Halloween on a budget? Laura hunts for costumes costing at most 50 kroner.

A couple of years ago, there was only one shared rack of Halloween costumes at Børneloppen in Tilst.

Today there are three – and they are overflowing.

Not because nothing is being sold from them, but because customer demand is so great that the staff have to make sure they are fully stocked every day.

Families with children have discovered that they can save money by buying Halloween costumes second-hand in thrift stores or on digital second-hand platforms.

Mia Dybro was hired at Børneloppen Tilst just over three years ago. Today she is the day-to-day manager, and she can sense interest in used costumes from both adults and children.

One of those who has taken on used Halloween costumes is Laura Mehdidehno.

She is a mother of three, and she has already been to Fætter BR. There she shelled out 250 kroner for a costume for one of her children. And that is not really sustainable in the long run.

That is why she has gone hunting at the second-hand racks today, where she has her eye on a glittering skeleton dress.

- I expect to find something for 50 kroner at the most, she says.

Twice as many Dracula costumes get new owners

Laura Mehdidehno is not alone in wanting to save money on Halloween costumes.

Sine Daugaard is holding a green monster costume costing 60 kroner and considering whether her one-and-a-half-year-old son can use it for a Halloween party at nursery.

She is a mother of two boys.

- I simply cannot see why I should go out and buy new things for Halloween, Christmas, and Shrovetide. Much of the used stuff still has plenty of life in it, she says.

For Sine Daugaard, it is important to buy as much as possible second-hand, especially when items will only be used a few times. (Photo: © Martha Myhre)

Mia Dybro, who is the day-to-day manager at Børneloppen Tilst, has noticed the growing interest in Halloween costumes.

- Since I started, it has simply exploded, she says.

When she was hired three years ago, they sold around ten Halloween costumes a day, according to her. Today, 20–30 costumes disappear from the racks daily, she says.

The digital second-hand platforms Sellpy and Reshopper are also seeing greater interest in used Halloween costumes.

At Sellpy, sales of costumes and Halloween costumes in Denmark have increased by 101.4 percent from 1 September to 27 October compared with the same period last year.

At Reshopper, 8,327 Halloween and dress-up items were sold in the same period this year, compared with 5,661 in 2023.

Mia Dybro points out that Halloween costumes are often only worn once, because children quickly outgrow them. (Photo: © Martha Myhre)

The little children could not care less

Until this year, Maria Munk Simonsen and her partner have spent around 600 kroner every autumn on costumes for their three children.

And the couple are tired of that.

Because even though their children get dressed up so they can take part at school and nursery, Halloween is not really something they care much about.

- Something that is used so little is not worth spending money on, Maria Munk Simonsen believes.

That is why this year they have set out on a second-hand hunt to buy the Halloween costumes used for the very first time.

That way they expect to save around 400 kroner on the Halloween costumes.

- That is a lot of money to save on something so insignificant, she says.

She does not think the children will be disappointed to get second-hand costumes.

- They do not have any opinion about it, because they do not even know.

Laura Mehdidehno has had the same experience with her 4-year-old daughter.

- She is incredibly indifferent to whether it is bought new or used.

Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.