Used to be Halloween was sort of the lull before the holiday storm, a kind of deep breath before diving into the turkey-and-toys mania that rages from November until New Years.
No more. Halloween has taken on a bona fide life of its own, with more pricey costumes, home and business décor, Halloween checks and other embellishments digging deep into American pocketbooks. The total tab for this year is expected to approach $7 billion.
While it used to be a little splurge for the special goodies purchased to appease the trick-or-treaters at the door, the holiday has become a big deal for the millennials in the 18-34-year-old age brackets and even those up the line age-wise. The average per-person expenditure is $74.34, according to the National Retail Federation.
That’s a whole lot of pumpkins, costumes and goodies. Actually, the per-person outlay is down by a dollar or two from 2012, the federation says, but it’s still more than double what folks spent on Halloween a decade ago. Those who benefit are the merchants, entertainment outlets and even the farmers who supply all those pumpkins, not too mention cornstalks and hay bales that are the cornerstone of many decorative schemes.
Costume sales are driven in part by the group activities that beckon the millennial crowds. They line up to conform to the themed parties that encourage mix-and-match costumes.
Social media is behind much of the Halloween hype. Enthusiasts like to share information, photos and videos focused on their holiday doings. Facebook and Pinterest each got 13 percent of the requests for information on costumes, said the federation experts. A third of the Halloween revelers said they looked online for dress-up ideas. And they purchased costumes not only for themselves, but for their pets.
Specialty stores geared specifically to the All Hallows holiday are open all year in some instances.
Even with the increased focus on Halloween, the October fear-fest is a piker compared with the spending that goes on in relation to the Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Years binge. Economists are forecasting a $616-billion infusion into the country’s coffers between now and the end of the year. Halloween also lags behind Valentines and Mothers’ days. But still, the increases are evident. It’s a scary thought.