Families Saving Money Bartering For Halloween Costumes

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - The Henderson home in Fort Worth is ready for Halloween.  The ghosts and goblins are out around the front yard and inside.

What makes those decorations so priceless is the fact it didn't cost the family a penny.  "People just give them away, because they are not going to decorate," says Ashley Henderson.

This year the Henderson's three daughter's Halloween costumes won't cost anything either.

"My 4 year old changes her mind she was going to be Rapunzel then she was going to be a cheerleader," Henderson shows off the costumes "My 6 year old will be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.  The baby will be a lady bug."

Henderson says she's learned the trick to making great deals online.  She's a regular now on Craiglist.  That's where she scored her kids costumes this year under the barter section.  "We go on Craigslist and we try to find someone who wants to barter," says Henderson "We traded baby stuff or a new costume."

If the mother of three would have bought their Halloween costumes and gotten similar ones from a store they would have spent more than sixty dollars.

"The economy in this way makes it more of a necessity for people to stretch their budgets," says William Cron who is an Associate Dean of the Graduate Program at TCU.

He says in a sluggish economy more and more cash-strapped parents are forced to find other options.  "People - when they start experience it they like it we simply don't do it because of some kind of sense of social norms," says Cron.

As the economy slowly picks up the Henderson says she'll keep bartering.  She's already counting the hundreds of dollars they've saved just this year.  "It saves us money with 3 kids' stuff gets expensive," says Henderson.

Before you barter with someone the Better Business Bureau says ask for references and sign a contract stating the details of the trade.

There are a number of bartering websites which have become popular with parents hoping to save some money.
Babysitterexchange.com connects people who want to swap babysitting hours with people in their communities.
Care.com helps people looking for caretaker services from babysitting to senior-care needs.
Swapstyle.com bills itself as "an online fashion party."
Swaptrade.com provides trading services for music, books, movies and video games.
Zwaggle.com helps parents trade their kids' old stuff for new.