Countdown to Halloween: 27 More Days - Time to Make Costumes!

Halloween is by far my 2nd favorite celebratory day of the year, Christmas being #1 of course, and the tradition of spooktifying our home has begun! Sadly, I am actually running behind in the decor department, but lately I have been running behind on everything :(

I did place my order with my father-n-law for one bale of hay (he gets them for free from a farmer by his work!), sorted through our creepy decorations from years past, and made a shopping list of must haves for this year.  By the weekend, I will have everything spooked out and all that will be left is the costumes!

A few things are going to be new to me this year. First, I am MAKING my kiddos Halloween costumes.  NEVER EVER have I done this before!! I am honestly terrified at the thought, but I have a tight budget (obviously) and they have faith in me...I think...

The theme this year - ZOMBIES.  My wonderful cousin throws a huge themed Halloween bash every year and this just had to be the year of the ZOMBIES! Ghosts would have been right up my alley, my parent's probably still have the white bed sheets with holes cut out for eyes laying around they used for our costumes.  But no.  It's ZOMBIES!  Don't ask why, but I feel the need to capitalizes all letters in the word ZOMBIES, I guess for dramatic purposes...

So, to get me in the ZOMBIES mood I picked up a Styrofoam wall hanger:

This was only a dollar at Dollar Tree and proudly rest on the center shelf of my entertainment stand for inspirational purposes.  I asked the kiddos, "What type of zombie would you like to be?" and my daughter replied first, "A girl who just woke up and turned into a zombie."  OK, the eleven year old knows what she wants!  She then proceeds to explain which pajamas and how her make up should look and so on.  My son however, seven years of age, had to mull over the idea for a bit.  In fact, he is still mulling it over.  Hopefully we have a specific type nailed down soon - I'll get back to you on that.  As for my eleven year old's costume - old pajamas, blue eye liner to draw on veins, white clown make up, and some red and purple under her eyes. Simple enough and all I have to buy is some dollar store body parts (specifically a rubber arm?) she claims to need. OKAY...

Whatever happened to being a cute Disney character or action hero?  Ahh, how the times have changed.  Any how - I evidently have to make costumes for myself and my hubby as well.  Everyone must be a zombie to attend and trust me, you want to attend!  Here I was thinking of great ZOMBIES I could craft, looking on You Tube for ideas, and what should come on tv at that moment?  A Halloween episode of my all time favorite tv show, Roseanne.  The episode title was "Halloween IV" and Roseanne gets visited by three ghost to help her out of her Halloween funk, great episode.  As I am watching, I see Darlene's costume of Tippi Hedron- she's in a gray blazer and pencil skirt with birds attached every which way to it, for all true horror fans we know this comes from the classic movie from 1963, "The Birds", in which a small town is terrorized my killer birds.  Now - the costume might not be original - but it would be CHEAP to make!!

Scary, huh?  LOVE IT! For starters, I can get the birds at Dollar Tree, just saw them there last week when I picked up the ZOMBIES plaque. The only thing I really have worries about, the eyeball effect.  That might require a little research but will definitely bring home the ZOMBIES affect I want. 

Now, my husband and I usually dress as something similar, mustard & ketchup, a pirate & his wench, sumo wrestlers (these were inflatable and awesome) but this year he is unsure if he'll even be in town.  Ah the life of a trucker's wife, impossible to plan anything.  In other words, I should be prepared to zombie-fi him one way or the other.

Now, here are a few excellent ideas for tips on making your own costumes at home & some great sites to visit for ideas, whether you want something super scary or super sweet (candy corn, yummy):

1. Use items you already have at home.  Robots are always fun and easy to create. Use boxes covered in foil to create that shiny robot body. Stickers with electronics designs for controls or buttons.  There are a ton of easy DIY costumes here.

2. Mask are inexpensive but can be uncomfortable to wear all evening.  Opt for easy to do make up or non toxic face paint.  For great face painting tips visit here.

3. Remember, it's all in good fun! Don't stress your mind or budget, the kiddos will be thrilled even more if you let them help!

Good luck costume makers! And if all else fails, there's always Walmart!!

How to Have a Thrift-abulous Christmas This Year!

Christmas is less than 100 days away now, and if you haven't started shopping yet, YOU BETTER NOW!

I started getting my Christmas game plan together this past weekend, but I'm actually running behind this year.  I try to take advantage of summer clearance items on things like toys, tee shirts, and outdoor items.  It's a great way to start your shopping for the holiday season and avoid the hectic stores all together after Thanksgiving.

One of my favorite ways to help budget for the holidays is lay-a-way plans.  Kmart offers a great a plan, place as many items as you want in their lay-a-way, put 10% plus a $5 fee to start (start up fee in nonrefundable) and make biweekly payments over the next 8 weeks until paid in full.  I also love that I can place the lay-a-way online and make my payments this way.  Once I have completed payments, I just go to my local store and pick them up! Viola!

Walmart is also bringing back their lay-a-way plans for this 2011 shopping season! It begins Oct 16th and you have until Dec 16th to pay it off.  They are enforcing a few new rules, items must be at least worth $15, minimum $50 balance to start plan, 10% down plus $5 start up fee, cancellation fee is $10.  Also, items can only be from the toy department or electronics (they never stopped their jewelry plans) but no household or clothing. 

Marshalls is my go to store for putting clothes in lay-a-way.  Their terms are shorter, 30 days to pick up your items, but down payments are still only 10%.  Be sure to check availability in your area as some stores do not offer lay-a-way, you can check on the website by searching for your nearest location and looking for the hanger symbol in store features.

OK, not all but some area thrift stores are now also offering lay-a-way plans!  Refabulous offers a 14 day plan, where you select the items you want, pay a 25% deposit, but if you change your mind the deposit is non refundable, so be careful and don't go overboard!

Panache Plus  also offers a plan, 25% down, 45 days to pay off, minimum $45 purchase.  I haven't used their lay-a-way yet, so be sure to get the full details about payments and fees associated by calling or going in (info not provided on website) but I do love this store!! I posted a previous review on this adorable boutique and will be making another visit soon to stock up on winter clothing.

So we have established that clearance items are a great way to start your holiday shopping and using lay-a-way can help you spread out the cost (credit card free might I add) but we all know a big chunk of cash is spent on decorations, food, and travel expenses too.  How can we save on this stuff so we can stockpile gifts under the tree for our wonderful families??

Let's start with decorations.  I buy most of our decorations second hand from Ebay or thrift stores.  If I do buy new items, for example lights, I usually stock up on those during after Christmas sales.  We also make a lot of decorations as a family.  I buy inexpensive ornaments that we can paint or use glue on, we string kix cereal to hang around garland, and the kiddos decorate the windows with construction paper decor such as wreaths, trees, and snowflakes.  Another awesome tip my mother-n-law taught me was to use empty tic tac containers to wrap up like mini presents and stick them in glass vases or even to use as ornaments!  I'll be showing a few of these tricks in upcoming post :)

Disney has some amazing family crafts for the holidays as well: http://familyfun.go.com/christmas/christmas-decorations/christmas-ornaments/

Tons of great ideas!  Including this nifty tree and ornament template:
http://familyfun.go.com/assets/cms/pdf/printables/0606_christmas_tree_template.pdf


Now on to the food!  There is nothing better than the smell of Christmas cookies baking in the kitchen or a Christmas ham - yummm! I love cooking big holiday meals, but this year seems like it might very well be next to impossible with the cost of everything on the rise.  But - they don't call me Thrifty StL Mummy for nothing!! First and foremost, if you do not use coupons, you should start now, or send them to me! Clipping coupons now can help you fill your pantry with what you need for your holiday meals (including Thanksgiving) at a fraction of the retail cost and you'll have everything you need ahead of time!  I recommend making a list over the next week (before October) and start buying items according to weekly sales. Here is a super simple printable blank shopping list to get your juices flowing: http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/ajc/thanksgivingshoplist.pdf


Another idea to save on food cost is to do something less traditional.  A couple years back my entire family went to a buffet. Each family member paid for themselves and we ended up saving money.  But it wasn't a very intimate setting and we all agreed NEVER AGAIN!  Then again - there was no clean up...

Make sure to ask for help.  If you are hosting Christmas dinner in your home this year, it doesn't mean you have to cook everything alone.  Ask your aunt to bring one of her famous side dishes or your mom to make her Pecan Pie :) Trust me, they'll be honored you are including them in the meal preparations and it helps take some pressure off of you - cost wise & time wise!

Lastly, travel.  Unless you are blessed (or cursed) to have your entire family living within a 35 mile radius of you, traveling can mean big time charges on already stressed credit cards.  I always found it was actually cheaper to drive than to fly a family of four almost anywhere, but time does not always allow it and you can score great deals on plane tickets through one of the many travel sites.  If you know ahead of time (way ahead of time) buy your tickets early.  The earlier the better.  If you can, think of alternative modes of transportation, like Greyhound or Amtrak. And always have a back up plan!  Skype is great technology, just saying :)

Ok, hope this gets you in the holiday shopping spirit! My three favorite holidays are upon us; Halloween (i know it's a made up holiday but it's still a holiday in my book!), Thanksgiving, and Christmas!  So be preparred for lots of Thriftastic updates on planning for all three over the next few months and add even of your holiday thrift tips below or to our Facebook page!

Toodles!!