Floridians love Halloween and they spend freely to prove it
Retailers across the Sunshine State and the nation can expect strong Halloween sales this year, the Florida Retail Federation (FRF) announced on Tuesday.
The FRF noted that the average American will spend more than $86 on Halloween this year. Across the nation, Americans are expected to spend $9 billion for Halloween. According to the National Retail Federation, last year, Americans spent $9.1 billion for Halloween. The 175 million Americans celebrating on October 31 will spend, on average, $86.79, slightly higher than last year’s $86.13.
“With Florida’s economy surging and numerous statewide economic indicators remaining positive, we expect another strong year for spending on Halloween candy, costumes, decorations and other themed purchases,” said FRF President and CEO R. Scott Shalley. “This should mean another robust sales opportunity for retailers who market their goods and scare enough consumers into their stores.”
Americans plan to spend $3.2 billion on costumes, $2.7 billion on decorations, $2.6 billion on candy and $400 million on greeting cards.
Most Americans celebrating Halloween–70 percent–plan to hand out candy while half of them will decorate their home or yard. Almost half of them–48 percent–will wear costumes and 45 percent will carve a pumpkin. Almost a third of Americans celebrating Halloween–32 percent–will either host or attend a party while 30 percent will take kids trick-or-treating, 21 percent will visit haunted houses and 18 percent will dress their pets in costumes.
Popular costumes this year for children include princesses, superheroes, Star Wars characters and witches. Favorite costumes for adults include witches, vampires, zombies, pirates, superheroes and Star Wars characters. When it comes to dressing up pets–namely cats and dogs–for Halloween, the top costumes include pumpkins, hot dogs, bumble bees, the devil, cats and dogs, lions, Star Wars characters, superheroes and ghosts.
