Halloween Outfits – How Many Costumes is Enough?

In the spirit of discussing closet minimalism this month, I have had to confront my Halloween clothing issues. You see, each October, in addition to buying/making Halloween costumes, there is always this wonderful supply of inexpensive black and orange or purple and black Halloween clothing for sale. “Oh, that’s so cute!” I exclaim and start tossing things into my shopping cart.

So, my kids end up with 2 “costumes”: a Halloween costume as well as a black and orange “Halloween outfit” that gets worn to fall festivals and other October events.

When I had just one child, the Halloween oufit purchase was no big deal. I would pick up a pumpkin shirt and be done. With two kids, I could sometimes recycle the prior year’s shirt to my younger daughter and buy just one new shirt for my older daughter. With three kids, where my daughters are getting older and wiser to the fact that it is fun to buy new (or match each other) and now a child of a different gender who can’t always wear what his sisters wore, the situation is getting out of control!

Is this Halloween outfit buying really necessary? Probably not. But it is hard to resist cute “pumpkin patch” shots like these:

We are not talking about a huge amount of money (about $30 for everything) but when you are trying to live with less stuff, the Halloween outfits are something I need to think about. These outfits are a particular extravagance in the clothing department since they are worn only a few times and usually can’t be worn after October–except perhaps as pajamas. Fortunately, I don’t suffer from the problem of buying a special outfit for every holiday season (Christmas/Santa outfits, Valentine’s, Easter, etc.), but I do seem to have a weakness for red, white and blue outfits for the 4th of July (which are also wearable the rest of the summer) and the black and orange Halloween outfits.

We can probably squeeze out another year’s wearing of this year’s outfits for the girls (plus I would love to see those hilarious black and orange striped legs again) and we will see if we have a gender neutral hand-me-down for next year for my son.

Where do you stand on holiday outfit shopping? Which holidays tempt you with outfit shopping? Are you a disciplined minimalist or do you adopt a “they’re only young once!” mindset and splurge when you feel like it? Please share in the comments.