SASKATOON, SASK. - As the cost of living continues to climb, Canadians are paying close attention to how much they are spending this Halloween. Saskatoon resident Angela Lenz had to get creative this year to dodge the higher costs of candy, costumes and decorations. “You still want kids to feel like they have really gotten something special because this is such a special night for them,” Lenz told CTV News. An online survey conducted by Angus Reid for NextDoor Canada found that 88 per cent of Canadians plan to spend less than $100 on Halloween this year. About 65 per cent of Canadians set their Halloween budget at less than $50. Halloween on a budget requires some shopping around, according to Lenz. “You just wait for end of season sales on things and you buy it all,” she said. “I’m watching for deals all the time on candy.” Higher costs for cocoa, sugar and packaging are driving up prices on Halloween treats. Chocolate is up by 30 per cent, costing around 28 cents per item, according to data from the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University. Candy is about 21 cents per item and individual chip bags work out to about 16 cents each. “(Chips) are a very popular item at Halloween just simply because of the price,” said Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab. Charlebois recommends waiting to buy treats as close to Halloween as possible when prices are marked down. “It is peak pricing right now, so I would wait it out until the very last minute,” he said. “We do see a lot bargains out there a couple of days before Halloween.” This year, Lenz scaled back the amount of candy she bought. Instead, she is handing out treat bags filled with trading cards that she thrifted at an estate sale. She even bought the treat bags on clearance. “I like to try and think outside the box a little bit,” she said. DIY Halloween Hacks From homemade costumes to DIY decorations, Lenz has been thrifty with Halloween for years. She used sheets of corrugated plastic and some paint to create lawn decorations of her favourite characters from the movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Lenz attached the decorations to her garden solar lights to illuminate them at night. They took three and a half hours to paint, but she said the time was worth it. “I try and make things out of unconventional items,” she said. She is not the only Canadian being frugal this Halloween. Nine-year-olds Olivia Twarynski and Addison Sander are stringing together piecemeal costumes this year. Their family is going as characters from “Star Wars.” They thrifted parts of their costumes from Facebook Marketplace and second-hand shops, while making the rest from scratch. Twarynski bought part of a used Mandalorian costume for $20 and plans to construct a helmet out of EVA foam. “It is way better because costumes from (the store) are $60 to $80,” she said. Sander is going as Rey from “Star Wars.” She borrowed clothes from her grandmother and plans to buy the rest second-hand. “We try to reuse old stuff so it costs less money.” They do the same with decorations. The family collected free wooden pallets from Home Depot and recycled paint from SARCAN to create new lawn decorations this year. “We put Dollarama skulls that we reuse every year on it and it looks like skeletons are coming through (the pallets),” Twarynski said.
