A Creative Treat - Tips For Halloween On a Budget  

With Halloween rapidly approaching, it is time to start thinking of candy. Soon there will be little witches knocking on your door, looking up at you with pleading eyes. However, if you live in a neighbourhood with many children, the whole Halloween celebration can soon become quite expensive, even if you decide to go without decorations and costumes.

There are alternatives. One is switching off all the lights and hiding in the attic until the streets go quiet. This can make a person feel guilty. On top of that, it's rather boring.

Another is to go for the healthy option. You can offer fruit instead of candy, which will scare children away as if you were dressed up like Freddy Krueger. It's candy night after all. They get offered fruit any day of the week.

Offering money is a possibility, but you won't get away with handing kids small coins. They learn the value of money at a very young age these days, or at least they know what they can get at the shop for how much. A few dollar cents just isn't going to do the trick.

A more practical solution is to visit the shops and, if you have one in your area, the market. Items like stickers, fake tattoos, erasers, small pencils along with bags of wrapped up candy can be mixed into a large bowl when the night comes.

If you feel adventurous, you can use some wrapping paper and create "lucky dip" gifts. A small gift with a couple of wrapped up candies will feel interesting and exciting, and the curiosity about what you will get when you open the present has worked for Kinder eggs and McDonald's Happy Meals for many years.

Creating these little gifts can be excellent fun, and you can place them in a bucket. Perhaps you can cover the top with wrapping paper, leaving a hole large enough for a child's arm to reach in and rummage around.

Make sure to protect the children from anything with hard edges - if there are pencils in there or harder plastic objects, it is best to wrap extra paper around those items, possibly covered on the outside with sticky tape. This will prevent the items from piercing the paper and scratching small hands.

Small items and candy like this don't have to cost a lot. Many markets offer good deals, and you can cut sheets of stickers to fit several Halloween presents.

Parents tend to like the idea of wrapped candy - it's considered safer, especially after some media scares involving not very responsible adults. And non-edible goods, however small, give a more lasting joy than candy and won't add to the sugar rush many parents face the days after Halloween.

Do not be afraid to be creative this Halloween. With a bit of luck, you won't face maxing out your credit card and you could have a lot of fun with the preparations. Not to mention the delight of the children pausing at your door to "trick-or-treat".

About the Author

Kit Marsters is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Writers.