With Halloween only moments away, here are six last minute frugal activities, costumes, and decorating ideas.

• The MegaMind website. This site is full of activities that will keep you and your kids busy through Halloween week and beyond. Click above to enter the site, then click or skip intro (or watch it because it’s cute), and click on games, and activities. This will land you on a page where you can select an action figure to download. There are other activities as well – a board game, comic books, bookmarks, brainteasers, card games, and coloring sheets. There is enough cool stuff here to make an entire MegaMind party. A truly great site for a MegaMind fan who is young or old, as you can see from the picture to the right.

• Unique and frugal costumes. At the same time that Halloween has become commercial and huge costume stores have sprung up, creative homemade outfits are also on the rise. The internet lets us share these gems. Certainly the ideas sent to Bargain Babe for her costume are a treasure trove of inspiration.
• Make a mask out of denim. Here is one idea that is different. Most of us have at least one pair of jeans hanging around that could be made into a mask in a few easy steps.
• Homemade tombstones. Flattened cardboard can be painted grey and cut into the shape of tomb stones. Use sharpie or black paint for inscriptions. Use wooden stakes or sticks to secure into the ground. These tombstones won’t last till next year unless you  make them out of wood.
• The closer we get to Halloween, the cheaper pumpkins get. If you aren’t up for the mess of carving your pumpkin, spray paint the pumpkin a solid color and paint on designs or use stickers.
• Make black and orange paper chains and hang them inside your house or use to decorate the front door. I think that paper chains are a wonderful craft. They are easy and cheap to make. Cut 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of construction paper into 1 x 11 inch strips. You can decorate the strips before you circle them together. Even the youngest child can manage to get the circles to interlock with a piece of tape, staple or glue stick.

Hope you have a fun Halloween.