50 bucks for a Halloween costume?

[mitchedwards]

Party City has reasonable prices

[RG]

Oh my god! I was so ****ed off when I was a kid. (This was during the era of the Bill Bixby Hulk TV show). A lot of kids had cool parents that made home made Hulk outfits and painted them up with green body paint and ripped clothes.

My lame parents got me one of those Cooper outfits with the cheap plastic Hulk face with elastic dental floss type head band with the single staple on each side of the face that usually busted. Along with the stupid picture of Hulk busting out a wall or something the plastic bib looking torso with green plastic pants.

What a joke. I looked like such a ******.

hey at least you were the Hulk ... I was darn Smurf one year

[Hector]

I'm confused. $20 is pushing the limits of cost here?

I spend that amount on take-out most days and this is your
kids' Halloween experience we're talking about.
(they get what....like 10 total...that you can share with 'em
and they actually remember)

I think spending 30 to 40 bucks on your kids costume seems
quite appropriate. (if not more)

One of the very few times I agree with you, lol.

If I had a kid...I'd spend a couple hundred dollars on my kid's costume...I would go all out...lol.

I spend that much (if not more) supplying all the kiddies on Halloween...I don my annual Mil Macaras luchador mask...and hand out tons of candy to the kids...their faces light up like nobody's business...it's great.

I do it because I remember how much fun it was for me as well...it's my way of giving back.

[Hector]

My daughter wanted to be Supergirl this year for Halloween. We went to the local Halloween Store in Janesville. It is a annual store that opens from Sept to Halloween.

My child no longer fits into child sized costumes. She now fits a teen size. UGH!

A $50.00 costume. Holy ****!:

The Supergirl costume does look fabulous. It is based on her new look with the yellow stripes and the funky sleeves. 50 bucks is quite a chunk for a Halloween costume for a nine year old. I had to grin and bare it.

Money well spent.

Keep doing that...buy her the best costumes because before you know it she will be all grown up and those experiences will be long gone.

[jessica]

Not unreasonable. Halloween is a great excuse to dress up and party.

[Raydeen1]

I was actually planning on going Halloween costume shopping this weekend but now I'm not sure because the wife is still not feeling too hot from her surgery on Thursday. I have 2 boys so 2 costumes + goodies + pumpkins is getting up there in dollars. I'd love to buy them the most expensive but it's difficult even finding something they like. They soooooooooo wanted Transformers costumes last year but I couldn't find them anywhere. I did find a really nice Wolverine that was 30.00 that I would've bought but they wanted TRansformers and said no. I ended up making my oldest a Nightwing costume and to be honest, he adored it more than he would have the Optimus he wanted. My youngest was SPidey. I have pix somewhere.

[HardyGirl]

I dunno...that does seem like a lot. Personally, I think preparation is half the fun. I like to make my own costumes, and find creative ways of doing it cheaply. In the last 15 years I've dressed as:

Vincent from Beauty & The Beast (twice)
Mr. Spock (twice)
Adventure Team GIJoe
A hippie
Planet Of the apes Soldier chimp (I had a Corny mask)
The Six Million Dollar man
Evel Knievel
Dr. Bashir from Star Trek DS9

[jessica]

Well...my Lieutenant Uhura wig cost $50....

Don't ask me what my Zira appliances are going to cost...shhh...(but that doesn't count, because it's not for Halloween...)

[Hotfoot]

I'm confused. $20 is pushing the limits of cost here?

I spend that amount on take-out most days and this is your
kids' Halloween experience we're talking about.
(they get what....like 10 total...that you can share with 'em
and they actually remember)

I think spending 30 to 40 bucks on your kids costume seems
quite appropriate. (if not more)

20$ is expensive to a Southerner. Our economy is nothing like yours and our pay is significantly less. For a couple of hours wear time on something they usually tear up it just does not make sense. The only experience they get is free candy from strangers and that is not a good idea in todays predator infested world.

[huedell]

20$ is expensive to a Southerner. Our economy is nothing like yours and our pay is significantly less. For a couple of hours wear time on something they usually tear up it just does not make sense. The only experience they get is free candy from strangers and that is not a good idea in todays predator infested world.

Fair enough.

[megocrazy]

My kids always made thir own costumes. It was just a ritual with us to try and encourage creativity. We keep a couple of big totes that we have wigs, and big shoes, and odd colored clothes and stuff. We usually pick up the spray on hair color and make up after Halloween on clearance every year and have a good supply of stuff built up. It comes out a week before and everone picks stuff out and figures out what they want to be, and we just fill in the blanks of what we don't have. We do the school spirit thing a lot all year long. Even my boys have gone to school painted green and gold, (their high school colors). My daughter usually does it for every school or sports event so hair spray and makeup are staple items in our bathroom cabinet year round. I was in Target last year just before halloween, behind a lady buying costumes for her two kids and husband. Star Wars Jedi's. The full package, cloaks, sabers, masks, long hair wigs, just under $300. I almost crapped my pants. It definately has gotten out of hand, price wise. You can find the same basic light saber that they sell under the SW logo at Dollar Tree. It was that telescoping one that you swing and it extends. Sometimes it's just a matter of looking around to save some major coinage. I enjoyed the designing and finding the stuff more than the actual trick or treating experience. We had a lot of fun finding the pieces we needed and doing the makeup and stuff, while the actual trick or treating was more just running from house to house.

[jessica]

Preparation is the fun of it for me, too. A costume that I have invested my sweat equity is my preferred costume of choice. This year Dylan will be a Hoplite. I guess I better study photos and get cranking on his costume!!

[Hector]

20$ is expensive to a Southerner. Our economy is nothing like yours and our pay is significantly less. For a couple of hours wear time on something they usually tear up it just does not make sense. The only experience they get is free candy from strangers and that is not a good idea in todays predator infested world.

Ehem...

Our cost of living is waaaaaaaaay more expensive that you Southern boys...just take a look at the prices and rents of our houses here in California.

Everything in California is more expensive (supermarkets, restaurants, gas, etc).

Practically entire checks goes for mortgage or rent for most Californians (I'm lucky because I bought my house back in 1992).

It goes both ways, guy.

[Hector]

Fair enough.

You gave up with just a whimper, lol.

[thunderbolt]

^^^

Whatever happened to making costumes? I never used a store bought one growing up.