Thread: Managing Halloween budget?

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Hello everyone.

I'm sure that we can all agree that there are a lot of great reasons and motivators to working on our halloween displays. There are also things that slow us down on making progress. I'd have to say the biggest speedbump for me is money!

My wife and I try to stick to a pretty tight budget so we can try to accomplish some of our personal financial goals. We each allow ourselves a monthly allowance for "fun" things that are not necessities, and hold ourselves responsible to that monthly amount. Most of my allowance, lately, goes toward Halloween projects! But, as I'm sure many of you can relate, it never seems to go quite far enough!

Larger item purchases, such as lights, fog machines, etc can wipe out a lot of money in quick order. And even building your own props and effects can be costly when having to buy tools and materials! I've always been "cheap" and love taking advantage of bargains, as so many others here do! And dumpster diving is exciting, even if unreliable. And of course, I TRY to save some money each month so that I have some cash for the post-Halloween sales!

So my question is... how do you guys make your Halloween budget stretch? I'm starting from near-zero, and it seems like when there is time, money is short. So far, I've been trying to force myself to set goals. I've also found that working on one "major" project at a time is a good idea both for time and money considerations. At the moment I'm thinking I'll have to limit myself to one or two "big" additions each year (my definition of big isnt that big, really... something like a haunted bookshelf, or crank ghost) and adding a lot of the smaller free or less expensive things along the way (such as candle effects, cemetary fence sections, foam tombstones etc). This keeps me moving forward, while keeping my small budget under control.

Anyone else working on a fixed budget want to chime in and share what they've found? Any ideas or thoughts on how to make steady progress while maintaining some fiscal responsibility?

Pallets.....you can make lotsa stuff from pallets and then just leave it outside to age more after Halloween

Don't feel you're obligated to have animated props.

The key is just to work within your budget. Get creative. It doesnt have to be expensive or elaborate to be good.

Sorry - Can't help you - I have Never stayed on budget for Halloween.

I HATE budgets!!!

Craigslist, Freecycle, Goodwill, Garage Sales, clearance sales, etc. I rarely buy anything retail and always try to look at things with an eye for repurposing. I bought a chandelier the other day at a garage sale for $5 just so I could get all the dangly jewels off of it. Still, I'm sure I would blow any budget....I don't really want to know what I really spend each year on Halloween. I would probably be very ill.

is budget a 4 letter word? this year my theme is free. what ever i can make or receive for free....i like it
Good luck this is a tough one!

Originally Posted by skullnbones

is budget a 4 letter word? this year my theme is free. what ever i can make or receive for free....i like it
Good luck this is a tough one!

Not free...but there's a big pumpkin made with that gel type finish at the DI way out on Wall St.

Let me know if you see an rocking chairs...I've decided to build that rocking granny afterall

Yeah, budget restraints are the bane of the haunter. Our way of dealing with it is to build all year long, as so many do. It doesn't cost less, just feels like it.
We actually plan several projects in advance so we can be working on one thing, but keeping an eye out for cheap/free supplies to use in the others.
One of my favorite props only cost us pennies each. We made lanterns from empty V8 splash bottles painted with "oops' paint we picked up at the hardware store for $0.50 and lit with flicker tea lights that my wife buys in bulk. Really added to our graveyard last year.

Rule #1: NEVER BUY ANYTHING NEW! Let someone else buy it new and you benefit from the depreciation. You can go on Craigslist and find foggers, black lights, mechanicals, and a host of other items people bought new and lost interest in, and get them for a fraction of their new price.