Your How-to Guide to Organizing a Halloween Costume Swap

It seems like Halloween has become one of the more expensive holidays when you really stop to think about it. On average, most people are paying $30 per costume—and that doesn’t even include accessories such as jewelry or wigs! If you have more than one child (or plan on dressing up yourself), you are most likely spending over $100 just on costumes. Add in the huge bags of candy, decorations, fall activities, and pumpkins, and you may not even realize how much you are spending.

Enter the Halloween Costume Swap.

Before I joined my local MOMS Club, I had never even heard of a costume swap. Thanks to my lovely neighborhood moms, I’ve been enlightened.

Here’s how it works in just a few easy steps:

Decide how big of a swap you want to have.
If you go the larger route, look for a community space that will let you have a room for free. Local churches or community centers are great resources for this, and you just may get some built-in advertising. If you go the small route, someone’s home will work nicely.

Invite your friends!
Use an online invite service and save yourself the headache of paper invites while keeping the swap environmentally friendly! Make it social and invite everyone to bring a dish to share. Lets face it—food makes everything better. Keeping it kid-friendly also gives the kids a chance to play together and may make for a nice afternoon nap time afterward for all of you.

Decide on a method.
I prefer the “get what you give” method which is basically this: bring one costume, take one costume. You can use a list, tickets, or stamps (if you really want to keep it green) to keep track of how many costumes someone has brought vs. taken.

Organize costumes by size.
This just makes everything easier.

Have at it!
Not only will you have saved yourself a boatload of money, you also get to see your friends, enjoy some tasty food, and let the kiddies burn off some energy.