Cheap Halloween Party Ideas: Decor, Food and Games on a $50 Budget

Halloween is the cheapest holiday to throw a party for. The decorations are supposed to look old, torn and a little homemade, which means your recycling bin and linen closet are already half the budget. Here is how to host a party for about a dozen guests, kids or grown-ups, for roughly $50.

Where the $50 goes

The rest comes from the house: sheets, cardboard, jars, candles, pillowcases and whatever costume bits are in the dress-up bin.

Decorations from the recycling bin

Start outside, because the front porch sets the mood before anyone rings the bell.

• Milk jug jack-o-lanterns. Rinse empty gallon jugs, draw faces with a black marker and drop a glow stick or battery tea light inside. Line the walkway with them.
• Trash bag spider. Stuff two black garbage bags with newspaper or leaves for the body and head, then tape on legs made from rolled bags. A giant spider on the roof or the hedge looks great from the street.
• Eyes in the bushes. Cut eye shapes into empty toilet paper tubes, slide a glow stick inside and tuck them into shrubs. Neighbors will swear something is watching them.

Inside, the tricks are even cheaper. Drape white sheets over the sofa and chairs for a haunted house look. Pull cotton balls or cheap stretchy cobweb into strands across doorways and corners. Tilt the framed pictures on the walls. Cut bats from black paper and tape them in a swarm rising up one wall. Swap the regular bulbs in one lamp for a colored bulb, turn the other lights down, and play a free spooky sound playlist in the background.

If you want a showpiece, fill clean glass jars with water, a drop of food coloring and a peeled grape or a plastic spider for “laboratory specimens.” Label them with masking tape and a marker.

Spooky food that costs little

Halloween food is more about presentation than ingredients. Most of these use pantry staples:

1. Mummy hot dogs. Wrap hot dogs in thin strips of crescent roll dough, leaving a gap for the face, and bake according to the dough package. Dots of mustard make the eyes.
2. Graveyard pudding cups. Chocolate pudding, crushed chocolate sandwich cookies on top and a gummy worm. A cookie stuck upright becomes a tombstone.
3. Jack-o-lantern clementines. Draw faces on the peel with a food-safe marker. It takes one minute per fruit.
4. Witch broom pretzels. Pretzel sticks pushed into a halved string cheese, with the cheese frayed at the end.
5. Ghost bananas. Halved bananas with chocolate chip eyes and mouths.
6. Hot apple cider. A big pot on the stove makes the whole house smell like fall.

The budget recipes collection has more cheap dishes if you want a full dinner, and after carving, roasted pumpkin seeds make a free, salty snack for the table.

Games that keep people busy

For young kids, the classic “mystery body parts” game never fails. Fill covered bowls with peeled grapes for eyeballs, cold cooked spaghetti for brains and a damp glove filled with sand for a hand. Kids reach in with their eyes closed and guess. It costs almost nothing and they will talk about it for weeks.

Other easy games:

• Mummy wrap race. Teams wrap one member in toilet paper, and the fastest full mummy wins.
• Pumpkin decorating. Small pumpkins or gourds, markers, stickers and glue. Safer than carving for little hands.
• Donut on a string. Hang donuts from a line and have kids eat them without hands.
• Freeze dance to spooky songs.

Grown-ups are just as competitive. Run a costume contest with categories like “most homemade,” “best couple” and “scariest under $10,” or set up a pumpkin carving contest with a vote at the end. For more free game ideas, the list of frugal party games adapts easily to a Halloween theme.

A simple party timeline

Planning a little ahead is what keeps a cheap party from turning into an expensive last-minute one.

1. Three weeks out: pick the date and send invitations by text or a free online invite. Start saving milk jugs, jars and toilet paper tubes.
2. Two weeks out: make the outdoor decorations and the paper bats. Buy candy and paper goods when you see a sale.
3. One week out: plan the menu and buy nonperishables. Gather game supplies and prizes in one bag.
4. The day before: set up the indoor decorations and make anything that keeps, like the pudding cups (covered, in the fridge).
5. Party day: bake the mummy hot dogs, set out the food, crack the glow sticks just before guests arrive so they last all evening.

Keep the party to about two hours for young kids, and plan the games for the middle hour when energy peaks. They have more fun with a short, busy party than a long one, and you need less food.

Food safety for a party buffet

Party food tends to sit out while everyone plays. USDA guidance is that perishable food should not stay at room temperature for more than two hours, so put out smaller amounts and refill from the fridge. Keep cooked hot dogs warm in a slow cooker set to warm, and chill pudding cups until you serve them. When the party ends, refrigerate leftovers right away and use them within three to four days.

Keep costs from creeping

The budget usually breaks on candy and last-minute decorations. Buy candy on sale in mid-October, not the week of Halloween, and keep it out of sight until the party. Ask each family to bring one treat or drink, which cuts your food bill and makes guests feel involved. Skip the themed plates and napkins; plain orange or black ones are cheaper and look just as good.

Costumes do not need to cost much either. The ideas for homemade adult Halloween costumes mostly come from the closet and the thrift store.

Afterward, save the milk jugs, jars and paper bats in one box marked “Halloween.” They will be ready next October, and the only thing you will need to buy is the food.