This could be an interesting project, it uses an RPi as the controller so you can control each socket individually. This could be useful for future holiday (Haloween) decorations. I won’t call it cheap thought, if I totalled up everything correctly, it will run you around 150-180 bucks to build. You could buy 4-6 WeMo’s for that price.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Web-Controlled-8-Channel-Powerstrip/