NRF: Halloween spending to hit record $13.1B; most popular costumes are…
Concerns about price increases due to tariffs won’t stop consumers from celebrating Halloween this year.
Halloween spending is expected to reach a record $13.1 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual consumer survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. The figure is up from $11.6 billion last year and tops the previous $12.2 billion record set in 2023.
Per-person spending has reached a record high of $114.45. That's nearly $11 more than last year and up from the previous record of $108.24 in 2023.
Most Halloween shoppers (79%) anticipate prices will be higher this year specifically because of tariffs, the survey found. Despite reservations, nearly three-quarters of consumers (73%) plan to celebrate the holiday, in line with last year’s 72%.
Candy continues to be the most popular purchase, with total spending expected to reach $3.9 billion. Across other categories, 71% plan to purchase costumes and spending is expected to reach $4.3 billion. (See list of most popular costumes at end of article.)
Discount stores (42%) remain the top destination to buy Halloween items, followed by specialty Halloween/costume stores (31%) and online (31%). Discount stores saw a five-percentage point increase in shoppers this year, up from 37% in 2024.
Another 78% plan to purchase decorations, up from 75% last year, and will spend an estimated $4.2 billion in total. And 38% plan to purchase greeting cards, an increase from 2024’s 33%, with total spending estimated at $0.7 billion.
Similar to last year, consumers continue to move toward early shopping. Nearly half of consumers (49%) began shopping in September or earlier, a slight increase from 47% the year prior.
The leading sources of Halloween inspiration continue to be online searches (37%), within a retail store or costume shop (27%), and friends and family (21%).
Costumes
The most popular are listed below.
Children: For kids, $1.4 billion will be spent on costumes this year. This Halloween, 2.3 million children plan on dressing up as Spider-Man, 1.9 million as a princess, 1.7 million as a witch, 1.6 million as a ghost and 1.5 million as their favorite superhero.
Adults: Consumers are expected to spend $2 billion on costumes for adults. Among this group, 5.6 million plan on dressing up as a witch, 2.7 million as a vampire, 1.6 million as a pirate, 1.6 million as a cat and 1.6 million as Batman.
Pets: Pets continue to join in on Halloween celebrations, with consumers planning on spending $0.86 billion on costumes for their furry friends. Popular costumes for pets include a pumpkin (9.8%), a hot dog (5.4%), a bumblebee (4%), a ghost (3.1%) and a superhero (3.1%).
The survey asked 8,045 consumers about their Halloween shopping plans. It was conducted Sept. 2-9 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.
