While spending is expected to increase, three out of 10 (30.1%) consumers [image-nocss] say the state of the U.S. economy will still impact their Halloween plans, with most of those respondents citing they would spend less overall (86.8%). Others say they will be buying less candy (45.1%), using last year's decorations and not buying new ones (30.7%), using last year's costume (18.5%) or making a costume (19.5%). Some plan to cut back on traditional activities such as visiting a haunted house (22.3%).
"Though Halloween spending will be much more robust than a year ago, consumers will still err on the side of caution," said Phil Rist, executive vice president of strategic initiatives for BIGresearch. "Americans are excited about Halloween but are still being frugal and pinching their pennies where they can."
When it comes to how much money partygoers and trick or treaters will spend, costumes ($23.37) will take up the largest portion of a person's budget. Americans will also spend an average of $20.29 on candy, $18.66 on decoration, and $3.95 on greeting cards.
This year, the highest percentage of people in the survey's history will dress up with four out of 10 people (40.1%) planning to don a costume, up from 33.4% in 2009 (11.5% will dress up their pets as well.) Additionally, 33.3% of people will throw/attend a party, nearly three-quarters (72.2%) will hand out candy, 46.3% will carve a pumpkin, 20.8% will visit a haunted house and 31.7% will take their children trick or treating. Second only to the winter holidays in terms of plans to decorate, half (50.1%) of consumers celebrating will decorate their home or yard.
As is often the case, young adults will be most likely to participate in Halloween activities with 69.4% of 18-to-24-year olds saying they will dress in costume, the highest of any other age group. Young adults are also more likely than any other age group to throw or attend a party (55.4%) and visit a haunted house (38.6%).
Click herefor more details and statistics.
NRF's 2010 Halloween Consumer Intentions & Actions Survey is a poll of 9,291 consumers conducted from August 31 to September 8, 2010.
BIGResearch consumer intelligence provides analysis of behavior in areas of products and services, retail, financial services, automotive and media.
The National Retail Federation's global membership includes retailers of all sizes, formats and channels of distribution as well as chain restaurants and industry partners from the United States and more than 45 countries abroad. In the U.S., NRF represents the breadth and diversity of an industry with more than 1.6 million American companies that employ nearly 25 million workers and generated 2009 sales of $2.3 trillion.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.