Living Paycheck 2 Paycheck: Halloween Costumes for little to no cost

So Halloween is less then a month away.... do you know what you or your kids are going to be? This year has been hard for us, it seems like our kids have changed their minds 10 times so far.
For the last few years I have tried to make my kids Halloween costumes. Not only can you create something that no one else will be wearing but it seems to be a lot cheaper. It kills me to have them go pick out a costume that they will once and will cost us $30 plus dollars. I don't know about you but I can think of many other things to spend that money on!! So I have tried to put together a few good ideas for cheap to no cost costumes for you.
A few years ago I thought it would be cute to make my 3 girls into Hersey Kisses for Halloween. I didn't have a pattern, OK lets face it, even if I did, I can't sew so there was no chance that it would help me. So I just headed to the craft store and I looked around for something to make it. I ended up buying Quilting Hoops. They come in 2 pieces, I took the middle piece out and that is what I used for the bottom of their costumes. I found some cheap fabric that looked like foil. I also bought some white ribbon, the kind with wire in it. I made 3 purchases so I could maximise my coupons and I believe it ended up being around $30.00 for all 3 costumes.
I wrapped the fabric around the hoops and brought it up in a cone shape. I cut holes for their arms, and head. Then I took some old birthday hats I had laying around and took some extra fabric and covered them and puffy painted the ribbon to say Hersey's and glued it to it. It took me maybe 2 days on and off to make these and they were cheap. And let me tell you, everyone thought they were super cute!!

One thing I would recommend... We drove them from family to friends house and back and forth.... these were hard to get on and off for each stop and by the end of the night they were not happy campers. So if you can, stay at home or just around your house. :) Also I used brown sweats and a brown turtleneck shirt for them to wear, this kept them warm and make them look like chocolate under their outfit.

The next year the weather forecast for Halloween was looking pretty cold and super wet. We live in WA. so most Halloweens are cold and rainy. And most of the costumes are covered up by coats because they are not enough to keep the kids warm. So I was bound and determined to make them something that would keep them warm and dry for the night.

I made them into Jelly Fish. I took clear umbrellas ($10.00 each) and some bubble wrap (free on craigslist) and some clear packing tape to hold the strips of bubble wrap on ($2.00 for the roll) and because some jelly fish glow I taped blue glow sticks inside ($1.00 at the dollar store). So each costume was around $11.00 and they got their very own new umbrella to use afterwards. This costume was super cheap and only took me maybe 30 mins each to make. Which was kinda funny to me when they made it on all the local new channel's as the best costume to stay warm and dry in for Western Washington. They all wore jeans and a white shirt and their coat and everyone loved their costumes.

If you decided that making a costume is just not for you or your don't have time to do it. Here are some great sites to buy your costume and get great deals. If you go to the local party store they are going to charge you double what these sites will so check these out first.

Have you make your kids a cheap and fun Halloween costume? I would love to hear about it. Please share it with me!! Have a safe, warm and happy Halloween everyone!!