Halloween Retail Spending Expected to Reach New High

October 28, 2021

This article is included in these additional categories:

CPG & FMCG | Customer-Centric | Industries | Retail & E-Commerce | Spending Trends

NRF Halloween Spending Forecasts 2005 2021 Oct2021

If spending forecasts are any indication, Americans are ready to get out there with the ghosts and ghouls and celebrate Halloween this year. The latest survey from NRF indicates that US adults will be spending more this year than ever before. 

This year’s survey estimates that about two-thirds (65%) of US adults will celebrate Halloween. This is up from 58% last year, and closer to the 68% share who planned to celebrate in 2019. Total Halloween-related spending is expected to reach $10.1 billion. That’s $2 billion more than last year, and $1 billion more than the previous highest anticipated spending, back in 2017.

That peak will come as a result of a high spending per celebrant. Each celebrant is forecast to spend an average of $102.74, up from $92.12 per person in 2020.

The largest amount of spend is predicted to go to costumes ($3.3 billion – purchased by 68% of Halloween shoppers) and decorations ($3.2 billion; 78%), with another $3 billion being spent on candy, the most popular purchase (planned by 96% of Halloween shoppers).

The share of adults who plan to dress up their pets for the holiday has risen. This year 20% will be doing so, up slightly from 18% last year. What hasn’t changed is their desire to dress Fido or Fluff as a pumpkin – the top pet costume again this year.

The most popular costumes for children this year are Spiderman and Princess. And, of the 46% of adults who plan on dressing up in costume for the holiday, about 7 in 10 already know what they plan to dress up as. For more than 4.6 million of these adults, the costume of choice will be a witch, while more than 1.6 million will dress as a vampire.

When shopping for Halloween merchandise, 4 in 10 plan to head to discount stores. Other popular places to shop include specialty Halloween or costume stores (35%), online (29%), grocery stores or supermarkets (26%) and department stores (23%).

For more data on Halloween spending and planned purchases, see the NRF survey results here.

About the Data: NRF results are based on a survey of 8,061 consumers conducted September 1-8 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.

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