Halloween

Ah, yes. That wonderful time of year where parents scurry out and spend money on an outfit that gets one once (most of the time), pails and if you live in a neighbor hood that gets trick or treaters then you also have to invest in enough candy as to avoid eggings or other such vandalism.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Halloween.
I do. I would love to decorate my house with cobwebs, bats, skeletons, spiders with dry ice and fog machines. I have fond memories of bus rides after school going though neighborhoods seeking out the coolest houses. Our bus driver would even take a small detour down Henry street so we could see the yard decked out with a life sized Freddy Kruger and bodies hanging from their tree.
I dressed up every year until I was 17 and if given the chance to attend a Halloween costume party, I would race out to the costume shop and thoroughly enjoy choosing something to wear.
But as a parent, it feels a little more stressful. Especially when money is tight and you are looking to save some cash up for Christmas.
What is a Mom to do?
Well, if I were the sewing type I would probably simultaneously stress out and enjoy making costumes myself. But I am not, so I can't. All I can do is stress out about how I wish I knew how to sew or knew someone who could do it for me.
So that leaves costumes from past years and hand me downs or buying new from the stores.
I have used hand me downs for the smaller kids-they don't really understand the whole costume decision process anyways and will generally accept the costume if you are sure to emphasize the fact that with it comes a bucket full of candy.
I have also managed to get away with minimal purchases to make a costume work. One year my 2 year old son went as a cowboy. Easy enough. Brown shoes, had 'em. Jeans, Check. Leather vest, thank you Grandma for the authentic leather gift from AZ. Plain shirt to go underneath, of course and a fake pistol, which as a mother of 3 boys I had. All I had to do was spend about $5 on a hat, bandana and badge set.
AS my kids have gotten older though I have noticed a lot more independence about this decision. My two oldest boys want to be characters from Star Wars (this is due to the fact that they recently got a Wii game as a gift) Lucky for me I might have convinced one of them to use a Jango Fett costume we had been given....but my oldest still wants to be Darth Vader and I doubt I will get out of that one.
My oldest daughter is into princesses and I am sure you can guess which one she wants to be this year: Elsa.
Of course that costume is pretty easy to find but it has been my experience that the quality is lacking, especially for the price.

Do I need to learn to tell my kids "No." when they ask to be something? I mean, of course if they asked to be something I am not okay with (say my 6 year old wanting to be a zombie) I have not trouble with that. But what if spending $60 or more on costumes is not in the budget right now? What do you do then?
I want my kids to dress up and enjoy themselves but at the same time I know that it adds up when you have 5 kids. Luckily I have the 2 youngest covered and maybe even a third...but what happens when that ends? What happens when all 5 of my kids want something new and different?
Maybe I should look into sewing lessons. I just may need them. Its a skill I really wish I had taken the time to learn from my Late Grandmother.

What do other families in similar situations do this time of year? Cough up the cash or is there a more frugal way to dress your kids up for the holiday?