According to the National Retail Federation, Americans are expected to spend $3.8 billion on Halloween costumes this year, down $300 million from last year.
One of the ways shoppers spend less is by buying their costumes secondhand.
North County Christian School Thrift Shop employee Tami Shore said she's seen many shoppers thrift their Halloween costumes over the years.
"The community comes here. They’ll go out onto the racks and they’ll look for costumes of their own, their own creations," Shores said.
This year, they nearly sold out of costumes.
"Last night was crazy. I had a lot of Halloween costumes sold last night," Shores said.
Shoppers shared why they prefer secondhand costumes over retail ones.
"One, it saves money and just recycling costumes, we play dress up year-long, so we go through a lot of costumes, so it just makes sense for us to save some money. And then also recycling clothes just for the environment," said Jamie Jenkins, shopper.
Jenkins said at thrift stores, the price is lower and the quality is better.
"The costumes from the costume store, they’re not super well made, so they don’t last as long either. I feel like we are lucky finding some quality stuff at the thrift stores," Jenkins said.
Summer Ramos agreed, saying she can get more bang for her buck at the thrift store while shopping for her family of six.
"Many years we’ve made our whole costumes from thrift stores," Ramos said. "We’ve priced out other costumes just to buy and it’s so much more expensive.”
Thrifting is also more sustainable, as it reduces the demand for new clothing which conserves resources.
