The National Retail Federation recently released their 2023 annual survey on what and how much consumers will spend on Halloween. Total Halloween spending is expected to reach a record $12.2 billion, up from $10.6 billion spent in 2022. A record number of people will participate in Halloween-related activities this year.
According to the survey, consumers plan to spend a record $108.24 each, up from the previous record of $102.74 in 2021. The greatest increase in spending comes from costumes, which are more popular than ever. Sixty-nine percent of those celebrating Halloween plan to buy costumes, up from 67% last year and the highest in the survey’s history. Total spending on costumes is expected to reach a record $4.1 billion, up from $3.6 billion in 2022.
Discount stores (40%) remain the leading destination to buy Halloween items, followed by specialty Halloween/costume stores (39%) and online (32%). While specialty Halloween and costume shops have always been a top destination for Halloween items, more consumers plan to shop at these stores this year than in the past.
About 2.6 million children plan to dress as Spiderman, 2 million as their favorite princess, around 1.6 million as a ghost, 1.5 million as a superhero and 1.4 million as a witch.
Below is a breakdown of the NRF’s survey.
The NRF survey was conducted by Prosper Insight Analytics and asked 8,084 consumers about Halloween shopping plans. It was conducted September 1-6 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.
