With Halloween fast approaching there is a quest among kids, and even adults to find the perfect Halloween costume. Have you gotten yours yet?
If not, and you are in need of some ideas, witches, vampires and zombies top the Halloween costume lists, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics.
Celebrants are planning to spend an average of $86.79, up from last year’s $86.13, with more than 175 million Americans planning to partake in Halloween festivities this year.
According to the survey, consumers plan to spend $3.2 billion on a Halloween costume (purchased by 68 percent of Halloween shoppers), $2.7 billion on decorations (74 percent), $2.6 billion on candy (95 percent) and $400 million on greeting cards (35 percent).
Among Halloween celebrants, 70 percent plan to hand out candy, 50 percent will decorate their home or yard, 48 percent will wear costumes, 45 percent will carve a pumpkin, 32 percent will throw or attend a party, 30 percent will take their children trick-or-treating, 21 percent will visit a haunted house and 18 percent will dress pets in costumes.
Pet costumes continue to gain popularity, with nearly 20 percent of celebrants planning to dress their pets in a Halloween costume this year up from last year’s 16 percent.
More than 3.8 million children plan to dress as their favorite princess character, 2.5 million as their favorite superhero, 2.2 million as Batman characters, 1.9 million as their favorite Star Wars characters, and another 1.9 million will dress as a witch.
Topping the favorite Halloween costume list for children are:
- Princess, 7.6 percent
- Superhero, 4.9 percent
- Batman, 4.3 percent
- Star Wars character, 3.7 percent
- Witch, 3.6 percent
- Spider-Man, 3.5 percent
- Avengers character (excluding Spider-Man), 3.2 percent
- Ghost, 2.9 percent
- Pirate, 2.0 percent
- Frozen (Elsa, Anna), 1.7 percent
A Halloween costume continues to be popular for adults as well, with half of celebrants (48 percent) planning to dress in costume this year. More than 7.2 million adults plan to dress as a witch, 2.5 million as a vampire, 2.1 million as a zombie, 1.9 million as a pirate, 1.3 million as their favorite Avengers characters such as Iron Man or Black Panther.
Ranking for an adult Halloween costume stack up like this:
- Witch, 10.7 percent
- Vampire, 3.7 percent
- Zombie, 3.1 percent
- Pirate, 2.9 percent
- Avengers character (excluding Spider-Man), 2.0 percent
- Batman, 2.0 percent
- Star Wars character, 1.9 percent
- Ghost, 1.8 percent
- Super hero, 1.8 percent
- Clown, 1.6 percent
- Wonder Woman, 1.5 percent
Pet lovers will also be dressing up their cat or dog in a Halloween costume. Eleven percent of pet lovers will dress their animal in a pumpkin costume, while 7 percent will dress their cat or dog as a hot dog, 5 percent as a bumble bee and 3 percent as the devil.
So, what Halloween costume does a pet typically get?
- Pumpkin, 11.2 percent
- Hot dog, 7.4 percent
- Bumble bee, 4.9 percent
- Devil, 3.2 percent
- Cat, 3.1 percent
- Dog, 3.1 percent
- Lion, 2.9 percent
- Star Wars character, 2.8 percent
- Super hero, 2.7 percent
- Ghost, 2.5 percent
The survey asked 6,961 consumers about Halloween shopping plans, including choices for a Halloween costume. It was conducted September 4-12 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.2 percentage points.
