Halloween 2014 Trends: Big Parties, 'Frozen' Costumes and Don't Forget Your Pet

Anticipation is building for Halloween this year because Oct. 31 falls on a Friday, something that won’t happen again until 2025 because 2016 is a leap year, and that means one thing: three full days of Halloween fun.

Total spending on Halloween costumes, candy and home decor is expected to reach $7.4 billion, according to the National Retail Federation, up from $75.03 per person to $77.52.

Two-thirds of Americans are expected to buy costumes – and that includes big (as in adult-sized) and little kids, and their pets – and more than half are expected to decorate their homes, according to the NRF survey.

“This year is definitely the year of the party, so we’re seeing an incredible increase of shoppers planning their trick-or-treating, haunted house visits and unforgettable celebrations,” said Peter Whitsett, executive vice president of merchandising and marketing for Grand Rapids-based Meijer, where Halloween is the busiest time of the year for home decor.

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• What costume do you or your children plan to wear? On average, how much do you normally spend on Halloween?

That follows the trend nationally, according to NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay, who said Halloween is one of the fastest-growing consumer holidays nationally.

“There’s no question that the variety of adult, child and even pet costumes now available has driven the demand and popularity of Halloween among consumers of all ages,” he said. “And, with the holiday falling on a Friday this year, we fully expect there will be a record number of consumers taking to the streets, visiting haunted houses and throwing unforgettable celebrations.”

Shay based his comments on a NRF poll of 6,332 consumers was conducted Sept. 2-8 by Prosper Insights & Analytics, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.3 percentage points. See the full survey here.

Some of the trends:

• Americans will spend $2.8 billion on costumes. Of that, $1.4 billion will be for adult costumes, $1.1 billion will be for children’s costumes and $350 million will be for pet costumes.
• Americans will spend about $2.2 billion on Halloween candy.
• Another $2 billion will go for decorations.
• 35.9 percent of Americans will send Halloween greeting cards.

The retail group said 2.6 million children plan to dress up as one of Disney’s “Frozen” characters. About 1.8 million children will dress up as characters from “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”

Top adult costumes:

1. Witch
2. Animal
3. Batman Character
4. Pirate
5. Zombie
6. Vampire
7. Doctor/Nurse
8. Action/Super Hero
9. Princess
10. Wench/Tart/Vixen

Top children’s costumes:

1. Princess
2. Animal
3. Spider-Man
4. Frozen Character
5. Action/Super Hero
6. Batman Character
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
8. Witch
9. Pirate
10. Superman

Top pet costumes:

1. Pumpkin
2. Hot Dog
3. Devil
4. Bumble Bee
5. Cat
6. Batman Character
7. Superman
8. Witch
9. Ghost or Pirate (tie)
10. Star Wars Character

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