I feel like Halloween is already over because we celebrated so hard this weekend. Our neighborhood does a really fun Halloween parade followed by a big celebration with trick or treating, bouncy houses, all that good stuff. I also ran a 15k, we had a church Halloween party, and Danny’s work threw a big Halloween haunted house bash. (Did you catch it on my Insta stories? He was SO CREEPY). Whew. But, it’s not even Halloween yet! When it comes to the actual day of, we are usually scrounging around for cheap things you can do for Halloween, so I thought it was high time we came up with a list.
Hunt for the best Halloween yard displays.
During Christmas, we always drive around looking for our favorite decorated homes, so I don’t know why it’s never occurred to me to do the same for Halloween!
Carve a pumpkin.
When it comes to cheap things you can do for Halloween, it doesn’t get much cheaper or more exciting than pumpkin carving! You can usually grab a pumpkin for $3-$5 (Aldi if you have one! Walmart if you don’t). We usually have a theme for our costumes and try to tie it in with our pumpkin carving.
Roast pumpkin seeds.
Another among the cheap things you can do for Halloween is roast pumpkins seeds. After you are finished carving your pumpkins, make your home smell festive.
Hike or bike in the dark with glow sticks.
Go on a spooky hike or bike ride in the dark and bring some glow sticks for some added fun!
Dress up and DIY photo shoot.
One of my very favorite Halloweens was when we lived in Miami and got all dressed up to go to a party, and then it started pouring rain (if you’ve lived in Miami, you know what I mean). When it pours Miami style… you aren’t going anywhere. So, we busted out our camera, made a fun back drop, and had fun doing our own photo shoot.
Pass out candy to trick or treaters.
Passing out candy to trick or treaters is a cheap way to celebrate Halloween. Plus, you’ll get to see lots of your neighbors and get in the Halloween mood, without having to leave your house.
Take your littles trick or treating.
If you have littles, take them trick or treating!
Rake and play in the leaves.
There’s nothing more magical than playing in piles of leaves in the fall! Plus… it’s free.
Make a spooky dinner.
One of my favorite cheap things you can do for Halloween is our annual tradition of having a spooky Halloween dinner. We always make mummies (basically bigs in a blanket, but instead of wrapping up the hot dog like you normally would, you make it look like a mummy) and we use plenty of ideas from Pinterest. We usually watch Hocus Pocus while we eat.
Drink apple cider.
Nothing feels more like fall/Halloween than drinking hot apple cider.
Watch a scary movie.
If you are not a whimp like me, watch a scary movie. Hocus Pocus is about as scary as I can handle. Remember the show Sabrina the Teenage Witch? There’s a new version of it on Netflix. Yep. Too scary for me.
Make a scary movie.
Another fun but cheap way you could celebrate Halloween is to create your own scary movie! I have a friend whose family makes a cute creepy two minute Halloween video every year. Nothing bonds a family more than being creepy together.
Have a backyard fire.
Build a fire, make smores, and tell spooky stories!
Bake Halloween cookies.
I’m usually too excited to wait until the day of Halloween to make Halloween cookies, but this would be a perfect cheap Hallows eve activity.
Go to a Halloween party.
Attending a Halloween party is another cheap but fun way to celebrate Halloween.
Grow your own pumpkins.
This year, we grew our own pumpkins! A bag of pumpkin seeds only cost $0.99. While our pumpkin plants grew huge… we have yet to see an actual pumpkin! We should have planted our seeds in July but we didn’t know and planted in late August. So just a heads up for next year. It’s still been really fun for M to see his plants grow big.
Go to a pumpkin patch.
Most pumpkin patches are completely free and it’s a great way to get in the mood for Halloween. We went to a couple of pumpkin patches this year that had so many fun things for kids to do, like tunnel slides and playing in corn kernels.
Get lost in a corn maze.
Most corn mazes will only cost a few dollars. And there are typically so many to choose from! You can do a haunted corn maze or a legit difficult one. Either way, have a blast getting yourself through a corn maze this Halloween.
Go on a hay ride.
And make it a spooky one!
Watch all of the Halloween episodes from your favorite TV shows.
One of my all time favorite cheap things you can do for Halloween is going back and watching all of the Halloween episodes from my favorite TV Shows. The Office, Parks and Rec, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine have some pretty spectacular Halloween episodes.
Being careful about spending doesn’t mean that you have to miss out on celebrating holidays like Halloween! It just takes a little creativity and sometimes planning ahead.
Comment and tell me what fun cheap things you can do for Halloween this year?
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