How to Host a Cheap Halloween Party

Buy decorations the year before. If you know that you are planning on hosting a Halloween party in the coming year, you can hit the clearance racks a couple of days after Halloween to stock up on decorations and party favors. You will be able to find all sorts of great Halloween items on the clearance rack because retailers are desperately trying to make room for Christmas items.

Expect to find fog machines, tombstones, and cobwebs at ridiculously reduced prices. If nothing else, you can plan your Halloween party for the weekend after Halloween. Your guests will think you're doing it for the sake of convenience, but you'll know that you're doing it to hit the Halloween clearance racks before the party.

Center your festivities on giving out candy to kids. Supply appetizers, drinks, and the candy for the trick-or-treaters, invite some friends over, and you have a bona fide Halloween party. You don't even need to require costumes for the party, but can instead declare it a Candy Givers party.

Try purchasing one or two special candies, maybe a full-sized candy bar, and tell your guests that they all must vote over which trick-or-treater gets the special candies. Better yet, in the interest of competition (and frugality!), inform your guests that they are each to bring a bowl full of candies and you will have a competition as to which bowl is emptied first. Let the kids who come to the door choose from among the various bowls offered to them, and the person whose candy gets taken the quickest wins a big candy bar and bragging rights.

Rent instead of buy. If you are the kind of person who absolutely adores Halloween and you shudder at the mere thought of not wearing the absolute most elaborate costume, then you are going to have to get quite creative if you are on a budget. If you have managed to finagle various guests to provide everything you'll need, such as refreshments, drinks, and candy for trick-or-treaters, then all you will be left to provide is your fabulous costume.

You should look into renting a costume instead of purchasing one if you are looking for something really elaborate, and be sure to try to find some sort of coupon for the costume rental place before handing your money over. Here is one tip for you, though: if you are on a tight budget, should you really be spending a good portion of money on something you will only wear for a couple of hours and then return? Probably not.

Host a pumpkin carving contest. Depending on your budget, you can either supply the pumpkins for your guests or have them bring their own. You can supply all the carving materials and also roast the pumpkin seeds while your guests work on perfecting their pumpkins. Buy a small pumpkin toy as the trophy for the winner, which would best be purchased the year before from the Halloween clearance racks, but if you don't have that kind of foresight then you will probably still be able to find an inexpensive pumpkin toy somewhere.

If you host this party the day of Halloween, you may be able to get a great deal on some pumpkins if you go to a local pumpkin patch to make your purchase. Not only are you buying in bulk, but you are taking a considerable number of pumpkins off their hands, which they probably figured they wouldn't sell. Be sure to bargain with them to get the best price.