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Two Ghosts Standing in Front of a Brick Wall
Two Ghosts Standing in Front of a Brick Wall
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Pace | Culture

A Complete Guide To Halloween On A Budget

Sierra Vendas Student Contributor, Pace University
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Pace chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

With Halloween around the corner, choosing a costume that doesn’t break the bank can be more than stressful. Furthermore, if you’re looking for a more unique costume, it can become even more challenging. Lucky for you, here’s a guide to finding affordable, non-basic, and easy ideas to help make Halloween feel less like a financial burden and more like the holiday it is. From costume inspiration, to shopping, to styling pieces you already have in your closet, here’s everything you need to know to have the perfect Halloween, while on a budget.

Finding affordable places to shop — especially places that aren’t fast fashion — isn’t always the easiest, but it’s certainly not impossible. Starting with online shopping, Depop, Mercari, and Poshmark are all great options. In addition to selling individual pieces of clothing you can style, people also sell full costumes on these sites. The way you search on these platforms also affects your chances of finding something. Since people often put trending brands and buzz words in the captions, it’s always helpful to use the search filters if you’re looking for something specific. Additionally, always make an offer for a lower price; almost all sellers will accept an offer. In fact, most sellers purposefully mark their items at a higher price because they’re anticipating offers. 

For in-person shopping, searching through local thrift stores is always an excellent way to find clothes and accessories. While finding things at curated secondhand and vintage stores is easier, putting in a little extra effort to look through an actual thrift store is always worth it. A tip for finding gems in any thrift store is to look through every piece in the store. This may sound tedious, but if you just skim through the racks, your chances of finding something drop significantly. If you’re unsure of where to go, some of my personal favorite thrift stores in NYC include:

  1. Goodwill, particularly the one on 25th and 6th Ave (103 W 25th St., NY 10001)
  2. Any Salvation Army Thrift Store
  3. East Village Thrift Shop (186 2nd Ave., New York, NY 10003)
  4. Thriftland USA (110 E 153rd St., Bronx, NY 10451)

It’s just as important to not overlook what you have in your closet already. Chances are, you have clothes sitting somewhere in your room that are perfect for a costume. You can also use pieces from previous Halloweens and restyle them into something new. Pinterest is going to be your best friend when it comes to finding costume ideas, but here are just a few relatively non-basic, affordable, and potentially free ones to get you started.

  1. Fireboy and Watergirl 

This can be a duo costume with a friend, or a couples costume. All you need is either a blue or red outfit, paper, markers, and a headband. If you can do makeup, you could also add a blue or red eye look or face paint. It’s definitely a very versatile costume, so it’s up to you whether you want to dress it up or down. It’s different enough that you likely won’t be wearing the same thing as someone else, but it’s still very recognizable.

  1. A Beanie Baby 

This is the perfect costume if you want to be an animal, but take it up a notch. Beanie babies are becoming more popular, so if you want to make it a little more unique, you could do a different animal that’s not as common. For example, you could do zebra print instead of leopard print. To make the tag, print out or draw the logo and glue it to a cardboard cutout of a heart. This could be done as a solo or group costume.

  1. A Sim 

For this costume, you could wear any outfit you want. It’s another costume that allows you to go all out or keep it simple, either way it still looks good. It’s a fairly low-effort costume that still looks creative. There are a couple ways to DIY the Sim’s plumbob (the diamond above a Sim’s head), so just search “DIY Sims plumbob” on any browser, and choose whichever method works best for you. All of the ways to create your plumbob require the same basic materials: paper and tape. 

  1. Sanrio characters 

While you’ll need to purchase the ears for the characters, finding the outfits shouldn’t be too difficult. If you don’t already have clothes that match any of the characters, they’re all easy to find in a thrift store or online. If you want to stand out more, you could be one of the lesser-known Sanrio characters. A few examples of these characters are the Little Twin Stars (a duo costume), Chococat, Pochacco, or Pompompurin. None of these characters are so niche that you’ll have to explain your costume in depth the entire night, especially if you have a picture of the character with you, but you’ll still be unique.

  1. A bed bug  

This is another extremely flexible costume. You could wear any nightgown, or really any pajamas you want. For the antennas, you can either buy them, or make them yourself with pipe cleaners and a headband. If you want a sleeping mask and don’t already own one, they sell them at any dollar store. It’s easy and comfortable, while still looking put together. 

No matter what costume you choose to wear this Halloween, if you follow these recommendations, you’re sure to have the best Halloween, and stay within your budget.

Sierra Vendas

Pace '27

Sierra is a senior at Pace University studying Digital Marketing with minors in Graphic Design and Special Events Marketing. She is a fourth year staff writer for Her Campus at Pace and enjoys writing more humorous pieces about pop culture and marketing.

In addition to Her Campus at Pace, Sierra is also the President of the Pace Advertising Club and Co-Manager of Pace University's IDM Lab. She enjoys brainstorming for all of these organizations and especially likes that they expose her to people of all backgrounds and industries.

Outside of school and work Sierra spends most of her time listening to music, watching rom-coms and sit-coms, shopping, going to museums, or exploring new places to eat. She likes a variety of different musical artists and will never turn down the opportunity to go to a concert. Sierra frequently watches the movies "A Rainy Day in New York" and "Breakfast at Tiffany’s" but is no stranger to shows such as "The Office" and "New Girl." Sierra is also interested in museum hopping however her favorite exhibits remain at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.