Halloween decor on a shoestring (well, on some kind of string anyway)

I don’t know about you all, but the financial crisis has forced me to take a stern look at my personal finances in recent weeks. We all have to tighten our belts. Some of us will have to buy fewer six packs. Others may need to cancel the season’s final aerial wolf hunt in the interest of saving fuel (and bullets). These are extraordinary times, and they call for extraordinary sacrifice.

As for me, I feel like Rosie the Riveter, tending my Victory Garden and salvaging my scrap metals to help get our economy back on track.* And yet I want to do more. So I combed the family budget, line by line, to see how we might save a few precious euros this October. After a deep and careful analysis, I now know what I must do.

I must make all decorations for my upcoming “Haunted Housewarming” Halloween-slash-Housewarming party out of tampons.

Yes, tampons. Something I already have on hand in good supply. These puppies have been languishing in my medicine cabinet for three weeks out of the month for YEARS. No more. This year, I’m putting my tampon investment to work and creating these fluffy fantasms:

If I am feeling especially daring, I may also attempt the tampon bat, although the pipecleaner requirement might put me over budget. (Also, I find these bats inexplicably disturbing. Maybe it’s the tampon applicator head. Even I have to draw the line somewhere.)

For more ideas on how to turn your tampons into Halloween multitaskers, visit MarthaStewart.com (hint: this is actually a link to TamponCrafts.com – I don’t know that it’s actually affiliated with Martha.)

* These references to World War II civilian efforts may or may not be germane to the subject of this post.