Yesterday’s happy memory: scoring an enormous amount of free candy and wolfing it down before breakfast behind Mom’s back. Today’s happy memory: living in a world that’s been turned into a Halloween theme park.
With Halloween products ranging from themed Hefty bags to Barbie pumpkin-carving kits to Oreos in five “boo-rific’’ shapes, it’s no wonder the National Retail Federation is predicting that Halloween spending will hit $6.9 billion this year.
That’s up a stunning 18 percent from last year’s estimated $5.8 billion bonanza. Santa, watch your back. Holiday retail sales, for Christmas and other winter holidays, are expected to rise only 2.8 percent over last year, according to the NRF (although overall Christmas spending remains much larger, over $400 billion).
With more people than ever planning to observe Halloween - 68.6 percent of Americans, compared with 52.5 percent in 2005, according to the NRF - the question has to be asked: What the devil is going on?
Halloween experts point to a variety of factors working in the holiday’s favor. (The holiday is so big it now has its own specialists.)
For starters, there’s the rise of the “kidult,’’ that is, young adults who still enjoy the trappings of childhood, which has turned a holiday once meant mainly for children into an event for grown-ups. Improved manufacturing and market-research capabilities mean companies can release short-term specialty products without fear of being left with huge numbers of unsold items. Advances in technology also mean more attractive home-fog machines.
And don’t forget Rover. The NRF predicts owners will spend $310 million on pet costumes this year. Pity the Havanese forced to go as himself.
And no, it’s not just your imagination. The candy really does come out earlier and earlier, according to the National Confectioners Association. The trend began in the 1980s, and was driven mostly by big box retailers, who started using valuable shelf space to promote Halloween along with back-to-school items, according to spokeswoman Susan Smith. We’re now at the point, she wrote in an e-mail, where “the two promotional events [have become] combined.’’
