It's that spooky time of the year, and that means creepy decorations and creative costumes. These sites offer different ways to have a perfect Halloween without spending a ton of money on it.
Halloween celebrations can quickly rack up a big bill. You might be going to a Halloween party and know the perfect costume, but how much should you really spend on one-time wear? Or you might be hosting a party or a haunted house, and need to figure out how to get the decorations done on a budget. With a little DIY and guidance from the right websites and experts, you can have a spooktacular Halloween without breaking the bank.
1. Coolest Homemade Costumes (Web): DIY Costumes From Real People
This is the closest you'll get to a Wikipedia of DIY costume ideas for Halloween. Coolest Homemade Costumes (CHC) is entirely packed with submissions from real people, showing three pictures of the costume along with a short write-up on how they made it.
The website neatly divides all the costumes into categories like animals, celebrities, scary, video games, fairy tales, etc. You can also filter the collection by age, as well as special occasions like costumes for couples, pregnancy, groups, and risque. Browse around and you should find what you need.
If you're stuck, use the Costume Ideas Brainstormer to find a creation that suits your needs. In this, you'll choose the amount of time you have to make the costume, the money you want to spend ($0, $20, $50, $100, or more), the age group you're making it for, and the theme and look. Based on your selections, you'll get a list of the best posts sent to CHC.
DIY is easily the cheapest way to get a snazzy costume for Halloween, but it doesn't have the finesse of store-bought costumes. But if you're okay with spending some dough, check out the best online Halloween stores for professionally-made getups.
2. Halloween Sounds (Web) and Lovecraft Audiobooks (Spotify): Free Scary Sounds and Horror Music
To set the mood of a haunted house or a Halloween party, you need the right background score. Halloween Sounds is a collection of horror tunes made to send shivers down your spine, from screams and rattling chains to snarling wolves and cracks of thunder.
The entire collection is available as an album on streaming services like Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music, so you can add it to your library and download it. If you're not a subscriber, use their readymade playlist on the official YouTube channel. In total, it's over an hour's worth of mixed sound effects with themes like a haunted house, zombie attack, witch's den, etc.
For a different effect of dread, you can listen to horror master H. P. Lovecraft's books being expertly read out as audiobooks. From Call of Cthulhu to Dunwich Horror, these classics are available for free streaming on Spotify.
3. DIY Projects for Halloween (Web): Cheap Halloween Decorations, Costumes, and Food
The simplest way to save money on Halloween celebrations is to go for DIY options instead of buying products. The internet has several guides and options to help.
Instructables Halloween is a dedicated section for spooky projects on the web's favorite DIY site. It covers every type of DIY item, including decorations, costumes, food recipes, pranks, and more. Sort by category or check the Featured tag for the best projects first.
r/HalloweenDIY is a Reddit community to show off and share DIY projects related to Halloween themes. The sub-reddit is more active around this time, so you can ask others how they did certain projects. But you might want to filter by the most popular projects of all time to get better ideas.
Prudent Penny Pincher collected some of the web's best-shared tips and ideas on cheap and easy DIY Halloween decorations so you don't have to go hunting on Google. These are all surprisingly simple but look great.
And finally, if you're ready to roll up your sleeves, check out our own recommendations for the best DIY Halloween projects that don't need soldering. These are ideal for beginner DIY enthusiasts who are looking for something challenging.
4. Halloween Flix and Kings of Horror (Web): Free Streaming for Horror Movies and Scary TV Series
Is there a better excuse than Halloween to watch campy horror films? The good news is that you don't need a Netflix or Disney+ account to stream horror movies online for free.
Halloween Flix is a free movie streaming service for spine-chilling movies and TV series. Don't go expecting anything of the quality of Paranormal Activity here. These are decidedly B-grade movies that mix jump scares and grotesque make-up to make for a fun Halloween experience.
Kings of Horror is one of the older and popular YouTube channels that delivers full movies on YouTube. The channel already has a pretty large collection of horror flicks across genres, which you can start as a playlist and keep it running on a TV during your haunted house or party.
If you're okay with registering an account without handing over credit card details, check out some of these other sites to watch horror movies online for free.
5. Trick Or Treat Me (Web): Find Houses to Trick-or-Treat, and Free Halloween Resources
Some people get into the Halloween spirit, while others want nothing to do with it. Trick Or Treat Me (TOTM) makes it easier for parents to find Halloween-friendly houses to take their kids to.
It's a directory where anyone can sign up, add in their address and Google Maps pin, and set hours within which they're happy to accept visits from trick-or-treaters. Armed with that map, it's easier for guardians to take children to places farther away than normal because you know there's going to be a smile at the end of the journey.
TOTM also offers a number of free resources for Halloween hosts and celebrations. You can download and print free flyers, signs, and pamphlets so that people in your neighborhood know you're Halloween-friendly. The website also stores several DIY tips for decorations and costumes, submitted by real people.
Before you go, do read the TOTM safety guidelines to know how to have a happy Halloween that keeps children and you safe. At the same time, read the COVID safety protocols as recommended by the experts.
Keep an Eye Out for Halloween Freebies
While these sites help you prepare for a budget-friendly Halloween, don't stop there. As we get closer to All Hallow's Eve, companies and people start offering discounts and deals in celebration. Neil Gaiman famously released a free Halloween story once, and there are loads of Halloween freebies you should watch out for.
