For budget-friendly Halloween fun in 2025, focus on free activities like watching scary movies or taking a neighborhood walk to admire decorations, and DIY entertainment such as bobbing for apples, creating a scavenger hunt, or having a costume contest. You can save money on decorations by transforming household items into spooky decor and buying costumes a size up to get more wear out of them.
If you and your family like setting out freshly carved jack-o’-lanterns to boost a creepy feel, you can save money on your pumpkins, too. It all depends on when and where you buy them. If you wait until right before Halloween, you can often get them at reduced prices from your local grocery store, and you can sometimes get them for a better price than your local pumpkin patch. You may not have quite the selection as you would have had earlier, but the perfect one may be waiting for you.
Affordable Costume Ideas
No need for an expensive store.Check your closet for old clothes put some make up for a creepy look.Turn a white shirt into zombie outfit with the splash of fake blood or try a classic ghost with just old bedsheet.
Yellow shirts, denim overalls, and goggles make this costume fun and super easy for all ages.
What You Need: Basic clothing, goggles (or cardboard DIY)
Budget Tip: Reuse school overalls and use paper towel rolls for goggles
Great for: Trick-or-treating groups and sibling sets
DIY Spooky Decoration
Party planning for teens! I’m co-hosting a halloween party for 15-16 year olds and some select parents. Looking for ideas of things to do, was going to do a “Night to Dismember” photo op with blood, fake weapons and a pig butcher guy, Bon fire, costumes. Maybe costume contest? Was thinking about having a tarot card table, where basically I spread cards face down and just have a little sign “pick one to tell your future” or whatever then a sheet of paper that gives a little meaning for each card. It’s outdoors/pole barn. I know they are older but us adults will be hanging out too. I just want to make it super fun on a budget! I was thinking something with black light, I don’t know. I have some outdoor decor (pics) string lights, fog machine, strobe, i have a lot of witch decor. They have a boat in the pole barn, something pirate?? This will all be set up at the other hosts house. Ideas!?
Affordable Trick ot Treat -Treats;
f you’re planning a Halloween party or fun activities for your family, there are plenty of low-cost ideas to explore. Find games that you can do at home for a kids party, like sitting in a darkened room telling ghost stories. And don’t forget a round or two of Wrap the Mummy!
Hosting a Halloween party for grownups? Ask your guests to bring their best Halloween-themed food. You can pick your favorite scary movie and ask your friends to bring something that ties in with the film.
You can also save money by inviting fewer people over for a horror movie night. Keep it low-key and have fun with a few of your closest friends. Rent or stream your favorite horror flick, grab some quick snacks, and watch the movie in the dark. You can even make a game out of it: Who is the first person to jump in fright? Who screams first?
DIY Hunted House( At Home);
Some people like to decorate their houses for Halloween. Other people like to transform their homes into terrifying haunted houses. A little DIYing can help you get there, whether you want to create a full-blown experience for trick-or-treaters or you’re just looking to decorate a little.
The more time you put into decorating for Halloween, the bigger the pay off as far as how memorable your home is to the neighbors. Explore these outrageously spooky haunted house ideas and figure out which makes the most sense for your home this year.
Use Old Dolls for a Grotesque Mobile
There’s not much creepier than a bunch of ragged, destroyed dolls hanging from the ceiling with weapons and blood galore. Just make sure whichever doll you decide to destroy isn’t worth a ton of money first.
Make This Terrifying Werewolf Head
If you love sculpting with clay, try out this haunted house idea. Werewolves are a classic Halloween staple, but sometimes they can look less than scary. Learn how to make your own and it will surely look ferocious. Hang the finished piece under your front porch or just inside your home’s foyer.
1. Make Your Own Horror Movie
Maybe it won’t end up being the next Blair Witch Project, but with nothing much more needed than a smartphone camera, some creepy lighting, a cluster of trees, spooky outdoor Halloween decorations, and ear-piercing shrieks, making a DIY horror flick is an outdoor Halloween activity that’s perfect for almost any age! What’s great is that this is one of the fun outdoor activities you can do by yourself!
2. Install Outdoor Motion Activated Halloween Decorations
Make your home a house of horrors this year with scary outdoor motion activated Halloween decorations. Spending a day in your yard and around your home in the fresh air, putting motion activated outdoor Halloween decorations up, is one of the most fun outdoor Halloween activities you can do in the build-up to the spookiest season of all. Check out even more fun things to do outside with your family.
Decorate your garden or outdoor space
with a Halloween theme. For a ghostly display fill up glass or plastic bottles with coloured water and shine a torch on them strapped to the outside but with the light facing inside the bottle. Below is a lovely display made for the geriatric and rehabilitation ward at my local hospital. It was created by a P6 class with pumpkins donated by a local supermarket.
Final Spooky Thoughts;
Halloween 2025 doesn’t have to drain your wallet -it just takes creative and a little planning.
From DIY decor and costumes to affordable treats and free activities , you can have a scary good time without spending big.
Remember its not about cost ,its about fun , laughter ,spooky memories you create!!