Where to Find Cheap or Free Kids Halloween Costumes
Halloween is just around the corner and if you have children that means a new Halloween costume has to be purchased for this year’s trick or treat festivities. No child wants to to be caught dead in last year’s Halloween costume so it’s off to the costume store you go to pay at least $30.00 for a costume your child will wear for a couple of hours on just one night.
If you have more than one child you could easily spend over $100.00 just on Halloween costumes. For cash-strapped parents that’s a titanic chunk of money that could be use to pay bills or purchase necessities for their family. Fortunately there are a few inexpensive alternatives to purchasing a brand-new Halloween costume every year that are good for your pocketbook and will allow you to gather your child a costume they will fancy.
Eight Places You Can Salvage Inexpensive or Free Children’s Halloween Costumes
1. Freecycle
For free Halloween costumes you could try posting a wanted on your local Freecycle group or watching the offers to see if someone is giving away a costume you could utilize for your child. To post on Freecycle you will need to fetch your local group and become a member. Once you do that you are expected to offer an item of yours that you no longer need for free. Once you have done that you can posted a wanted for Halloween costumes. If someone has what you are looking for they will send you an email letting you know how to contact them to make arrangements to choose up the costumes.To find your local Freecycle go to www.freecycle.org
2. Craigslist
To find cheap or free Halloween costumes you can try looking on your local Craigslist in both the for sale section and the free section. Craigslist is like a giant online yard sale so you never know what you will find in the way of costumes but the ones you do find are almost always less then what you would pay if you bought the same costume at a costume shop.To find your local Craigslist go to www.craigslist.org and look for your state and the city nearest where you live. People who sell or buy from Craigslist are advised not to ship items so you will need to make arrangements to pick up your Halloween costume in person.
3. Ebay
Ebay www.ebay.com is a spacious place to shop for inexpensive Halloween costumes. On Ebay you will procure a tall number of new and used costumes up for auction or listed as a buy it now which is a set amount that the seller wants for their Halloween costume. If you find a costume you like you can either buy it now if that option is offered or place a whisper on a costume for your child. Once the auction is over The person with the highest bid will win the costume.To befriend cease in your budget decide how much you are willing to pay for a costume prior to bidding and if the amount goes over that then refrain from going any higher. There are plenty of costumes on Ebay so if you don’t win you will most likely glean another costume to enlighten on if you just keep looking. If you do choose to buy a costume from Ebay start shopping early as prices tend to go higher the nearer to Halloween it gets and you also want to leave enough to time for the costume to be shipped and received before Halloween.
4. Children’s Resale Shop
Children’s resale shops are a great place to go for inexpensive gently used Halloween costumes. Usually these types of shops commence putting their costumes out in September and they do go fast so go early for the best selection. Usually children’s resale shops carry mostly used store bought costumes but I have seen a few homemade costumes from time to time. If you have Halloween costumes that your children have outgrown you may be able to sell them to the store for store credit which you can use to purchase a costume for your child with. Check with your local resale shop to get out what their policy is on buying clothes.
5. Thrift Store
As Halloween draws near thrift stores begin to bring out their stock of Halloween costumes. You can find everything from popular store bought character costumes to more unique homemade Halloween costumes at your local thrift store. Costumes are usually priced well under $10.00 making them an helpful choice for parents who don’t want to or can’t afford to spend a lot on a Halloween costume for their child.
6. Family and Friends
Family and friends can be a great resource for free Halloween costumes especially if their children are older than yours. Chances are they still have last years Halloween costume stored someplace and wouldn’t mind either giving it to you or loaning it out for the night. Once you are done with it you can either return the costume if it was only on loan or give it to someone else to use the following year. Not only will doing this save you money it is also very eco-friendly to reuse a costume instead of buying a new one year after year.
7. Your Own Closet
Your own closet or your child’s can be the source of a great homemade costume that will cost you very little to put together. Last year my daughter went as Coraline from the children’s animated movie Coraline in a costume I created out of our closet. The only thing I had to purchase was some glow in the dark puff paint and a blue wig. The whole costume cost me less than 10.00 to put together and she looked great. You may need to make a few alterations to what you find or purchase a couple of things to add to the costume but the cost will still be less than what you would have paid for a new costume.
8. After Halloween Sales
For costumes that have been marked down 50 to 75 percent of their suggested retail price you may want to take advantage of after Halloween sales both at the store and online. Although it won’t help parents save money on this years Halloween costume it could abet cut down costs on next years costume. If Halloween rolls around and you child doesn’t want to wear the costume you purchased the year before you could always sell it at a profit and use the money toward the purchase of a different costume.
Young children really just want to be something different each year and it doesn’t matter to them where the costume came from or how new it is, they are more concerned with whether it looks good or not.
Tagged with: costume express • homemade kids halloween costumes • kids games • Kids Halloween Costumes • party city • scary kids halloween costumes
Filed under: Halloween Costumes
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