US NEWS: A record number of Americans are planning to participate in Halloween this year. Get ready to see a lot of Barbie costumes.
Spooky season is here, and it’s back in a big way.
About 73% of Americans are planning to celebrate Halloween this year, the highest level in the 18 years that the National Retail Federation has conducted its annual survey, and well above the pandemic slump of 58% in 2020.
Respondents to the survey said their ways of celebrating would include dressing in costume, handing out candy and decorating their home or yard. All those festivities amount to a big business, as the NRF anticipates that Halloween spending will exceed $12 billion this year.
What Are the Top Halloween Costumes for Americans?
Much of that spending – $4.1 billion – will be on costumes. Dressing up for the occasion is a big part of the fun, after all.
About half of that will be spent on costumes for the adults. Once again, the most popular costumes for adults are witch (No. 1) and vampire (No. 2), according to NRF. Barbie is the No. 3 most popular costume among adults, following the summer box office hit starring Margot Robbie as the iconic, pink-loving doll.
Around a third of costume spending will go toward children’s outfits. This year, dressing up as Spider-Man or a princess are once again the top two ideas. Being a ghost rose to No. 3 among the top costumes for kids, while being a witch dropped in popularity.
Halloween is a holiday for the whole family though, pets included. The remaining spending – a whopping $700 million – will go toward costumes for pets. Survey takers told the NRF their top plans included dressing up their pets as a pumpkin, a hot dog or a bat, among others.
Every year, Google gets in on the Halloween fun with its Frightgeist project, which studies what costume ideas people are searching for. Similar to the NRF survey results, Google anticipates Barbie being a popular costume this year, but ranks it No. 1, rather than No. 3, based on the searches it’s seeing.
In 16 states across America – spanning the East, West, North and South – all metropolitan areas with data available had Barbie as the top costume search, according to a U.S. News analysis of the search engine data. Searches for “Barbie costume” have had the highest interest in the states of West Virginia, Utah and Massachusetts as of Oct. 27, according to Google Trends, the underlying source of the Frightgeist data. Interest was lowest in South Dakota, Hawaii and Alaska.
Here are the top 10 costumes nationally, according to Google’s Frightgeist:
- Barbie
- Princess
- Spider-Man
- Witch
- Fairy
- Wednesday Addams
- Dinosaur
- Cowboy
- Ninja
- Bunny
But the Barbie craze hasn’t taken over all of America. For 58 metro areas, the doll was not the top costume search, and in 28 of those, Barbie did not even rank within the top five.
And some places buck the nationwide trends altogether by having a top costume that’s outside the national top 10 list. Around Bend, Oregon, for instance, the top costume search is for Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, elderly superheroes from the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants. Meanwhile, in Lima, Ohio, the top costume search is for Morticia Addams, not to be surpassed by her daughter Wednesday there.
How Much Candy Will Americans Eat on Halloween?
Having a sweet tooth on Halloween is nearly universal, according to the NRF survey. Almost everyone (96%) who responded this year said they plan on buying candy. Spending on the treats this year is expected to reach $3.6 billion, up from $3.1 billion last year.
But only 68% said they would be handing out candy to trick-or-treaters, meaning some 28% may have other plans for their sweets, whether for hosting a party or as their own personal stash (if the wife of this reporter asks if he’s hiding the Reese’s, he’ll be pleading the Fifth).
While it’s always a good idea to brush your teeth after eating so much sugar, kids in Texas, Utah and Connecticut, and adults in Rhode Island, Hawaii and Utah may need no reminder, as these states see the highest rate of dental visits for the two age groups.
Where Did That Pumpkin on Your Doorstep Come From?
Of those celebrating, more than three-quarters told NRF they plan to purchase decorations for their home or yard.
One of the most ubiquitous Halloween decorations of all is the jack-o’-lantern, traditionally made by carving a face into a pumpkin and placing a candle inside. Those decorating with pumpkins can likely thank Illinois, as it typically accounts for the highest production by state of the hardy orange gourd, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It produced a share of 38% in 2022, with Indiana and California following at 10% and 7%, respectively.
