Avoiding Financial Halloween Horrors

While Halloween is a fun holiday for dressing up and being spooky, you don't want to make it TOO scary by going into unnecessary debt. Between the cost of costumes, decorations, and candy, your budget can easily go off track. But its easy to avoid these nightmarish pitfalls of this budget-killer holiday with a little planning ahead. Heres some ideas on how:

1. Plan Ahead.First, decide how much your family budget can handle for Halloween. Then take a deeper look at that budget, and decide how much will be split between candy, decorations, and costumes. If it's too tight, cut down on decorations first -- a few pumpkins can provide fun family time for carving and perfect Halloween memories. Bonus: youll have leftovers ready for baking tasty pumpkin pies!
2. DIY It!Sure, those costume ideas youve spied in stores and online are super cute and tempting, but they can also be super expensive. Sometimes all you need is already lying around the house. Take some old clothes, some non-traditional items, and a dash of creativity and youll be all set! Scroll on YouTube and Pinterest for some inspiration! Make DIY decorating your home a fun activity for you and the fam. Get the kiddos to do the crafts! It will be more memorable and totally worth it without being terrifying to your budget.
3. Safety First!Maybe you opt to not decorate or hand out candy at all. Check to see if your community is hosting any safer Halloween celebrations such as shopping mall and community center events. Check local event calendars, or even your children's schools, to find out what your options are. If you're on your own and find it difficult to escort your children AND hand out candy, team up with friends and neighbors to pool your resources.

Halloween can look and be however you want it to. Just plan ahead to avoid debt coming back to haunt you. Get a little creative and have fun with the spookiest of holidays! Trick or treat!