Spooktacular Money Saving Ideas for Your Teen's Halloween Party

School is back in session and your teen has made many new friends; they come to you wanting to host a Halloween party, but they do not realize that you are on a tight budget. Not to worry, your teen can have one awesome Halloween party that won't break the bank if you start to plan it out now and utilize your money saving skills.

In the Sunday paper you can find fabric store inserts advertising the sales they have going on for that week. Many times on the back of this insert there will be a coupon for 50% off any one item including material, take this coupon and purchase yourself off white gauze material. Using a little imagination, you can use this material to make different decorations such as hanging green moss (cut into strips, fray edges and paint with dull green/brown paint) that can be strategically attached around the room for special eerie effects for a graveyard setting. The extra gauze can be used for a Mummy costume, or Mummy prop when cut into strips.

Next, check out the on line free want ads at www.craigslist.org. In these free want ads you can find people giving various items such as larger pieces of scrap wood and styrofoam that you can use to make props for the Halloween party. I have seen many free ads that are giving away large pieces of wood that can be used to make a small coffin. Stryofoam is great to use for tombstones, all you need to do is cut out or glue together pieces into the shape you want. For the lettering on the tombstone, use a wood burning tool, or sharp tool to etch out the lettering, cover the tombstone with gray spray paint, fill in the letters with black paint, and you are done. If you want a fog machine for the party, there are some places that rent out these machines, or ask friends or neighbors if you can borrow theirs for one night to make your teens party more fascinating.

If you do not subscribe to the daily newspaper, ask your friends or neighbors if you can have a bag full. You can use the newspaper to make props using the paper mache method. To make monster prop you will need newspaper, flour, water, empty plastic gallon milk container, paper towel or toilet paper tubes and paint. Using the plastic milk jug as your base for the head, you can use the paper mache to form the head of a Mummy, Frankenstein or Zombie hands. The possibilities are endless, all you need to do is add a little spray paint for the finished product. The recipe for paper mache can be found at http://ultimatepapermache.com/paper-mache-recipes.

Check out your local dollar store for extra Halloween decorations that you need like orange and black table cloth, streamers and balloons. You can also purchase the Halloween themed plastic drinking cups, paper plates, napkins and serving plates. The dollar stores also carry other Halloween items like large bags of spider webbing, Halloween cellophane wrap, and warning crime scene tape.

You do not need to purchase invitations, have your talented teen use his or her computer to locate free cool scary Halloween pictures that they can use to create their own personal scary Halloween party flier. All they have to do once they have their flier designed is to print them out and distribute them to their friends.

For the food to serve at your teens Halloween party, use the coupons you find in your Sunday newspaper to get additional savings at the grocer or Dollar General. Using the grocers double coupons which include 50 cents, you can get cake mixes, frosting, candy, chips, dips, and pop for a relatively low price, or free if they are on sale for ten for $10. Also in the Sunday newspaper you can find flier inserts for the large food distributer like Gordon's for $10 off $50. If you plan on serving a lunch meat and cheese platter, I found that it is cheaper to purchase these items at your local smaller party store deli, as the prices are generally $2 a pound cheaper for the meat and cheese.

These are a few ideas to create a spooky atmosphere for your teens party on a budget that will cost practically nothing with the exception of the food. Throw in the music, a few lit spooky carved pumpkins and your teen is ready to have some fun with their friends. This also will give you the opportunity to do a weekend project or two with your teen as you make the preparations for his or her party. With a little imagination you and your teen can create a Halloween party that all their friends will enjoy, while keeping your pocket book more plump.