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Vampire costumes hot, Halloween spending not
October 29th, 2009, 3:21 pm · 7 Comments · posted by Lisa Liddane, retail reporter
www.disguise.com
You can’t tell from the crowds in line for costumes at stores such as Party City, but consumer spending on Halloween dropped this year. According to a survey of 8,526 people conducted by BIGresearch for the National Retail Federation (NRF), consumers are spending an average of $56.31 on Halloween this year, down from $66.54 last year. Up until this year, consumer spending on Halloween was steadily increasing every year.
The reason for this year’s decline, says NRF president Tracy Mullin: the economy.
Here’s more on consumers’ Halloween spending:
- Nearly a third of consumers said the economy impacted their Halloween plans.
- Of those who said Halloween affected their plans, 88 percent said they are spending less over all, 46.5 percent said they are buying less candy, and 35.4 percent said they planned to put up last year’s decorations with no plans to buy more.
- Among consumers, young adults, last year’s big spenders, plan to scale back significantly. The average 18-24 year-old will spend $68.56, about $18 less than what a young adult spent on Halloween last year.
Let’s put these numbers in perspective, though.
Halloween remains a formidable moneymaker. The same survey found that consumers are spending:
- $250 million in greeting cards
- $1.23 billion in decorations
- $1.52 billion on candy
- $1.75 billion in costumes.
And speaking of costumes, here is a list of what retailers said are their most popular costumes, according to Kathy Grannis, NRF spokeswoman:
Vampires: Can you say “Twilight”,”True Blood” and “Vampire Diaries”?
The King of Pop: Think Michael Jackson’s decorated jackets, shiny white gloves, fedoras - and don’t forget the white socks and black shoes made for for moonwalking.
Hannah Montana: still going strong after all these years
Princess: tiaras, ballgowns and sparkling shoes
Alice in Wonderland: Tim Burton’s take on the Lewis Carroll story is slated for release in March 2010, but there’s a buzz on the Mad Hatter and Alice costumes.
And a new one this year, The Kate Gosselin wig, which is often sold out in stores.
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No Job. No Money. No Health Insurance. About to be homeless.
you probably shouldn’t buy a costume this year man…
That was a hilarious response.
Unlike my buddy Carlos, I have a great job I’ve had over a decade, steadily rising income, full dental/medical/vision/mental health insurance (even accupuncture if I want it), and a lovely home that I just spruced up with some new furniture and a new TV. But I still spent a lot less this year on Halloween.
I used the old Smith & Hawken pumpkin pieces, the big orange pot and the Halloween welcome mat I bought last year at Target, put a big yellow potted flowers in the pot, got three big beautiful pumpkins on sale at Trader Joes, and called it done. The front entry looks fun and festive, and I did it for 25 bucks.
This Saturday night I will go to a friends Halloween party and dance the Monster Mash in a home made costume. You don’t have to spend big bucks if you don’t want to, and the memories you make for yourself are always free.
Troy is GAE.
It’s surprising Halloween spending dropped by only $18.00.
With the huge credit card interest and minimum payment spikes that are hitting in October and November everyone I know is cutting back even more than they did before. Those that were carrying a balance are paying it off and those that don’t have a balance don’t want one. It doesn’t matter if one has excellent credit and has been a long term good customer. Rates are going up before the government restrictions take affect.
If Christmas sales drop even lower than last year the retailers can send the greedy credit card companies and our moronic legislators that gave the credit card companies a nine month lead time a big thank you.
The wife and I usually spend a couple hundred for halloween, but this year, zero.