Saturday, November 9, 2013

Halloween spending is it overboard.

Your local food bank needs your support at this time of year and I am a big supporter of supporting our local food banks. I recently had a look at the amount of money as a society we spend on Halloween, and  I couldn't help but wonder how we could be benefitting our own families and others  in need instead.

The National Retail Federation’s (NRF) recent Halloween Spending Survey is interesting to say the least, some might say it is scary! I had no idea that Halloween is the third most important retail season of the year, after Christmas and back-to-school, and that approximately 158 million consumers will participate in Halloween activities this year. Average spending on Halloween has increased 54.7% since 2005, with total spending estimated to reach $6.9 billion in 2013


  • 43.6% of people plan to dress up
  • $1.04 billion will be spent on children’s costumes
  • $1.22 billion will be spent on adult costumes
  • 13.8% of people will dress up their pets
  • $330 million will be spent on pet costumes
  • $2.08 billion will be spent on candy
  • $360 million will be spent on greeting cards
  • $1.96 billion will be spent on decorations, second only to Christmas 

I’m not suggesting that we never spend money on anything silly and fun like Halloween, but I am suggesting that every family can or should consider spending to help others and I support the spending on food bank as a good way for families to help others. A local school in my community asked students to instead of trick or treating for candy ask for food or donations to the food bank. As parents we want to instill a sense of community for our kids and we can, even while spending a little foolishly on Halloween and supporting others by donating to the foodbank. 

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