Despite scary economic times, the fun, and wackiness shouldn’t end this Halloween season.

According to 2007’s Halloween Spending Report, courtesy of the National Retail Federation, Halloween is the most popular holiday, with nearly $5 billion in sales annually, second only to Christmas. In tough times, however, the usual Halloween trappings may not be an option.

When it comes to decorations, ghosts made of tissue are a ghoulish option for sure. Just crush a tissue into a ball, put another tissue on top and stick a piece of string underneath the ball. Draw an appropriate face on the top tissue and hang with fishing line.

For costumes, thrift stores, costume swaps and rentals are three options that will save you a significant amount of money. In the costume idea department, make your own. Not only will you save money, but you can also have your kids help. It’s a perfect way to spend a little more quality time with your family.

Halloween entertainment is a key component too. Free family Halloween events and savings vouchers can be found online, as well as in community fliers and other publications.

It’s hard to come up with an original Halloween costume. There are a lot of options out there, but they’re pretty much the same. Ghosts, goblins, vampires, and the latest and greatest superheroes and their villains.

Popular TV and movie characters are also out there, as well as princesses, doctors, and firemen. What if none of those things are you, though? What if you want something a little, well, different?

You could go as a Geisha girl, or a Vegas showgirl. You don’t see too many of those. If that doesn’t appeal to you, how about going as a video game character.

Guitar Hero seems really popular lately, and there are also plenty of other games that have a ton of characters that you could choose from.

If none of those do it for you, try something a little more unique and interesting, like these:

Go as a giant name tag. ‘Hello, my name is…’

Get an inflatable sumo wrestler costume and float through that party or parade.

How about a giant dryer? People will be drawn to you like static cling!

You can also turn yourself into a walking Blow Pop.  Make sure you greet all the party goers by saying “Whats up sucka!”

Ever think of being a toilet for the night? You’d be hard to miss.

Even though you’ve probably ditched that old flip phone, you can still dress as one!

Upset about having to leave your computer to attend a Halloween party? Why not become your favorite site for the night. Go as Myspace. That’s right, the social networking site that has consumed our lives. It’s fun, original and you can put down anything you want in your profile, just like on the real site!

If you really want to be retro, try going as a Rubik cube. Sure, those were around a while ago, but everyone still knows what they are, and you’ll be the only one at your party. Any retro costume is a good choice, really, because it’s enjoying a resurgence today and everything that’s old is new again.

If you’re going to a party that’s a little more adult, you can get a costume that isn’t designed for children…or even designed to be seen by children. Adult Halloween costumes range from the nearly pornographic to the tacky and embarrassing, so you can get one of those or anything in between. Our money is on the cross-dressing French Maid.

Or, if you’re more interested in the college scene, you could impress your buddies as the Kool-Aid Man…but you’ll need three people. One to be the pitcher and 2 other guys on either side to be part of the wall that the pitcher busted through. Unless you want to be a threesome all night, you might want to let someone else dress up in this one.

Want to make a homemade costume that won’t be easily forgotten? How about dressing up your children and your pets? Wait, how about dressing up your children as pets? Sure, everyone’s seen the cute little puppy or kitty. But what about a skunk? Most people won’t forget that. After all, your kid’s probably a little stinker anyway.

What about other countries? They have Halloween, too, you know. For example, one of the most popular costumes in Germany is a fat, green, velour-looking tadpole thing wearing a baseball cap. Frankly, it looks like a giant sperm, but the jury’s still out on that one.

Speaking of reproductive fluids, this costume wins our grand prize:

No matter who you are and where you go, you’ll find some great costume ideas. Look around and you can come up with something totally unique and worthwhile.

There aren’t many boys have not wished at one time or another to be a pirate. There are probably a lot of girls that have too, for that matter.

With the recent success of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, pirates may just be making a comeback. With lots of options to choose from, this can be a fun theme to work with for a costume party or Halloween. There is the classic pirate look with tight pants, loose shirts, wide belts, boots, eye patch and of course the hook for a hand.

It is fairly safe to say you can begin adding to that look and people will still recognize you. For example you could add a parrot on your shoulder or a leather bag or pouch on your waistband filled with gold coins.

If you are going to a party and you are taking a date, really authenticate your look by having your date dress like a sexy pirate wench with a flowing skirt and loose white shirt with a tight, buttoned vest and the tallest, thigh high tie-up boots you can find.

Although KISS has not enjoyed the huge success in recent years as they did in the late 70’s and early 80’s, they have had a strong, steady influence in the music industry. Not to mention the costume industry.

Since back in the 70’s when KISS first became a household name, people have been trying to dress and look like the members of KISS. While the wild way that they dress is really quite simple, it isn’t like anyone has a lot of items lying around in their closet that are likely to work for a KISS costume.

First, you would need to find a black body suit and start adding layers. Basically, you need to go for as much black and silver as possible and platform knee high boots in the most outrageous style you can find. Capes and really large, gaudy belts would help enhance the outfit and don’t forget the makeup.

Once you apply the makeup, it will be quite easy to tell who you are dressed as.  If you’re like me and are not so good at applying makeup, you can buy some really great Kiss Makeup kits online.   Halloweenmart carries the full selection of Catman, Spaceman, Starchild and Demon Kiss Makeup kits.

They even have some Kiss masks (on the pricey side)  if you want to chunk the makeup all together.

Since the wonderful movie, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, came out in 1999, Cindy Lou Who has become a much more well-known character making her a new favorite of young and old alike.

The character of Cindy Lou Who is undeniably sweet and innocent and makes any age remember a time when they felt that way too.

Creating the look of Cindy Lou Who would not be too challenging by just using a little creativity. A small amount of pink makeup and some false eyelashes would complete the face and then a simple black and white checked dress would take care of the clothes. To really look authentic, throw in a red velvet cape, some red tights, black patented leather shoes and a red ribbon for the hair.

The hair is easily the most difficult, and the most important, part of the costume to accomplish as it is an updo with lots of extra braids and curls around the face.