Halloween Spending Forecast to Drop Slightly

While 157 million Americans will celebrate October 31 this year, the amount of money per person will decline just over $3.

October 14, 2015

WASHINGTON – Ready to embrace cooler weather, fall traditions and spirited celebrations, more than 157 million Americans plan to celebrate Halloween this year, according to the National Retail Federation’s Halloween Consumer Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. The average person celebrating will spend $74.34, compared with $77.52 last year. Total spending on Halloween is expected to reach $6.9 billion.

“After a long summer, consumers are eager to embrace fall and all of the celebrations that come with it,” said Matthew Shay, NRF president and CEO, in a press release. “We expect those celebrating Halloween this year will look for several different activities to do with their family and friends. Consumers are ready to take advantage of promotions on candy, decorations and costumes, and retailers are ready to serve them.”

Nine in 10 (93.7%) Halloween shoppers will buy candy, spending a total of $2.1 billion, and an additional 33.5% will buy greeting cards, spending a total of $330 million. Two in five celebrants (44.8%) plan to decorate their home or yard, meaning there’s no question consumers will see their fair share of pumpkins, hay bales and even life-size Minions and black cats strewn across their neighborhoods. The average person planning to buy decorations will spend $20.34 with total spending expected to reach $1.9 billion.

“It seems there’s plenty of appetite among consumers to enjoy a perfectly ‘frightful’ Halloween,” said Pam Goodfellow, Prosper Insights principal analyst.

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