In the current economic climate, very few parents want to spend much more than $20 extra on their children's dance recital costumes. Even professional dance companies have to budget carefully when designing and making costumes. With a creative attitude, though, you can get around wardrobe budget issues very easily.

The first thing you need to do is to choose the themes for the different dances. This will determine what your dancers will eventually wear. Think carefully about the theme. If it is too complicated, your dancers' outfits will probably have to be complicated and expensive too. For example, a mermaid theme sounds wonderful until you realize just how difficult it can be to make a mermaid tail that looks great and is still practical enough for a dancer to move in. In contrast, a famous ballet like 'Company B' uses khaki chinos and shirts that are available from any budget clothing store and that provide dancers with enough freedom of movement.

Professional costume designers often get their ideas by walking around in inexpensive clothing outlets and fabric stores. Super-realistic outfits aren't necessary. After all, the point of dance is that it portrays a story and characters through the dancers' movements. Some of the best contemporary pieces are ones in which the dancers wear only simple unitards.

It will save you a lot of money if you frequent bargain clothing shops throughout the year and not only a few weeks before the recital. In this way you can take advantage of special offers and bulk buying. Some of the items that you should stock up on are one-piece bathing suits and T-shirts. Bathing suits in one color make good leotards and you can always jazz them up a little with some sequins or rhinestones. T-shirts can be transformed into a huge variety of pieces, even into leotards.

You don't have to blow the budget on yards of tulle and satin. Muslin cheesecloth is inexpensive, takes to dye very well so that you can turn it into jewel colors, soft pastels and even the russets and browns of fall. In addition, it is light and cool and creates beautiful, flowing lines when a dancer moves. A few well-placed sequins can add sparkle under the stage lights.

With fabric paints, ribbon and rhinestones you can also work wonders. A plain dancing skirt can be turned into moving flames or a beautiful butterfly with some paint and you can even enlist your dancers to help create these. With some haberdashery you can also turn the plainest leotard into something spectacular.

Props and accessories are also inexpensive ways of creating costumes. Party stores are great sources for these, since they stock anything from tiaras to cowboy hats and masks at bargain prices. Papier mache is another great way to create props and accessories that will not look as cheap as cardboard cut-outs will. A bonus is that younger dancers will enjoy being called upon to help make these items.

Once you are making the dance recital costumes, remember that they don't have to be perfect. Stage lights are very forgiving of flaws. Besides, if the dancers are well prepared, nobody will look at the costumes anyway.