Welcome to October! Less than 30 days to get all your Halloween plans together, including choosing a killer costume. If you’re still unsure what to dress up as, I’ve got a roundup of links that are sure to get your creative juices flowing.

Not sure where to start? The best tip I know of is to choose a Halloween costume that you’re genuinely interested in becoming. If you spend your days dreaming about how badass ninjas are, then be a ninja! If you really like a character from a movie or comic, become him or her for Halloween. For all you mavericks out there who want to do something truly original, dream up your own character. Feel free to borrow from any themes that appeal to you, whether they will “make sense” to other people or not. Grab a wig, a loud jacket, some face …

The bummer about kids Halloween costumes is that they’re pretty much a one-time use item. Kids grow so dang fast, and unless you’ve got younger kids to pass down those costumes to, they’re useless to your family after the season. Thankfully, you can help out other families in need and give new life to a used costume at the same time. Preschool Rock has set up a Halloween Costume Exchange that allows you to donate your kids used costumes and get a 20% discount off a new costume for this year. Pretty sweet deal.

How Does the Halloween Costume Exchange Work?

Parents seeking free Halloween costumes:

Look through the listings of free Halloween costumes.

When a desirable Halloween costume is found, the parent contacts the Halloween costume donator via email to arrange for shipment.

Parent receives Halloween costume in the mail just in time for Halloween!

Parents wanting …

Did you know that Monday and Tuesday are the biggest days of the week for online costume sales? Maybe it has to do with post-weekend day dreaming… “I was just thinking about what to be for Halloween over the weekend. Damn Mondays. How about I put this TPS report away and look at costumes online”.

If you’re feeling that post-weekend Halloween itch then be sure to grab one of these coupon codes first. These are all good for the entire season so there’s no rush. Check back for the really good limited-time sales which will probably start showing up in early October. If you know of any Halloween-related sales or coupons (either online or at a retail store) please share them in the comments.

UPDATE: Here’s a new time-sensitive offer from Buy Costumes: Get 10% off your order with code HAUNT10. You can …

Halloween is a time for creativity; letting your imagination wander into the unexplored corners of your mind, the birth of new monsters, unleashing of ideas long since bottled… Sometimes the end result is reward enough, but you know what makes it even sweeter? Recognition. When you finally get to wear the costume that took you 8 weeks to make, the cries of “What an amazing costume!” make it so worth it. And when your neighbors do a double take and have to peer closer at your handmade yard prop: that’s one satisfying moment.

So if you haven’t already started, now’s the time to get cracking on your Halloween creations. When you’ve finally finished, enter them into the MAKE/CRAFT DIY Halloween Contest. Just upload your pictures to their DIY HALLOWEEN photo pool at Flickr by November 4th and your …

There are many milestones that usher in the Halloween season, and depending on your interests, some will be decidedly more exciting than others. The changing colors of the leaves and new flavors of candy corn are nice, but one sure sign that October 31st is nigh is the X-Entertainment Halloween Countdown. Its kickoff means a near daily dose of the unadulterated celebration of our beloved holiday. Every weekday Matt, the Man Behind the Curtain at X-E, writes about “new-for-2007 Halloween stuff and tons of ghoulish goodies from yesteryear.” Some highlights from last year include a review of the new Jones Soda Halloween flavors, The 3D effects of Friday the 13th: Part 3, the tale of his best Halloween costume ever, and a 3 part series on the best new candy of the season. Matt is …

Has anyone ever told you that you look like someone famous? Using the free online service “MyHeritage Face Recognition” see if you resemble any actors, then head to IMDb and choose your costume based on the results. You might be surprised how many people you look like, and how fun it is to try different photos!