How to Have a Family Halloween Without Spending a Fortune
Simple ways to enjoy Halloween with the kids without blowing your budget.
Halloween can be a lot of fun for children, but the costs can quickly add up. Costumes, pumpkins, decorations, sweets, Halloween activities and special food can turn what should be a fun evening into an expensive one.
The good news is that you don’t need to spend a fortune to make Halloween feel special.
With a little planning, you can create a fun Halloween for the whole family while keeping your spending under control. From making costumes from things you already have at home to creating your own Halloween movie night, there are plenty of ways to enjoy the spooky season for less.
Whether you’re trying to keep Halloween under £20 or simply want to avoid unnecessary spending, these ideas can help you make the most of what you already have.
🎃 Inside This Guide
- Save money on Halloween costumes
- Make your own decorations
- Plan a Halloween night at home
- Keep Halloween food affordable
- Save money on sweets and treats
- Find cheap or free Halloween activities
- Make your pumpkin budget stretch further
- Avoid common Halloween spending traps
- Create affordable family traditions
💚 Worth Knowing
You don’t need to recreate the picture-perfect Halloween displays you see online.
Children are often just as happy dressing up, eating a few treats, watching a spooky film and playing games together. The memories you create matter much more than how much you spend.
1. Don’t Buy a Brand-New Costume Every Year
Halloween costumes can be one of the biggest expenses, particularly if you have more than one child.
Before buying anything, look at the costumes you already own. Children often don’t mind wearing an old costume again, particularly if you add a few new accessories.
You could also mix pieces from different costumes to create something completely different.
A black dress, for example, could become a witch costume with a hat and face paint, while old sports clothes could become the starting point for a zombie costume.
Quick tip: Take a photo of your children’s previous costumes and keep a small box of Halloween accessories. Hats, capes, masks and props can be reused year after year.
2. Look for Second-Hand Costumes
If you do need a new-to-you costume, check second-hand options before heading to the shops.
Vinted, Facebook Marketplace, charity shops and local selling groups can all be useful places to look.
Children often only wear Halloween costumes once or twice, so you can sometimes find costumes in excellent condition for much less than buying new.
You could even sell your children’s old costumes afterwards and put the money towards next year’s Halloween.
3. Make a DIY Costume From Clothes You Already Own
You don’t need to be particularly crafty to make a simple Halloween costume.
Try looking through your children’s wardrobes first.
Some easy ideas include:
- Witch
- Vampire
- Skeleton
- Zombie
- Cat
- Ghost
- Scarecrow
- Mummy
Face paint and a few simple accessories can completely change an outfit.
A white top and trousers can become a skeleton with some black fabric pen designs, while an old shirt and some messy makeup can make a simple zombie costume.
The best part? You aren’t buying an entire costume that might only get worn once.
4. Make Your Own Halloween Decorations
Halloween decorations can be surprisingly expensive, especially when you’re tempted by new decorations every year.
Instead, make some yourself.
Paper, cardboard, old boxes and black bin bags can become:
- Bats
- Ghosts
- Spiders
- Tombstones
- Bunting
- Paper pumpkins
Get the children involved and turn decorating the house into part of your Halloween activities.
You could even keep your homemade decorations and reuse them next year.
5. Have a Halloween Movie Night
You don’t need to pay for an expensive Halloween event to make the evening feel special.
Create your own Halloween movie night at home.
Let the children choose a suitable film, make some popcorn and turn off the main lights. Add blankets, cushions and homemade decorations to make the room feel different from an ordinary movie night.
You could even make it a tradition that everyone gets to choose a Halloween film each year.
6. Make Halloween Food at Home
Halloween-themed food looks impressive, but it doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive.
Use ordinary family favourites and give them a spooky twist.
For example:
Mummy pizzas
Add strips of cheese to homemade or shop-bought pizzas to make them look like mummies.
Monster sandwiches
Use cookie cutters or add vegetable “eyes” to ordinary sandwiches.
Halloween cupcakes
Bake simple cupcakes and decorate them with icing and sprinkles.
Ghost bananas
Use small pieces of chocolate or edible eyes to turn bananas into little ghosts.
You don’t need to make everything Halloween-themed. One or two fun treats can make an ordinary family meal feel special.
7. Buy Sweets Carefully
If you’re expecting trick-or-treaters, sweets can quickly become an unexpected expense.
Rather than buying lots of individual bags, compare the price per 100g and look for multipacks.
It’s also worth deciding in advance how much you’re comfortable spending.
If you have children who are going trick-or-treating, give each child a limit rather than buying huge amounts of sweets for the evening.
That keeps the cost under control and can also help prevent a mountain of leftover sweets afterwards.
8. Look for Free or Cheap Halloween Activities
You don’t have to pay for a Halloween attraction to enjoy the season.
Check your local area for:
- Library activities
- Community events
- School events
- Halloween craft sessions
- Pumpkin trails
- Local parks
- Free museum activities
- Community centres
- Halloween discos
Your local Facebook groups and council website can be useful places to look for events.
If you do want to visit a paid attraction, compare prices before booking and check whether there are family tickets or early-bird offers.
9. Don’t Overspend on Pumpkins
Pumpkins are one of those Halloween purchases that can easily get out of hand.
If you’re buying several pumpkins for a family, think about how many you actually need.
One pumpkin can be enough for a child to carve, particularly if you make the carving part of a family activity.
You can also save the seeds and roast them afterwards instead of throwing them away.
And don’t forget to use the pumpkin flesh where possible. Depending on the variety, it can be used in soups, baking and other recipes.
10. Create Your Own Halloween Traditions
Some of the best Halloween memories don’t cost much at all.
You could start a family tradition such as:
- Making homemade Halloween decorations
- Choosing a Halloween film
- Having a spooky treasure hunt
- Making Halloween pancakes
- Taking Halloween photos
- Having a family costume competition
- Going for an evening walk to look at decorations
- Making a Halloween playlist
- Baking something together
The tradition itself becomes something your children look forward to every year.
🎃 A Simple Halloween Budget
If you’re trying to keep spending under control, set your budget before you start shopping.
For example:
| Halloween expense | Budget |
|---|---|
| Costumes | £20 |
| Decorations | £5 |
| Pumpkins | £8 |
| Sweets | £10 |
| Halloween food | £10 |
| Total | £53 |
You could reduce this even further by using costumes and decorations you already own, making food at home and choosing free activities.
The important thing isn’t the exact amount you spend. It’s deciding what you actually want to spend before the Halloween shopping begins.
💡 5 Halloween Spending Traps to Avoid
Buying costumes too early
You may see lots of Halloween products in shops and feel like you need to buy them immediately. Decide what your children actually need first.
Buying decorations every year
If you buy a few reusable decorations, there’s no need to replace them each Halloween.
Paying for activities without comparing them
Check what’s available locally for free or at a lower cost before booking an expensive attraction.
Buying too many sweets
Work out how much you realistically need rather than filling the trolley with Halloween treats.
Trying to make everything perfect
Social media can make Halloween look like a huge production. Your family doesn’t need a professionally decorated house or elaborate costumes to have a great time.
💚 Halloween on a Budget Checklist
Before you start spending, ask yourself:
☐ Can we reuse last year’s costumes?
☐ Can I find costumes second-hand?
☐ Do we really need new decorations?
☐ Can we make some decorations ourselves?
☐ Can we make Halloween food at home?
☐ Have I checked for free local activities?
☐ Have I compared ticket prices?
☐ How many pumpkins do we actually need?
☐ How much do I want to spend on sweets?
☐ Have I set a total Halloween budget?
☐ Can we start a new family tradition that costs little or nothing?
Final Thoughts
Halloween doesn’t have to be expensive to be memorable.
A homemade costume, a pumpkin, some spooky decorations and a family film can be enough to create an evening your children remember for years.
Instead of trying to buy everything that catches your eye, decide what matters most to your family and spend your money there. Use what you already have, get creative where you can and look for free or inexpensive activities in your local area.
Saving money doesn’t mean missing out. Sometimes it means slowing down and making the experience itself part of the fun.
