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Halloween Spending to Surpass $5B; Pets to Dress up
US Consumers are expected to spend more on Halloween this year than last, with the average per person totaling $64.82, compared with $59.06 last year, according to the National Retail Federation’s Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch.
Total Halloween spending for 2007 is estimated by the NRF to reach $5.07 billion (extrapolation based on total US population of adults 18+).
On average, each person will spend $23.33 on Halloween costumes (including children’s and pet’s costumes), though young adults will spend far more, according to the survey: 18-24 year-olds plan to $34.06 on costumes, on average, nearly twice as much as they plan to spend on candy ($19.65).
Other survey findings:
- Average spending will rise in all categories, including candy ($19.84), decorations ($17.73) and greeting cards ($3.92).
- The most popular activity on Halloween this year will be handing out candy, with nearly three-fourths (72.9%) of consumers planning to stay home to hand out treats.
- Other popular activities include pumpkin carving (43.3%), decorating a home and/or yard (47.8%), and throwing or attending a Halloween party (28.3%).
Nearly 60% of consumers plan to celebrate Halloween in some way - but children and adults aren’t the only ones who will be celebrating this Halloween; their furry friends will actually be joining them on Halloween night in the search for treats, according to the survey:
- An estimated one in ten celebrants (11.0%), or 7.4 million households, plan on dressing their beloved pet in some sort of costume.
- Devils (12.0%) and pumpkins (9.2%) top the list of pet costumes, with witches (4.5%), princesses (3.8%) and angels (3.3%) rounding out the top five.
The survey also ranked children’s and adults’ costumes:
- Girls helped make princess the top choice for dressing up this year (10.7%).
- Spider-Man is second at 4.8%, followed by pirate (4.7%), witch (4.2%) and fairy (2.8%).
- One-third (33.8%) of adults will dress in costume this year, and of those, nearly three-quarters (74.8%) already have a costume in mind.
- The top five choices of adults consist of traditional favorites such as witch (16.9%), pirate (3.8%), vampire (3.1%), cat (2.5%) and princess (2.2%).
About the study: The NRF 2007 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the Halloween season. The survey, which polled 8,877 consumers, was conducted for NRF by BIGresearch September 4-11.
