First, I’d like to lay down a few rules to remember for not only Halloween, but all holidays. These are great and pretty common sense, yet few people actually implement them. Hopefully you do, because the holidays come back around every year and it’s easier to work the system than fight it.
First Rule:
Buy your Halloween decorations/costumes/items during the first week of November.. Everything immediately becomes 50-90% off. If you’re feeling daring, wait a week or two until they only have a little left and nearly everything is 90-95% off. Of course, you’re taking the chance that what you want won’t sell out. You decide if it’s worth it. This works for all holidays, and is great if you know you won’t be moving and have the room to store things for the time being. The money saved is astronomical and really opens up your holiday budget.
Second Rule:
Shop around for products. Always check places that carry discarded items from other stores (I.E. Building #19, Ocean State Job Lot, Price Rite) because chances are they’ll carry at least decent products at bargain basement prices.
Third Rule:
Remember how much you need. Measure, visualize, map out– do what youve got to do This will SAVE YOU MONEY in the long-run.
Projects
Cobwebs:
These are the absolute cheapest decoration that you can buy, and what’s best about them is that the more you stretch them out, the more realistic they look! This is great because you can buy two bags (maybe $2 total) and do your entire house/apartment and have them look better than the guy that has it hanging like snow off his roof.
Old Gray Sheets:
First, check if you have any old white sheets. Keep in mind, these are probably sheets you won’t be keeping afterwords except for Halloween. If not, go to the Salvation Army (or something similar to it) and buy the rattiest white sheets you can find. They must be white (or used to be white, at least). Take some dark gray dye and throw them in the was with a couple drops. This gives them the old and dusty look; throw em’ down on your furniture and walah! Old house. It’s great to keep crumbs off your furniture too, especially if you’ve got kids or drunks coming over.
Lighting:
Fire up the dimmer and fire up a little savings. Run your lights low, this alone gives the feeling of dark and dreary without even having done anything. It also cuts back on your electricity usage and helps permeate the atmosphere. A simple little way to save a little money.
Curtains:
The same design for the sheets to put on the cushions works for the curtains; cut them up and clip them in front of the windows. Your house will look like an abandoned house before you know it. If it’s not too cold where you live, open the windows to make the curtains flutter like in the movies. Just remember not to leave the heat on!
Table:
Want to make your kitchen/dining room table look scary? Start by repeating the sheet process (dying and so forth). However, a couple days before, pick some flowers and spray the buds with black spray paint lightly (just enough to give them a dusting). Let them hang and dry without anything really altering their shape. When they dry, the outer shell will be black and the inner will be the original color with some black over the tips, while the inside will be the original color. With the dried out look and the dimmed lights, this will be a hit. Make a bouquet of these for a really eerie effect. Place a few candles on the table, or if you can, get some of the candles that burn black like in cheesy kids movies.
Food:
This should be an article all its own, but I feel I should just discuss here. Every place around this time of the year offers food at the supermarket with ghouls and ghosts all about, but these are expensive and not really unique. Here’s some ideas to really get a rise out of your friends. I like the Crazy Scientist food menu. It is:
Eyeballs (peeled grapes) Intestines (cooked spaghetti)
Liver (jello)
Fingers (carrots)
Toenails (peanuts that have beencracked in half and the insides filed out a little)
Brain (cooked cauliflower)
Nose (cooked hot dog)
Teeth (pieces of chalk candy)
And for snacks:
Ghouly Carrot Cupcakes With White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing
Ingredients:
2 ounces white chocolate
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/8 cups white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups shredded carrots
1/2 cup crushed pineapple
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup chopped walnuts
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups.
2. In small saucepan, melt white chocolate over low heat. Stir until smooth, and allow to cool to slightly above room temperature.
3. In a bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in white chocolate, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and orange extract. Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar until the mixture is fluffy. Mix in heavy cream.
4. Beat together eggs, white sugar, and brown sugar in a separate bowl, and mix in the oil and vanilla. Fold in carrots and pineapple. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Mix flour mixture into the carrot mixture until evenly moist. Fold in 1/2 cup walnuts. Transfer to the prepared muffin cups.
5. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks before topping with the icing and sprinkling with remaining walnuts.
Next year, I think I’ll be a little more dense about what I’d like to do and there will be much more fodder for you to read from here; but, for now, somehow this will have to do to save money. Hopefully this gets you in the Halloween spirit and you’ll be able to save some money using these DIY techniques!
By: Andy Cerrone
About the Author:
Andy Cerrone
