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Should you rent or buy your costume?

I think this question really comes down to:
What is it you want to dress up as?
Is this for a costume party or Halloween?
Will you use it again?
Can it be recycled as dress up clothes for kids?
How much do you have to spend?
And
How elaborate do you want to go?

I have found a lot of times I have bought a costume and then it hung in my closet for years before I finally decided to get rid of it. My last one was a popular one the year after so I sold it on ebay for half the price I bought it for including matching accessories I had to hunt down in a bunch of random stores. After all the stress of trying to find the right costume and accessories, I would have rather rented a costume from a costume store where all the matching accessories you might need are right there with it.

If this is a little kids costume that we are talking about, it may be a good item to get a little big so the child can wear it as a dress up outfit. I have a friend who buys all the kids costumes after Halloween is over and they are all on sale. She lets her toddler wear them and she loves it! When she out grows them, my friend donates them to a thrift store where less fortunate parents can buy them for their kids at a discounted price.
Renting a child's costume might be a little more risky as well, just for the sake of how rowdy and messy a child can be.
Sometimes renting a costume can be a little expensive, but mostly because they make you put a deposit down that you get back when you return the costume in one piece. A lot of the times, like I mentioned before, you can find all the accessories right along with the costume and sometimes they are included with the costume rental fee.
I had rented a flapper girl dress and it came with the head piece and feather boa, so all I had to buy was the make-up, shoes, and cigarette holder :) I had looked into purchasing a dress, but the quality was not very good and I had to buy all the accessories separate. This made the price almost double of what I paid to rent it.
Now, if you are attending a costume party any time of the year, would you maybe re-wear the costume for Halloween? Or do you have a kid who would wear it after you? If so, purchasing it, you might get your worth out of it. If not, rent it for a night and give it back.
Last but not least... see if you have a friend who got suckered into buying a costume and see if you can wear there's. If you own one, see if they would like to wear it as well. You can always trade costumes if you own them, or start your own rental service.

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