Love it or hate it, the Halloween industry is now worth a whopping £418m in the UK – and it’s getting bigger and bigger each year as shops and businesses cash in on the most spooky time of the year. So how do you stop these zombies from devouring your hard-earned cash while still having a scarily good time?
Craft some truly terrifying homemade decorations
Single use decorations are among the biggest costs on Halloween, especially if you have a whole haunted house to kit out with spiders, cobwebs and skeletons. Plus, all that plastic isn’t going to be too kind to the planet either, so why not save the pennies and make your own? Crack out glue and pipe cleaners, use wool for cobwebs and mix up some fake blood with red food colouring.
Even if you’re not very crafty, your crude efforts alone might be enough to scare off any spirits (and guests). Plus, they should be good to keep for years to come!
Conjure up your own tasty Halloween treats
Good food is the centrepiece to a good party, but that shouldn’t mean you end up breaking the bank to put on a feast for your guests. Beware bewitching deals in supermarkets which may not be all they seem, especially anything that’s specifically ‘Halloween’ branded. Party food like sausage rolls and crudities are all easy enough to make from scratch, and cheaper too.
Or, you could go ‘yellow sticker’ hunting – most supermarkets will reduce the price of food when it’s due to go out of date the next day, typically in the evenings. If you pop your party food straight in the freezer when you get home, it’ll last until the big day.
Banish the bloodsuckers with a BYOB policy
Seeing as you’ve now gone to all of this trouble to turn your home into a haunted house and provide a banquet of witches’ fingers (chicken goujons) and goblin eyes (scotch eggs), why should you have to pay for all of the booze as well?
Gently encourage your adult guests to bring their own poisons and share the cost burden among friends.
Channel Frankenstein’s monster and DIY your own costume
Perhaps the most stressful thing about Halloween is the dreaded costume – the new one that you feel obliged to purchase every Halloween because society tells you it’s not ok to re-wear the same one as last year.
This is where you can get inventive – cut up some old clothes, splash a bit of fake blood around and hey presto, you’ve got a zombie. Many common household fabrics such as old curtains, sheets and blankets can easily be repurposed into cloaks and robes. Adding a fancy cape to your usual business suit makes a vampire. Or, you could simply stay in your own clothes and attend the party as the terrifyingly thrifty host you’ve now become!
Hop on your broomstick and get out and about for Halloween
If you don’t want to host your own party with all the stress and drama that brings, why not BOOk yourself a Halloween experience instead? There is stuff going on all throughout the spooky season and plenty for the kids to get involved in as well as adults too, and it might turn out a bit cheaper than hosting your own party anyway.
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