Once upon a time, your mom plopped a witch’s hat on your head, handed you a plastic pail and sent you on your merry way to trick-or-treat with your friends. The expectations around Halloween have since significantly ramped up — and so have the expenses. Matching family costumes for the 'gram. Boo baskets. $299 12-foot skeleton and animatronic werewolves. Trunk or treats, king-size candy bars, pumpkin patch festivities ... add it all up, and you're looking at one seriously scary credit card bill.

But, hey, it's a holiday. As our candy comas finally wear off, we asked three women — two moms shopping for the whole family, and one shopowner splashing out on a $500 costume — to share what they spent this spooky season.

Alex, a mom of three in New York City, loves a good deal. She scored free jack-o'-lanterns and saved money by making one of her kids a crafty DIY costume — but she couldn't avoid that Halloween candy sticker shock.

Costumes: $59

I try to make my own costumes or reuse as many things as possible. But this year my two little ones had very specific asks: a bunny and an alien, which I had to buy new. The bunny was $19, and the alien was $30. Luckily, my older son has wanted to be the same thing for, like, five years: a ghost. I got a pillowcase from Target for $10, and we cut holes in it.

Candy: $20

This year, I bought one big bag of candy for $20. It’s so expensive, and I usually always get way more than we ever end up needing.

Transportation: $35.38

We’re going to join family in New Jersey for trick-or-treating this year, so we’ll have to pay the toll for the bridge, which is $15.38. We’ll eat dinner at their house, so that won’t be an added expense. If we have to get gas, we’ll buy it there, and it’ll likely be around $20.

Pumpkins: $0

My mom gave us two pumpkins for free.

Courtney, a mom of three in Florida, has a lot going on: school events (with their own costume and candy needs), a group Halloween costume that includes her nanny and outfit changes for her little trick-or-treaters. Here's what it all costs.

Costumes: $220

I love Halloween — I really try to go all out. This year, there are eight of us — me, my husband, our three kids, my husband’s parents and our nanny — and we’re being a box of crayons. The adult crayon costumes are basically aprons of different colors with little crayon top hats; that was $50 for all the adults. Most of us will wear solid-color clothes we have already underneath, but I bought my nanny a pair of purple leggings for $20, and two of my kids yellow and green shirts and leggings, respectively, for $40. The caveat is that the two kids who are being yellow and green are actually obsessed with the color purple, so after we take pictures, I’m surprising them with purple outfits, which cost me another $30.

Then, my older daughter came home two weeks ago saying she wanted to be Cookie Monster at school, so I bought her a costume online for $70. I’m a teacher, and I’m directing Beauty and the Beast at school, so I got myself the cheapest possible youth Beast costume to wear to school. That was like $10.

Candy: $90

We bought around 20 bags of candy from Publix for $50. I also had to get candy for my kids’ classrooms and snacks for their party, which was another $40.

Party supplies: $20

For school, we all contributed money for a party, so that was $20 for cups and plates, etc.

New Yorker Caroline Weaver, aka the Locavore Guide, owns a quaint variety store stocked with local goods and spends her free time helping people scour local businesses for obscure items on their shopping lists. She opted to go all out for Halloween — supporting small businesses along the way.

Costume: $693

I learned that my local costume shop Abracadabra has an on-site costume designer named Daisy, and I was like — this is so fun! This was before I even knew what I was going to be for Halloween, but my office is right by the farmers market. I saw the top of a carrot one day and thought it would be so fun to be glamorous produce, with real carrot folds, strings and feathers for the top.

I sketched out the pattern and brought it to them, and then I went to get the materials. They quoted me $500 for constructing the dress, which seemed about right and what I was expecting for a totally custom dress.

I went to the Garment District to get fabric. After stopping into a few stores, I ended up at Mood. I would have gotten natural material, but since it’s just a Halloween costume, I went with polyester. I got orange and green. Then I went to get cord for the carrot strings at Daytona Trimmings, and feathers at The Feather Place, which really blew me away. It’s an amazing store with wholesale prices, and anyone can shop there. For the fabric, cord and feathers, I spent $159.

I also went to Manhattan Wardrobe Supply to get makeup. I originally wanted to paint my face green, but the team at Abracadabra was like, You can be more stylish than that. So I got green glittery eye and lip makeup, dark green eyeliner and glitter, which cost $34. (I ended up going with an orange lip because I liked it better.) We also have this orange body glitter in the store, and I used that too.

Honestly, I love this costume so much. I’m going to be a carrot forever.

Candy $86.75

I recently discovered from a customer that Smarties is a family-owned business based in Union, N.J. It’s also allergen-free, so I bought it in bulk for the store. For 1,590 of their candy coins, it cost $86.75. The box weighed like a million pounds.

Gift: $42

I’m going to a party on Halloween, and I’m going to bring the host a gift. It’s Louis Sherry chocolates that come in these glamorous tins, including a vintage witch tin for $42 that we had in the store and sold out of immediately. I saved one to bring her.