Have you looked at Halloween costumes in recent years and been appalled at how expensive they can be? You can pay anywhere from $50 on up for a costume you’re only going to wear one time which seems like an expensive proposition. Although some of these expensive costumes are darling, you need to ask yourself if you really need a costume that costs that much or if you could get by with a cheap Halloween costume. The same is true when buying a costume for your child. No matter how cute a costume is, chances are good that your child isn’t going to want to wear the same one again next year, so buying an expensive costume isn’t going to be a very practical investment.

Obviously, the cheapest Halloween costumes are those which you devise yourself using bits and pieces you have around the house. For example, large cardboard box can be painted black and decorated with white dots to create a dice costume. Maybe you’d like to wear a pink sweatsuit and carry a pink feather duster. When anyone asks you what you are, tickle their nose with the duster and tell them that you’re just ‘tickled pink’. After the holiday you’ll still be able to wear the sweatsuit and use the duster, so you won’t have wasted any money.

Renting a costume is probably going to be the next best option when it comes to stretching your Halloween dollars. You may have a rental shop locally where you can pay a moderate fee in order to rent a costume for one day. There also may be a little theater group in the area that would be willing to rent you a costume. If you don’t have the local resources to rent your cheap Halloween costume, you can find rental companies online, but you will find that these companies also charge hefty fees. Most online rentals will cost you around $50, although some range as high as $250. Keep in mind that you’ll also have shipping charges both to and from on top of the rental fee.

Other websites actually advertise that they sell cheap Halloween costumes. The costumes themselves are of much lower quality than those you can find on other non-discount sites, but the prices still range from $30 to $50. The question here seems to be, ‘How cheap is cheap?’