You take our Shrek, we'll take your Jack Sparrow. Your used Halloween costumes can get a second life in a neighborhood costume exchange.

How many trick-or-treaters come to your door in costumes that you recognize as the same ones your children wore the year before? You spent $40 on them, they were worn for a couple of hours and now they’re tucked away in your basement.

Halloween costume stores profit from the notion that kids don’t want to dress up the same from year to year on Halloween. Halloween stores have only a few months to make the money they need to be profitable. Rarely is merchandise discounted, so saving money at a costume store is not likely. Costumes in a bag are in the $30 range, which can be expensive, especially if you’re outfitting more than one child.

A neighborhood costume exchange puts to use those old costumes your children have already worn, and gives a second life to that princess ensemble that you handmade four years ago.

Who to include

This is one party where more is definitely merrier. Invite as many families as you can to your exchange. If the children cover a wide range of ages, your costume exchange will have more sizes to choose from.

When to have it

Plan ahead! Kids start thinking of what they want to be for Halloween as early as September. but often change their minds several times right up to the last minute. Plan your costume exchange and issue invitations in mid- to late-September, before families have already purchased their costumes for the year, and set the date for your exchange for mid October.

Halloween kick-off

Use your costume exchange to kick off Halloween and get into the spirit. Decorate your house for Halloween – this would be a good time to bring out all your old decorations and see what’s still usable.

Serve hot cider with cinnamon sticks, jack o’lantern cookies and pumpkin bread tea sandwiches.

Play some Halloween music. In the theme section of your music store or public library, you can find Halloween hit collections with songs like Monster Mash, Ghostbusters, and The Purple People Eater, to get the Halloween mood in motion.

Your costume exchange can include a fun Halloween activity for the kids. Have everyone bring a plain white pillowcase and set out fabric paints for them to decorate it for a treat bag for trick-or-treating.

How the costume exchange works

Set aside a room just for your costumes. Think of it as a costume store. Lay out the costumes on the floor or tables in sections by size. Keep costume components together. For instance, if the pirate costume comes with an eye patch, sash and sword, keep them all together, preferably attached, in the display.

As parents arrive, have them add their costumes to the display.

Have the kids “shop” for a costume that they might like. If they’ve already decided to be a vampire, they might find a set of fangs that are better than the ones they planned to buy, or a cape that is just their size. Or they might just see a must-have rock star costume that makes them change their mind.

Be sure all contributors to the costume exchange have put their last names on their costumes, so they can be returned after Halloween.

Think beyond Halloween

Lots of things can be put together for a costume. What do you have lying around your house that can be pulled off as a costume? Old jewelry, clothes from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, old sports uniforms, your old work uniforms. Dig around in your old trunks, and don’t forget Christmas and other holidays. That old Santa hat and those elf slippers could be the start of an imaginative Halloween costume.