i am helping to costume shows at a high school in my area, and my goal for them has been to give them things that are more "stock" costumes, simple things that can become a multitude of costumes when paired with certain items, or styled a certain way. it stretches their budget, and if they hold on to them and take care of them properly they can be used over and over again, in a multitude of ways. and eventualy they won't need to get stock items, and we can get them more specific things, or use the budget to make them some really awesome stuff. one of the cool things i do, is i bring in some of the pieces we will be using and have the kid's try them on, and then the teacher and i discuss, and we see what else we can add to the costume to make it even better. Once the kids have seen the costume, we also encourage them to bring in things they feel will add to the costume and be show appropriate. this has worked out really well in the last three shows that we have done. this also gets the kids involved. if your school has a fashion class in it, talk to the teacher and see if maybe the kids can make aprons or bonnets or something simple for your production. often times the teachers and students are more then willing to get involved. parents are also a great resource.