Boo on a Budget: 5 Thrifty Tips for an Indigenous-Inspired Halloween
Avneet Takhar
OneFeather’s gearing up for Halloween, and we’ve gathered some last-minute, spooktacular tips — conjured up by our terrifying team members — to make this season more treat than trick for your wallet.
Before we jump in, we have to share this bit of genius creativity.
Now, it's time to explore these frighteningly good ideas below!
1. Costumes
Chances are, the perfect costume is already lurking in your closet, you might just need a few crafty touches to complete the magic.
Go “boo-mode” or pay homage to your favourite characters from Indigenous movies.
Here’s some inspiration:
- Ghost — Classic white sheet with eye holes and black marker details.
- Scarecrow — Flannel shirt, jeans, boots and a fake straw hat.
Attach dried yellow leaves or scrap yellowy fabric to the wrists for the full effect.
- Scary Scientist — Red fabric paint splattered on a lab coat, white top, black pants, and a face mask.
- Cat — Eye pencil whiskers, ears, black scrap fabric and a wire hanger for the tail, black top and pants.
Feeling crafty? Use cardboard paper to make the face and ears. Inspiration here ↗
- Witch or Wizard — Black pointed hat, black dress or draped black sheet.
Add gold paper stars to your hat for a magical touch.
- Reservation Dogs Cast — Grab your crew and recreate the iconic scene paying homage to Reservoir Dogs.
Black suit, white shirt, black tie.
Add a dog sticker to the tie like Bear Smallhill to complete the look!
- Smoke Signals — Channel Victor and Thomas with red plaid shirts, jeans, large glasses, a waistcoat, and braids.
- Marvel Universe (Indigenous Edition)
∘ Echo — Hair in a French braid or bun, black tank, leggings, combat boots, and grey duct tape over gauze. Add silver triangles to your top with fabric tape. Inspiration here ↗
∘ Red Wolf — Silver face paint, brown cowboy hat, waistcoat and pants, white shirt with sleeves rolled up, brown scrap fabric wrist wraps, and silver zigzags painted on one side. Inspiration here ↗
2. Candy and Snacks
Keep things easy-peasy, gruesome-breezy!
Sweet Treats
- Fun-size candy bags from The Dollar Store.
- Creepy cookies — make googly eyes with sugar and chocolate chips.
- Classic pumpkin pie, with homemade puree filling.
Pumpkin pie recipe ↗ *We suggest buying pre-made pastry to save time!
Savoury Snacks
- Skewered “eyeball” mushrooms
- "Mummy" poppers
- Bewitching chili and rice
Drinks
- Dark Arts Juice — Pepsi
- Blood Juice — Cranberry juice
- Pumpkin Potion — Orange juice
3. Décor
Set the spooky mood with simple, thrifty touches:
- Carved pumpkins and mason-jar jack-o-lanterns with LED tea lights.
- White and orange balloons with ghoul or eyeball faces drawn using black markers.
- Mini cauldrons from The Dollar Store for candy storage and displays.
4. Entertainment
The kids may be out trick-or-treating with a guardian, but that doesn’t mean the grown-ups can’t have some Halloween fun too.
- Horror Movie Night — Stream for free on Kanopy with your library or (university) student card, or through your subscriptions on Netflix, Amazon, or Apple TV+.
- Spooky Charades — Act out horror movie characters.
- Trivia Night — Test your Halloween and scary movie knowledge.
5. Aftermath
Plan ahead for next year’s fright-fest.
- Stock up on post-Halloween sales from Amazon, Michaels, Walmart, or Costco.
- Hot tip: Michaels usually offers Halloween décor and costume discounts the week before Halloween — grab them early for even bigger savings.
We hope these staff-recommended ideas help make this spooky season one to remember — thrilling, thrifty, and proudly Indigenous-inspired!