Party On, Say Consumers
By Mary Ford, Editor

Halloween festivities may serve as a welcome escape from the nation's financial woes.

Despite the onslaught of troubling economic news - or, perhaps, because of it - Americans were in the mood for Halloween celebrations in 2008. According to the National Retail Federation's Halloween Consumers Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, consumers were expected to spend an average of $66.54 on the holiday in 2008, compared to $64.82 in 2007. Total Halloween spending was expected to reach $5.77 billion, compared to $5.07 billion the previous year.

Survey respondents planned to celebrate Halloween in a variety of ways. The most popular activities included giving out candy (73.7 percent of respondents), decorating (50.3 percent) and carving a pumpkin (44.6 percent). Many consumers will also dress in costume (35.3 percent of respondents), take children trick-or-treating (33.6 percent) and host or attend a party (31.1 percent).

"Consumers - who have been anxious and uncertain - may be looking at Halloween as an opportunity to forget the stresses of daily life and just have a little fun." says Tracy Mullin, president and CEO of NRF.

According to the NRF, this year's survey results are reminiscent of the organization's 2002 Halloween data. Though consumers at the time were uncertain about the economy and geopolitical factors, Halloween spending was strong. The holiday was seen as a way for consumers to escape from the uncertainties of daily life during an otherwise tense period.

The 2008 NRF/BIGresearch survey estimated that consumers surveyed would spend an average of $24.17 on Halloween costumes (including costumes for adults, children, and pets) this year. It estimated that they would spend an average of $20.39 on candy, $18.25 on decorations and $3.73 on greeting cards.

Young adults continue to be particularly enthusiastic about Halloween festivities; 90.5 percent of 18-to-24-yearolds surveyed planned to celebrate the holiday. They expected to spend an average of $86.59 on the holiday - the most of any age group. Seventy percent of these young adults planned to buy a costume, 66.9 percent planned to host or attend a Halloween party, and 41.9 percent were planning to visit a haunted house. Interestingly, more 18-to-24- year-olds (53.4 percent) were planning to decorate their homes for Halloween
than 25-to-34-year-olds (48.2 percent), 35-to-44-year-olds (50.3 percent), 45-to- 54-year-olds (50.1 percent), 55-to-64- year-olds (50.4 percent) and those over 65 years old (50.1 percent).

As adults enter their child-rearing years, they tend to participate in more family and community-oriented Halloween activities. For example, 25-to-34-year-olds are less likely than younger adults to buy a
costume (49.7 percent of 25-to-34-yearolds versus 70 percent of 18-to-24-yearolds) or host or attend a party (39.8 percent of 25-to-34-year-olds versus 66.9 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds), but they are more likely to take children trick-or-treating (49.6 percent of 25-to-34-year-olds versus 34.2 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds)
and more likely to hand out candy (64.8 percent of 25-to-34-year-olds versus 60.3 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds).

The survey ranked consumers' top costume choices. For adults, the top choices were witches (14.9 of respondents), pirates (4.4 percent), vampires (3.3 per-cent), cats (2.5 percent), fairies (1.7 percent), nurses (1.7 percent) and Batman (1.5 percent). Thanks to the 2008 presidential election, John McCain, Barack Obama and other political figures served as a source of Halloween inspiration for 1.5 percent of adult consumers.

Children's top choices were princesses (10.5 percent of respondents), witches (3.9 percent), Hannah Montana (3.7 percent), Spider-Man (3.5 percent), pirates (3.3 percent) and Star Wars characters (3 percent). The most popular pet costumes were pumpkins (9.5 percent), devils (9 percent), witches (4.6 percent), princesses (3.8 percent), hot dogs (3.4 percent) and Superman (3.4 percent).

Thanks to the 2008 blockbuster film, The Dark Knight, Batman landed a top spot on all three lists of costume
favorites; it was ranked sixth most popular costume for adults, eighth for children and sixteenth for pets.
"Hollywood has tremendous influence over what adults, children and even pets wear on Halloween," observes
NRF's Mullin.//