In the toy box, Little Red Riding Hood is having a fight with the Big Bad Wolf, and Superman’s trying to step in and break it up. Halloween is a time when we tend to accumulate a lot of new costumes. What can you do with those old Halloween costumes?
Of course, the kids will likely be into them for a while. Choose Halloween costumes that are durable, and they may be a hit in the dress ups for years. But after the attraction wanes, where will your costumes find a home?
Choose costumes that are made out of reusable clothing, and integrate them into your child’s wardrobe. This year, my daughter’s costume incorporates lovely linen pants that she hasn’t worn very often. Hopefully, using them as part of a pirate costume will give them new life in her wardrobe.
Keep old costumes and sell them on Ebay or Craigslist. Classic costumes work best for this, since next year’s trend will be very different from this year’s trendy costume. Of course, the best time to do this is within a month of Halloween.
Use them for dressing up your house. You can use old witch costumes, monster masks, or cowboy attire to dress up future scarecrows and scary creatures around your home and garden to spookify next Halloween.
Give them to a local preschool or other organization that needs children’s toys. Just ask first about their requirements. They may not want particularly scary costumes.
Give costumes to a local church for Christmas plays, or donate them to schools for school plays. Our church has a wide variety of animal and angel costumes that they reuse every year, but they always need more, since costumes get worn over time.
Use them for other events such as Mardi Gras or costume parties. I play in a band that features costumed players, so this is a great way to reuse Halloween attire.
Pass them on to friends and relatives. In September, hold a Halloween costume swap where you all clear out your children’s dress ups and get a cheap Halloween costume out of the deal.
How do you reuse your child’s Halloween costume?
Image Credit: Thadz