And, fabulous frugal woman that I am with a pension for cheap Halloween decorations, I had four ghosts ready ten minutes later for him to hang in the front yard. Here’s how you can do it too!

How to Make a Ghost – Cheap Halloween Decorations

Cut a King Size white sheet into fourths. Smaller sheets will make smaller ghosts. Go figure. Ignore the dog food in the floor in the background. That’s how the little dog likes it. He’s not spoiled.

Gather some of those plastic shopping bags you have laying around. Lay a few in the middle of one of the white sheet squares. Don’t pretend you don’t have any. I forget to take my reusable bags sometimes too. Use any extras for bathroom trash cans.

Gather the sides of the sheet up around the plastic bags and secure with a rubber band or hair band. White ribbon or string would work as well.

Draw ghost eyes on your Halloween ghosts. I did several different eyes for fun. I only had a green magic marker but you can’t really tell they aren’t black eyes. My husband hung ours in the front yard with fishing line.

How’s that for a fifteen minute ghost project?

Here are more Halloween articles to help you have a frugal Halloween and save money!

Save Money for Halloween

Cheap Halloween Costumes

Frugal Halloween Tips

Last Minute Halloween Costumes

Have a Cheap Halloween

Cheap Halloween Costumes
Halloween Tips and Advice
Last Minute Halloween Costume Ideas

More tips to help you have a cheap, and fun, Halloween!

Take your kids to free events in your town. Often, the city you live in or local organizations or churches will offer free Halloween events, such as safe trick-or-treating, costume contests, even parties!

Buy more generic costumes for older kids, such as princesses or pirates, that can be handed down to younger kids.

Have a Halloween swap with friends and exchange Halloween costumes and decor. A swap is a great way to make sure everyone has a cheap Halloween!

Instead of throwing a huge Halloween party, or going to one, where you will have to purchase a costume, spend the evening at home with your loved ones, a bowl of popcorn, some treats, and a couple of scary movies. Even if you have young ones, there are a great deal of Halloween movies for kids, such as Halloweentown on Disney.

If you want to have a Halloween party, throw a potluck version! Have everyone bring candy or treats, and decorations!

How are you having a cheap Halloween this year?

Check out these last minute Halloween costumes if you need something quick!

The hulk – tear up t-shirt and jeans and paint yourself green

Big bird – yellow boas and plastic beak

Peacock – glue peacock feathers to back of belt with blue skirt or tutu

Bat or butterfly – take apart old umbrella and glue to inside arms of hoodie

Rubik’s cube – cardboard box with squares of construction paper

Transformers – several cardboard boxes drawn to look like your fave

Robot – several cardboard boxes drawn to look like robot parts

Bumblebee- add black duct tape to a yellow dress

Charlie brown – add black duct tape zig zags to yellow shirt

Referee – black duct tape to white shirt with black shorts and shoes

Chef – chef’s hat, apron, and a wooden spoon or spatula

Men in black – black suit, sunglasses

Blackmail – dress all in black and place an image of a large stamp on your shirt

Grapes or Blueberries – dress all in purple or blue and attach purple or blue balloons all over you and go as grapes or blueberries

See examples of some of these costumes here.

Use all of the pumpkin by roasting the seeds or making a puree.

Throw the carved pumkin in your compost pile after the holiday.

Set safety rules before you head out for the night.

Reuse or recycle your costumes.

Take candy with you to work and set it on your desk to share with others if you have too much.

Hope you have a safe and happy Halloween!

Cheap Halloween Costume : A Ghost

The old white sheet as the ghost is well known as a Halloween costume and is one of the cheapest costumes you can make! Just take on old sheet, cut two eyes in it and drape it over your child. Not only is this easy but your child can wear whatever they want underneath which means you can bundle up so their warmer for those of us who live in areas with cold Halloween nights!

Cheap Halloween Costumes : Goblin

Find an old sweatshirt of your childs (or your own!), and cut ff the lower portion of the sleeves and the bottom few inches of the sweatshirt with large jagged cuts. Grab a bunch of scrap material from your fabric closet and cut up different colors and patterns into one inch wide strips that are about a foot long. Cut out a strip that is long enough to tie around your child’s head like a headband. Cut off the bottom of a pair of jeans to about the length of capris and create two bands for each leg. Attach the strips of material with safety pins to the headband, the bands around the bottom of the jeans and all over the sweatshirt. Pull up socks to your knees and add some shoes! Ifyou have face paint, paint your childs face green.

Cheap Halloween Costumes : Witch

Use a black sheet as the dress. Cut a hole in the middle for the child’s head to come through. Add a belt to create the appearance of a dress. Create a black witches hat with poster board. Find a pair of your old costume jewelry earrings for the child to wear and give the little witch a broom and she’s ready to go!

Cheap Halloween Costume : Frankenstein

Find a paper bag large enough to fit over your child’s head. Cut out two eyes and use crayons to color the bag green, color dark hair, a nose, and a frowning mouth. On the side use construction paper to make two cylinders that can be glued on either side of the bag. Have the child wear an old suit that you can ruff up or that is slightly to small.

Do you have any cheap Halloween costume ideas? Post your comments or send me an email explaining how to make the costume with pictures! Contact Us or Contribute to The Frugal Home.

credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce

The first holiday we can save money on is Halloween. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I enjoy all aspects of it, from the decorations to the costumes even to making halloween treats. I have to admit I am not big on the giant bags of candy that my husband wants to purchase at this time of year (the giant bag he eats all by himself because we live in the country and have never received a trick or treater at our door in five years), but I do enjoy all other parts!

It may seem like saving money during Halloween is just impossible but there are a few tricks (if you pardon the pun!) that you can use to keep more candy and more cash in your pocket!

You can begin to save money on Halloween by starting early and begin saving now. If you or your children will be needing costumes then you should start setting back money from each of your paychecks to help pay for a costume by the end of the month.

Other ways to save money on Halloween costumes are to make them yourself, gather your friends for a costume swap party, purchase a high grade costume to wear for many years, or purchase costumes for the next year the days or weeks after Halloween when all the costumes are drastically reduced in price.

After costumes, the Halloween candy itself can be very expensive. To save money, only purchase what you know you and your family will eat within that day and the amount you will give out to trick-or-treaters. Instead of buying the candy that you find in the aisle that is set up for Halloween, head to the actual candy aisle of your grocery store. Often you can find bags of candy for cheaper than those that have been marked up in the Halloween aisle.

Halloween parties can also be expensive unless you save money by turning it into a potluck type Halloween party. Don’t do it all yourself, instead have everyone bring a dish or candy to share. You could even get some girlfriends together a few hours before the party to help decorate and to share decorations they may have leftover from other parties.

What do you do to save money on Halloween? If you have more tips then perhaps you should write an article for The Frugal Home! Contribute here!