or that crazily accurate costume from Amazon; Halloween doesn’t have to kill your bank balance. 

Budgeting

Now, we at Financielle love love love budgeting.  Planning and preparing helps us to avoid those frightening surprises and allows us to have breathing space when it comes to our spending.  If you’ve not made room in your budget for Halloween this year, you may find that it stretches the finances a little! Think of Halloween as the spooky version of Christmas, just instead of gifts, it’s sweets; instead of ugly knitted sweaters, it’s a skeleton costume; and instead of a Christmas tree, it’s plastic skulls and pumpkins. 

Planning for this occasion is key.   That being said, Halloween is right around the corner, so if you haven’t got a Halloween budget, try to incorporate some Halloween spending into your other budget categories such as groceries and fun and try to make the money stretch further.

DIY-ing your decorations

Now we’re sure that you are aware of DIY Halloween decorations, but they can be a really good alternative without the big price tags. DIY-ing is like a two for one deal, not only are you getting your decorations, but you can invite a couple of friends around and have a Spooky Mate Date, or it’s a great activity to do with the kids. 

There are so many crafting ideas out there on the internet, whether you google them or pin them to your Halloween Pinterest Board, you’re definitely not going to run out of ideas. 

If you’re not careful with your choices though, DIY-ing your decks can very easily go from budget friendly to your budget’s enemy. Getting all the tools and materials you need could mean your Halloween budget takes a huge hit. Unless you already have a lot of the necessary equipment for it, you might want to review the costs of everything before you run to your nearest crafting shop. 

Shop Your Wardrobe

Now this is a big one.  Costumes can be a huge drain on the Halloween budget. If you’re still yet to pick out your costume, look no further than your own wardrobe. There are plenty of ideas on Pinterest and Google, and you can go so far with just a little bit of imagination. 

Your costume doesn’t have to be a lazy white sheet ghost look, you can easily create a powerful witch from that little black dress in the back of your wardrobe with a bit of magic and makeup skills. Or become your favourite character from a show like The Office, since you just need some basic clothes, hair and makeup.  You too can look just like you belong in Michael Scott’s team. 

Halloween Ambience

Your party doesn’t need to be fully decked out with spooky decorations to create a creepy atmosphere. One of our favourite hacks is free and super effective! Simply connect your TV to Youtube and find a great ‘Halloween Television Background’ video for your party. They create a great ambience for your Halloween evening or party. 

Whether it’s a spooky parlour room from a haunted mansion or a creepy, crackly fireplace, there’s tons to choose from and it’s all free. And paired with a great Halloween playlist from Spotify you can create a full immersive feel without all the expensive decorations. 

You can also do a lot with the food and drink at your party. If you’re batch-making cocktails, add a little food colouring and watch as your guests freak out over a purple Sex on the Beach, (it’s a lot of fun, trust us).

Once Halloween is over…

Obviously Halloween has to end, but that doesn’t mean the fun is over. The week following Halloween is the perfect time to buy decorations for next year. Since the stores need to free up space for their Christmas merchandise, the prices of their Halloween stock is massively reduced. It’s never too early to start planning for next year’s celebrations and with big fancy decorations being the cheapest just after Halloween it’s the perfect time to pick them up. 

There’s also usually quite a large amount of Halloween candy leftover in the home.  Now we won’t judge you if you sit and eat it all on the couch on the first of November, but try to see this as a great little lunch or snack addition. If you keep your candy purely for a snack at lunch time, you can probably get to Christmas without spending extra on sides for your sandwiches. 

Join Financielle for Spooky Week in the lead up to Halloween over on Instagram… 

Happy Haunting!