Today’s Hint: Reuse Halloween Costumes

Last year, my then 1-year-old daughter was a butterfly for Halloween. She wore a cute butterfly Halloween costume I bought at Amazon.com. This Halloween, she’s going to dress up as . . . a butterfly again.

In other words, I’m going to reuse her costume from last Halloween (it still fits) this year. This strategy for saving money on Halloween costumes, one of seven such tips I recently wrote about over at U.S. News Money’s The Frugal Shopper blog, is today’s hint.

My daughter doing a test run of her costume from last year (it still fits).

To be sure, this budget-friendly approach likely works best for young kids (think babies and toddlers) who don’t really have much of say in what they wear on Halloween. In addition, considering that young kids grow really fast, an entire old costume may not work this year, unless you bought or made a really big costume last year.

Still, there’s a good chance that at least part of last year’s costume will work again. This year, my daughter’s 2013 Halloween costume still fits (see her in it last year in the image above and in it this year in the image to the left).

In addition, I’ll probably be able to use it for years to come too. For instance, the wing-part of my daughter’s 2013 costume alone is all I really need to have her dress up as a butterfly. She doesn’t necessarily need to wear the same black leotard that came with the costume – any old black clothes paired with the wings should work just fine. And if the costume’s matching tutu still fits too, that’s just an added bonus.

Even with older kids, there are ways you can still reuse last year’s costume, as I write over at The Frugal Shopper. In addition to salvaging just parts of last year’s costume (think tutus and wings, for instance) to create a new look, you could also consider having your kids trade past costumes with each other or with their friends.

Of course, there’s something fun about thinking up a new costume each year for your children, and taking pictures of them in a new disguise each Halloween.

That’s probably why there’s only “a small percentage of people who actually re-wear their past costumes,” as Andrea Woroch consumer and money-saving expert for Kinoli Inc., points out. “Though the idea of reusing [costumes] is practical and cost effective, the reality is people want to try new looks,” she says.

Still, once you think about how much money (and time) you can save by simply repurposing all or parts of your child’s old costume, it’s easy to overcome the need-a-new-look hurdle.

In fact, as Chris Koentges writes in a great 2012 piece in The Atlantic, “The Glory of Wearing the Same Halloween Costume Every Year,” wearing the same costume can be more than just a money-saving strategy. It’s also easy and can help you develop a deeper relationship with your disguise identity.

Finally, though, you’ll want to give your kids, even young ones, a choice, if possible. For example, we recently took our tot to Party City and let her look at all the costumes available. Then, I asked her if she wanted to be Elsa, Anna, a hula dancer or a butterfly. And luckily, she responded “a butterfly.”

You can read all seven of my tips for disguising your little one for less this holiday in the full post, “7 Ways to Save on Children’s Halloween Costumes,” at U.S. News Money’s The Frugal Shopper blog.

Do you agree with me? Would you outfit your child in a repeat Halloween costume? Why or why not?

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