This house started hosting a Halloween Party twelve years ago.
CoCo wanted the party, and I wanted to see the grandkids costumes. We had a handful of grandchildren, their parents, and a few neighbors over. Now we’re 14 grandchildren strong, and the party just keeps growing. At the same time, our budget remains fixed, Well, to be honest, maybe even a little tighter. You know: “In theses economic times…”
Loved-One is an accountant, so watching cost is part of his DNA.
There’s a few things CoCo and I got extravagant about, like her Mini Mouse costume, which cost $50 back when we got it. However, when we figure how many years we’ve used it, the different people who wore it, and how we repurposed it (one year, it was part of my Lady Gaga costume,) it was quite a bargain! On the whole, costumes are home-created. Decorations get recycled. Old costumes and clothes get re-purposed into spooky lawn dummies.
Games changed over the years. They cost nothing, except when they double as treats.
We started with apple bobbing. Hilarious. As time passed, the older kids got involved with the planning. Mr. N created a fake blood booth and gave everybody scars made of tissue, corn starch and a little food coloring. Last year Mr. B and Miss E created a scavenger hunt, including canned goods for the local food pantry. We always have the fishing for donuts (my favorite!)
For me, the scariest part is the piñata.
The kids love it, but to tell the truth, it scares the begeezers out of me. I’m always afraid someone will get clobbered. No one does. I guess more than just me gets a little freaked out by kids swinging sticks. Still, it remains a favorite.
We collected some standard recipes over the years: witches fingers, BBQ Bones, Kitty Litter Cake, eyeballs and severed fingers.
The thing our guests look forward to the most cost nothing at all: The humongous, larger believable, leaf pile.
Just click on the play button to see how large and hilarious the pile really is. Okay, maybe I’m easily entertained.
Or is it the annual bonfire ritual of burning last year’s Christmas Tree:
Or maybe, just maybe, the best part is just getting together.
This isn’t all of us. I couldn’t resist adding this photo, cuz Buscia (great-grandma) joined us last year.
Halloween is just the first of the holidays soon upon us. There are plenty of Financial tools to help, year ’round.
What kind of parties do you throw? Please tell me a bit about how you keep the cost in control.