Frighteningly Not Frugalby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 31 Oct 2009 06:31 AM I just read an article about some halloween festivities that happened yesterday. A local town sponsored a pumpkin walk, where kids could visit downtown and trick or treat safely. The reporter's angle on the story was that families were spending less money on Halloween this year than they had in years past. Statistics that were quoted put Halloween spending projected at $56 per person. Um, with a family of five, that means that I would be spending $280 total for costumes, decorations and treats. Gulp. Does that seem frugal to you. Perhaps the statistic meant per household? That $280 figure seems quite large even for non frugal families. One family said that they spent only $175 on costumes alone. Only that is. Another gulp. Most of my kids costumes range from free to about $10. This is through hand me downs, shopping the after Halloween sales and scrounging around to see what we can do to make costumes. We don't get trick or treaters here, but I do spend about $15 in little gifts and candy to give directly to the neighborhood kids and friends from school. I also make cookies and cupcakes, so there is some minimum expense there (although truth be told, we would still make cookies and cupcakes, although they wouldn't be orange or have mini bats on them. We did spend quite a bit, for us, on pumpkins and hay bales to decorate the outside of our home. We also brought home four more pumpkins for free, as well as the makings of a scarecrow, thanks to the local pumpkin festival sponsored by our town. I do have to admit that we aren't big Halloween people. We do allow our kids to do some trick or treating, although we are toying with the idea of skipping it in favor of carving those pumpkins, drinking cider and having family time, so our idea of spending money on Halloween stuff may not be the same as the average person. What do you think? Click here for more articles by Mary Ann Romans. Halloween or Harvest Cookie Pops More Ideas for a Green Halloween Save Money on Fall Decorations Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments No comments on this article yet. Be the first to comment! Discuss this article
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