Monday, October 31, 2011

A Happy, Happy Halloween

Today is Halloween, which often serves as a sort of barometer for how the all-important holiday spending season will play out over the next two months. And if form holds, we could be in for a terrific holiday. According to the National Retail Federation, the average American plans to spend $72.31 on Halloween decorations, candy and costumes this year, which is up more than 9 percent from last year and is the highest figure in the nine-year history of the survey. All told, spending on Halloween is expected to reach $6.86 billion this year.

Interestingly enough, Americans will spend more money on adult costumes this year - $1.21 billion - than on children's costumes - $1 billion. Those numbers were $990 million and $840 million last year. We'll also spend an additional $310 million this year on costumes for our pets.

And the most popular costume? We can expect to see roughly 2.6 million zombies rising from the dead this year, then roaming the streets of America asking for candy.

No comments:

Post a Comment