Halloween is just around the corner and all the goblins and ghouls are getting ready for their tricks, pranks, and all types of spooky fun! There are haunted houses everywhere, Halloween carnivals at churches and community centers, and the children are begging to be taken out for chills and thrills.

But what is a single parent to do when their budget is ghostly shy?
Why not design a hauntingly entertaining evening of your own?

Younger children can be fed at home and brought to your house for a monstrous Halloween party. If you are in a “safe” neighborhood and no parents object, you could take the entire bunch trick-or-treating. As we all know from years gone by, trick-or-treating is much more fun in a group. If the neighborhood isn’t a good idea, then why not try one of the malls that host trick-or-treating events? In one local community, the sorority and fraternity students host trick-or-treating and a small haunted house for the kids at no charge. Check into such activities in your area.

If trick-or-treating is not an option, then consider requesting each parent to bring, along with their child, an ingredient for S’mores or a bag of microwave popcorn. S’mores don’t require a campfire to be tasty; in fact, your little goblins will love them straight out of the microwave. Select a family-oriented Halloween movie (Halloweentown, Halloweentown II, Hocus Pocus) and let your little ghosties stuff themselves on luscious S’mores and popcorn. They will enjoy each other’s costumes, the treats, and the movie, resulting in eerily satisfied youngsters. And parents have saved a bundle on Halloween happiness.

As we all know, the teen crowd is just a wee bit harder to please. But pleasing this larger variety of monster is not impossible. In fact, it can be just as easy to manage on a bare-bones budget. Each party guest can bring their favorite CDs and a topping ingredient for pizza. Mama Marie’s makes a wonderful refrigerated pizza crust at a decent price or you can get pizza crust mix from Chef Boyardee or Martha White. Put the teens in the kitchen and let them create their own pizzas. With their favorite music and their favorite food, not much can go wrong on this haunted evening. Scary movies are also a hit with the teen crowd, but you might expect a bit more “scare” than with the youngsters. After all, it takes more to scare the teen crowd considering they have so much more life experience. *wink*

If you have a group of teen-age ghouls that are more of the active variety, they can come to your house a wee bit before dark and add to the decorations by posing in your front yard or hiding behind bushes. When the trick-or-treaters begin their rounds, won’t they be surprised when they get the living daylights scared out of them as they are leaving!

Everyone is sure to have a great time during your witching hours, no matter what you choose and you will be happy that your budget isn’t reduced to ashes at the first sign of daylight.

Here’s hoping your Halloween is over the moon! Heeheeheeheehee