How do I do Halloween without spending much?

Halloween can cost a costume and a pumpkin and not much more, and two pages in this library each take one of those off the bill. Wear what you own and add one clear sign is for an adult or teenager with an invitation that says costumes and no wish to buy one, and it carries a safety box about flame, vision, face paint and burns, so it comes first. Buy the pumpkin on the first of November is for the day after, when pumpkins go for pennies and are food.

If you would rather not be the only person in plain clothes at a Halloween event, wear something you already own and add one clear sign that it is a costume, such as a handwritten sign, a name tag or one cheap accessory.

Before the costume: fire, sight, paint and burns

Whatever the costume is, keep it away from flames: the London Fire Brigade says any clothing can catch fire if it touches candles, tea-lights, fireworks or sparklers, and the NFPA, the US fire-safety association, says to avoid long trailing fabric and to use glow sticks or battery-powered candles in place of real ones. The authorities differ on fabric: the US FDA, CPSC and CDC say to wear costumes labelled flame resistant and, if you make one, to use flame-resistant fabrics such as polyester or nylon, while the London Fire Brigade says homemade is not always safer because cotton, netting, felt or synthetic fabrics can be highly flammable and suggests wearing ordinary clothes underneath. So keep every costume away from flames and do not wear anything loose or flowing near a candle or a jack-o’-lantern. The FDA, CPSC and CDC also say to wear costumes short enough that you cannot trip, to wear makeup and hats rather than masks that can block your vision, and, if you will be out in the dark, to add reflective strips so you can be seen. If your clothes catch fire, the London Fire Brigade’s advice is to stop, drop and roll, covering your face with your hands.

For a burn, the NHS says to hold it under cool running water for 20 minutes as soon as you can, remove clothing or jewellery near it but not anything stuck to it, and lay cling film (plastic wrap) over it without wrapping it; call 999 (911 in the US) or go to A&E (the emergency room in the US) for a burn that is very large or deep, is on your face, genitals or bottom, or was caused by a chemical or electricity, and do not drive yourself there. It also says not to put creams, oils or butter on a burn, not to burst blisters, and to get help from NHS 111 if you are not sure what to do.

For face paint, the FDA says to test it on the wearer’s arm at least 24 to 48 hours before, and that a rash, redness or swelling is a sign of possible allergy; colours must be approved for use on skin, especially near the eyes. The FDA says not to wear decorative colored contact lenses unless an eye care professional has fitted you and given you instructions, and that selling them without a prescription is illegal. The costume page is about costumes for adults and teenagers; children’s costumes have their own rules.

The costume: what you own, plus one sign

Start with what is already in your wardrobe. Some people find it easier to wear a simple costume than none at all in a group, and one person who hates costumes says the attention of wearing none is worse than the attention of wearing a minimal one. Some people say a good costume can come from clothes you already own that point to a job, a hobby or a look, such as gym clothes, work uniforms or aprons, with no new pieces bought for the night. One person suggests reusing a robe you have, a graduation gown for instance, and hemming it above your ankles and keeping it away from candles. One person says that wearing orange and black counts, and one says you can wear what you wore the day before and say it is your costume if asked. How much you need to add depends on the group: where everyone goes all out, even yesterday’s clothes may draw questions, and in a relaxed group a touch of colour may do. If you are not sure, go one step further and add a clear sign.

Add one clear signal. One person suggests ordinary clothes with a handwritten sign pinned on naming a simple character, such as a cat; one suggests a name tag with a name or identity on it; one suggests one cheap accessory, such as cat ears or whisker eyeliner. One person suggests a pun on a sign, name tag or small prop, and some people warn that puns built on a brand or catchphrase may not land if the audience does not know the reference. The page’s try-today is to pick one thing you already own that says something, write what you are on a sheet of paper in big letters and pin it to your chest, then check three things: you can see and move safely, nothing hangs loose near a candle or other flame, and you can say in one sentence what you are. If you plan to use face paint, test it on your arm a day or two ahead.

If you make or buy something. Some people say simple, recognisable characters can come from things around the house, such as sheets, cardboard and lampshades, with no purchase at all. If you cut eyeholes in a sheet, make sure you can see properly, that the hem clears your feet, and that you stay away from candles: the FDA page says to wear makeup and hats rather than masks that can obscure your vision, and to keep a costume short enough that you cannot trip. If you do spend, some people say to prefer things you can wear again, or that have a second use, and some people say second-hand stores are a main source of base layers and accessories. Many people say costumes are cheaper just after Halloween, which suits next year, not this year’s event; one person points out that retailers now often keep costumes back for next year rather than discounting them heavily, one says some stores bring in Christmas stock very fast, and one says pop-up Halloween stores close quickly after the day, so the window can be short.

One kind of outfit to skip. One person warns that a police, firefighter or military uniform that looks real can get you into legal trouble, and suggests clearly fake versions instead. In England and Wales, the Police Act 1996, section 90, makes it an offence to wear any article of police uniform so that you look so nearly like a police officer as to be calculated to deceive. The costume page did not check US state laws, which vary, or the law in Scotland. Choose a clearly fake version or another costume.

The day after: pumpkins for pennies, with one rule

One rule before the recipes, from people and from the US poison-control centres. Cut a small piece of the raw pumpkin and taste it. If it is bitter, properly, unpleasantly bitter, spit it out and throw the whole pumpkin away. Bitterness in a squash is a chemical called cucurbitacin, and it causes vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach pain hours later, occasionally badly enough for a hospital; the poison centre also says cooking does not destroy it, so do not boil the bitterness out. Anything labelled ‘decorative use only’, and any lantern that has been carved and left outside with a candle in it, is not food; that second line is the pumpkin page’s own, and people only said to keep the skin unbroken. An adult tastes before a small child eats. If you keep a dog and want to give it pumpkin, people are clear: plain purée, never pie filling. One person asked how to can pumpkin soup at home and the question went unanswered; the National Center for Home Food Preservation says not to can mashed or puréed pumpkin at home at all, only cubes, in a pressure canner, so freeze the soup instead.

Buy it the day after. Some people say pumpkins get dramatically cheaper or free on and just after Halloween, and some say the day after is when you buy a lot of them for cooking and storing; one person’s number is a quarter each, if you pick them for storage quality. One person says neighbours leave theirs out for free once the night is over, and another says buying whole is cheaper than a pre-cut tray. The price collapse is a Halloween market, strongest in the US. People disagree about how good a big carving pumpkin is to eat: some people say the big carving pumpkin was bred for size and a hard skin, and that against a small pie pumpkin it is often bland, watery and stringy. Some people say it is perfectly fine cooked through, and some say it needs too much sugar and fat to be worth it. The deciding line is which pumpkin you have and how much you mind bland; blended into soup, chilli or curry is where the people who liked theirs put it. If you cannot bring yourself to waste a pumpkin that cost a quarter, the page asks you, once, to waste that one.

What to do with a whole one. Turn it into purée and the purée into anything, which is the answer some people give. Some people roast the halves face down until soft so the flesh scoops off the skin, and some boil the chunks in salted water before baking; one person calls boiling on its own acceptable and common, and another calls it waterlogged and says roast instead. Big carving pumpkins are watery, and one person had to strain the purée for hours before it thickened. The seeds are the second harvest, and some people say the same thing: rinse them, toss them in oil and salt or spices, roast. Keep the whole ones cool, dark and unbruised for months if your climate allows; one person warns that a single large pumpkin fills half a household freezer, which is the case for cooking one at a time rather than all of them the day you bring them home. How long frozen purée keeps is not covered by the page, and nor is the nutrition of a carving pumpkin against a pie pumpkin.

Who this is not for

The costume page is for adults and teenagers dressing themselves. If you are dressing a young child, the costume, the fire rules and the sizing are a different question, and the UK’s London Fire Brigade says children’s costumes are classed as toys, so look for a UKCA or CE mark and any warning on the packaging. If the event is at work, one person says dressing as a competitor or using an inside joke may not land well, and the costume page does not cover what is acceptable in an office. If you hate costumes and are being pushed to wear one, one person says you can simply not do it, or use the least effort possible; the page does not cover how to handle being pressured, and if you simply want to skip Halloween, you can. The pumpkin page leaves open what to do if you have neither cool space nor freezer room. This answer does not cover trick-or-treating, sweets or decorations, and the people the pages draw on are mostly keen on cheap tricks; people who simply want to skip Halloween are less heard here.