How to Host a Halloween Costume Swap

If you’ve got a couple of kids, Halloween costumes and accessories can get expensive. Finding ways to offset the costs of new costumes can still leave you with money being spent out of pocket, so we found a way to do Halloween costumes – for free.

A costume swap between friends is easy to arrange, and can be a fun way to plan a pre-Halloween get together between friends and family. This works especially well for parents in a same-age group, as you can swap costumes around the same size, and get something new to wear for Halloween, with no money out of pocket.

Host a Halloween Costume Swap 

Send out the invites | First, decide who you’re going to invite to the swap. Using Facebook or Eventbrite to manage the event helps to keep track of who’s going to come. When sending out the invite, ensure that you’re sending invites to parents and caregivers with various ages of children.

Know the Sizes | Make sure that there are invites being sent out to allow for swapping of costumes for the kids sizes that are attending the swap. Keep track of the sizes and ages of kids coming to the swap, or post the costumes and sizes before-hand, to make the swap work for all of the families taking part.

Tag the costumes | Use labels or a color code system to mark the costumes and determine who brought which costumes. This way, costumes that haven’t been chosen at the end of the swap can be given back to their original owners.

Hand out tickets, or track the costumes brought along. A person should not leave the swap with more costumes than they had originally came with. Using the tickets, it’s easy to track. You bring three costumes, you can leave three costumes.

Make it fun | Have snacks and games for the children to play while they are trying on the costumes to see what fits. Finding fun snack ideas, Halloween crafts and themed activities can make the playdate fun, while saving parents money on Halloween costumes.

Don’t forget the accessories | Search through the costumes to find not only the fun dress up and costume pieces, but bring the accessories too. The accessories can make the costumes, and are an important part of the festivities.

Have you ever hosted a costume swap to save money on Halloween costumes? What has worked best for you?