Confession: Halloween is not my favorite holiday... not by a long shot. I used to love it but as costumes progressively get more gross, sexy, and bloody and retail stores rake in bucks second only to Christmas, Halloween has lost it's lustre in this house.Oh, the other reason I dread it?... I have 6 kids to outfit for the occasion. If I buy a costume... even a cheap one, it's expensive. If I make a costume (other than a gypsy, pirate, mummy or ghost) it's expensive. With Christmas just around the corner I prefer to save my well earned money for family gifts, entertaining, and celebrating things sacred.
So how can you outfit your little tribe for next to nothing?
Have a Costume Swap!
Gather all those church friends, neighbors, girlfriends and PTA moms and pool your resources together to pinch pennies for more important occasions.
::How to organize a Costume Swap::
::How to organize a Costume Swap::- Plan a Date.
- Decide what kind of swap to hold. Do you want to do a permanent swap?- or run it like a library and check out the costume to be returned to it's owner.
- Serve Food. Chocolate works best for bringing a crowd... no kidding. You can kill 2 birds with one stone and have a Costume/Chocolate Swap. Mmm... not a bad entry fee to the party!
- Invite everyone the world. Anyone you think would be interested. Use a service like Evite.com to send invites via email.
- Give instructions to invitees on how you will run the swap. Have them clearly mark their costumes for sizes and descriptions. You may designate specific places at the party for sizes so choosing costumes will be easy. You may want them to bring contact info to pass along to whomever borrows a costume.
- Consider giving attendees a number for every costume they bring. The numbers can then be used to fairly organize who chooses first via a drawing or rotation.
- Enjoy a cheap and easy Halloween and use the money you would have spent on costumes towards bills, Christmas, or crafting (and yes shameless plug... you can sell them for free HERE!)
Are you going to organize a Costume Swap? If you do, I want pictures and a report of how it went so I can post them here at the Palace! Email me at PrettyOrganized {at} gmail dot com.
Photo Credits: Disney Family Fun Magazine How to's are given for all costumes listed!
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5 comments:
Awesome idea!!! I love doing stuff like this with my girlfriends from MOPS. Such a nice alternative to going out and forking over $$ for a costume they'll wear once and maybe dress up in later. :)
I wanted to also let you know that I'm hosting my 2nd Decorating Dilemmas party, and will post it tonight after 10 (ET). Maybe you can stop by if you have anything to share (dilemma or solution!). :) There is a giveaway for partygoers. ;)
great idea! I LOVE Halloween and for that reason I always end up spending way more money than I originally planned for. It's out of control. This is a great idea and had I not gone out to buy all my costume making materials about an hour ago... I would SO organize one of these.
Thanks for all your ideas, You are helping me get control of my house! :)
Good idea! Halloween is not my favorite either and it seems to get bigger every year.
When my guys were little we always had a cowboy, a pirate, a scarecrow, because I had the basics and could go from there.
I did put one of them in gray sweats one year, added mouse ears and a long tail with a mouse trap at the end. easy.
I am laughing a little because the google ad on your blog is for sexy halloween costumes, oh the irony.
What a great Halloween costume swap.!! Halloween is my favorite holiday ever and I can't wait to start searching for costume.
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