As Halloween is fast approaching, you probably have been thinking about your costume ideas. I know people here do not dress up as much or often, but honestly, I love Halloween. More specifically, I love the process of Halloween. Normally, I never really spend too much money on my costumes or buy those ready go set costumes because I am not about to spend that much money, and it is always more fun to make your own. Last year my friend and I went as feminist bookshop keepers from the TV show Portlandia. It was a big hit!

This year as I was searching for new costume ideas, I realized I need to find a source of my costume items: a quality second hand stores. Unlike the United States and other parts of Europe, Austria has not yet developed a second hand culture. To many people, second hand still means worn out with holes and unwearable. But one man’s trash may always be another man’s treasure. Previously I have posted about occasional Flohmarkt in various places in the city, but there are a couple standing stores selling second hand items, one of which is Humana. Don’t be confused with the shoe store. Anyway, this is a religious store where their profit goes to help those in need. In addition to helping others while shopping, you are helping the environment when you shop second hand by reducing the trash!

Just like any other second hand stores, when you go to Humana, you won’t always find just the right thing you wanted. But that’s also the beauty; you can be creative with cheap items and sometimes you can find really amazing pieces that would normally be 10 times of what you’d pay at the second hand store. I don’t wanna share my costume ideas here yet, but my boyfriend and I found all the items needed for our costumes and cost less than 20 euros!