Its Halloween night, and it is raining cats and dogs, the kids are bummed out because trick or treating is pretty much a wash out. To top it all off, you are the designated trick or treat chaperone and not only are your kids bored but so are the other 3 little goblins you agreed to take trick or treating. To make matters even worse, your budget will not allow for pizza or any other kind of expenditure at this time. So what is a mom to do?

First, open the bags of candy you were going to hand out to other trick or treaters, and fill a bowl. Have the kids line up and each must make up a silly sounding door bell, when you “open” the door, they should say Trick or Treat and then you can deposit a handful of goodies into the bag.

After the kids have went trick or treating; now its time to play a Halloween version of Mother may I. In this version before the child can move he must ask Mummy may I and await the mummies reply.

Use any left over candy to orchestrate a Halloween scavenger hunt. Each child must find the exact candy on his or her list. You will surely hear shrieks of delight as everyone scurries about to find the treasures on their list.

Another great idea is to have everyone sit in a circle and as a group make up a ghost story. Have someone start the story and then they have to pass a pumpkin or some other Halloween item to someone else in the circle to continue the story, this will continue until everyone has had a chance to contribute. A tape recorder would come in handy for this game.

When everyone has gone home, you should pat yourself on the back for keeping a cool head and not giving in to the very real temptation of risking real financial trouble later on by spending money on pizza and videos. You managed to have a great time with the kids and not spend on cent. Congratulations, you certainly have earned the title of Budgeting guru.