Use this thread to enter your Favorite Frugal Family Costumes

How do you and your family dress the part for the holidays? What are some fun and frugal tips you use?

Don't forget to include with each entry:

• Your budget
• The resources you used
• The time it took to create
• A picture of the finished product.


Good luck!

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Well I guess insomniacs get the first entries! =)

Ok, my costume idea is something I did in college when I had NO money! It was a last minute thing based on one of my fav. movies! "Newsies." =)

So first one all, you probably need to rent "Newsies" to show to your kids. I would probably do best with kids ages 6-12 (give or take). I like this costume because it can do for boys or girls, but the boys will probably be the most enthusiastic about it.

Budget: $4 per person...tops!!
Resources: (for each person)
-kaki pants, rolled up to about capri length
-boy's button down shirt (I suggest either tan, light blue, or blue pin-stripes)
-brown shoes (casual/dress)
-boys white socks (not rolled down)
-"page boy" hat (tan, grey, navy, etc)
-rolled up newspaper (can stick that in the back pocket of the pants, hanging out)
-suspenders (optional, but really cute)

It takes as much time to create as a search into your closet and a possible trip to the Salvation Army. When I did this costume myself (I am going to try to scan the picture later!!), I didn't need to shop for anything! It actually came about as a joke when one of my roomates put my tan "page boy" style hat on. The rest was easy! I allowed a $4 budget because most people won't have the hat for this costume, and that's what really makes the costume! You may be able to borrow a hat like that from someone or pick it up at your local Salvation Army. If you are a member of your local "freecycle" group, you could possibly request one on there as well.

Seriously, I think if you got the movie, let the kids watch it, they would love it! Then they could practice their "New York" accents and work on called the newspapers, "papes." Maybe they could even make up drawings or write their own "newspaper." You could make photo copies and they could offer "papes" to the neighbors when they go to their houses to trick-or-treat! lol...that would be funny!

Have fun!

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Bekah
Co-founder and CEO of the NOVITZKE FAMILY INC.

this really isn't something I budgeted but, Came up with once the boys told me what they wanted to be:
4 yr old : skeleton:
Black Longsleeve T: 3.50
Black Sweatpants: 3.50
one bottle of Glow in the Dark Paint: 3.00
Amount of time to make: 30 Min
I will post a pic

12 yr old wants to be a stick figure? LOL
one long sleeve black T: 2.50
pair of black sweatpants: 7.00
bottle of Green Glow in the dark paint: 3.00
Time to make: 15 min

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Drive like a Cullen

I have several that I have done over the years, so I am trying to pick one, okay, One year we made a Stop Light for my dd. We found a cardboard box that was a rectangular shape, then I painted it silver, found colored duct tape at the dollar store used that for the red,yellow and green lights, my dh made the little curved covers for each "light". I think the whole costume cost somewhere around $3-$5.
1 can of spray paint, colored reflective tape(red, yellow and green).
I will have to find a picture and post it. It was pre digital so I will need to find it and scan it.

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~Jill~

"Religion is meant to be bread for daily use, not cake for special occasions" ~ Unknown

Which is what my DS wants to be this halloween among other things.


A Cardboard Box (FREE)
Paint it any color child choose (spray paint 0.97 a can x2)
Or paint that is leftover from a project (free)

Cut out a hole for the arms in the sides, hole in the top for the head, the whole bottom will be open (cut away all flaps). For the top of the lego/box you will need to get sour cream containers (short ones) or butter containers and tape them to the top just like a lego and then paint the whole box. TADA!

Time spent: 1 hour

If you have a sewing machine, this is faster and cheaper than the tutus where you tie strips of tulle. I haven’t made one, but I read online you need 6 yards of tulle!?! I wasn’t about to spend $12 on a tutu so I made this one up instead.

Your daughter can be a ballerina, butterfly, fairy, princess or whatever with a tutu. My daughter is going to be a “candy corn princess” this year so her tutu is orange and yellow. These instructions are for preschooler/toddler sized. For a 4+ year old you’ll need more tulle to make it longer.

Cost: <$3.50
Time: 30 minutes
Resources: sewing machine
1 yard of tulle – ½ yard each of two different colors if desired ($1.99/yard at Jo-Ann)
1 inch wide ribbon – long enough to go around child’s waist, plus at least 18 inches to tie. I used 1 yard of ribbon for my toddler and it’s kind of short. (mine was $1.29/yard but I’m sure you can find much cheaper if you don’t need orange)
thread to match your ribbon

•Lay the tulle out so the 1 yard length is facing you. Cut the tulle into two pieces, one 16 wide and one 20 inches wide (16 + 20 = 1 yard). *note, if you’re using two different colors you may need a little more than ½ yard of one so they can be layered.
•Fold each piece in half lengthwise. Layer pieces of tulle on each other. Pin the open sides together, through all four layers. The two folds of the tulle will be the “bubbles”.
•Run a gathering stitch along the top of the tulle where you’ve pinned, through all four layers. Just use the longest stitch setting and leave long thread tails.
•Pin the tulle to the ribbon. Make sure the shorter piece (the 16” piece) of tulle will be closest to the ribbon so it will be the top layer. Pin the ends of the tulle to where the ribbon meets around your child’s waist and pin the middle of the tulle to the middle of the ribbon.
•Pull up the gathering stitches until the tulle is the same length as the section of ribbon to go around your child’s waist. The tulle gathers as you pull the bobbin thread. Pin the tulle to the ribbon and stitch to the ribbon.
•If you want you can put silk flowers or butterflies or whatever inside the bubbles and stitch them closed on the sides.

close up of how I sewed the gathers to the ribbon.

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swishina that is awesome!

Flea market / thrift store / garage sale / prior year costume Zombie...
Your budget around $5
The resources you used - found the robe outfit with bones at a thrift store about $3 (bought off season so price was way low), skeleton gloves were from the flea market $1 still was in original packaging (did buy more types for future costumes), mask was from a garage sale, funny that the gauge matched the costume really well. The mask was $2.
The time it took to create - just minutes

He was a kick at a neighbors house, they guy even invited us it to show his family my son's costume and commented how scary he was.

I typically reuse prior years costumes such as gloves & robes so if we find a scary mask it all works, no need to buy different costumes to wear one time. This year he got a old mans face with lots of hair to wear this year and that was $5 from walmart.
Building your own costume is much cheaper and most times the outcome is way better than a store bought one.


Attached is a photo, Im not sure if I did it correctly.

Attached Images

Alex - Halloween 2007.jpg (5.1 KB, 26 views)

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Alex & the spider monkey

Great work ladies- keep the great costumes coming!

If you need help posting photos, please refer to this thread How to: Post Pictures in the Gallery

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I ordered 1000 glowsticks from ebay. I got the for $40 which made them
4 cents each. I used about 100 on these costumes.

Glowsticks -$4.
cardboard cut in the shape of a dress and shirt/shorts - free
duck tape - I had onhand
clear packing tape - I had onhand.
Glow in the dark stars from wal-mart -2.

It took a couple hours to make but it was worth it. In the dark of night, it looked really cool.


Christy