Thread: How Halloween ranks in consumer spending

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Not as high as you may think.

2008 figures on holiday spending by American consumers, from the National Retail Federation:

1. Winter holidays (Christmas), $470.4 billion.

2. Valentine's Day, $17.02 billion.

3. Mother's Day, $15.8 billion.

4. Easter, $14.44 billion.

5. Father's Day, $9.6 billion.

6. Halloween, $5.77 billion.

Not a fair comparison, most of those are gift-giving holidays.

There was a report a couple years ago talking about HW as #2 behind Christmas in spending, referring to decoration spending.

The category is "consumer spending", not "decoration spending".

They have obviously polled the wrong crowd.

Funny you should mention this, I ran into this article from CBS news a while back that states Halloween is second only to Christmas. Wonder where they got their info from??

Halloween Decor Without Scary Prices - The Early Show - CBS News

This topic really interests me. I can't see spending more on easter than halloween. LOL

Originally Posted by dippedstix

This topic really interests me. I can't see spending more on easter than halloween. LOL

Mm, same. I can only imagine buying easter eggs for friends and family and maybe a soft toy... But even then I don't spend nearly as much as when I do on Halloween. Christmas is definately my most expensive time of year though.

According to the National Retail Federation,

The majority [of consumers] will spend the most on Easter meals ($41.09 on average). Consumers will also dish out an average of $23.82 for apparel, $21.42 for gifts, $18.12 on candy, $9.11 on flowers and $7.21 on decorations.

As for Halloween,

This year, consumers will spend an average of $24.17 on Halloween costumes (including costumes for adults, children, and pets). People will also be buying candy ($20.39 on average), decorations ($18.25) and greeting cards ($3.73).

Originally Posted by kprimm

They have obviously polled the wrong crowd.

The numbers are pretty interesting in any case, but as another poster said, the other holidays are largely gift giving times, where's Halloween isn't.

halloween is gift giving time for me. my birthday is oct 2nd so i keep telling people when they ask what do you want for your birthday to just go down the halloween isle. so every year i buy myself a halloween decoration, though, i am in serious concern over this year. NOBODY has any halloween decorations yet. WTF? are they going to get some or is it just masks and candy this year?

I agree normally for my birthday which was Friday (18th) I go buy something for myself from the Halloween aisle at Walmart or from somewhere else. I'm so disgusted. I went to walmart and they have crap. Only costumes and party bowls and very limited party bowls at that . Heck they don't even have traditional halloween trick or treat pumpkin color of orange it's really ridiculous......... I was (still am) upset can u tell? :P