What is the most lucrative side of Halloween?

Halloween is a classic American Tradition. Every year, millions of Americans dress up to celebrate the spooky Holiday. Whether it’s going Trick-Or-Treating, Visiting a Haunted House or attending a Halloween party; There’s a seemingly endless amount of ways to celebrate this American Past time. Every year, there’s new types of Halloween businesses that spring up. And the thing is.. it shouldn’t be a surprise. In the past, it was considered a children’s holiday. Trick-Or-Treating was a novelty and something that all children looked forward to. However, with Halloween Spending at an all-time high, It’s not just children enjoying the tradition. According to a report by the National Retail Federation, 68% of Adults say they plan to celebrate the spooky holiday.

It’s no wonder that Halloween-related spending is sky high. Americans will spend an estimated 8.4 Billion dollars on Halloween this year ( Up from 6.9 Billion in 2015 ). The Average person will spend $83 on Halloween Costumes, Candy, Decorations and/or attractions.  It’s not rocket science that new businesses are springing up to cash in. With 171 Million American Households that plan to participate, there’s many different ways to profit off Halloween.

Pop-Up Costume Stores

We’ve seen them almost everywhere. They pop up 2 months before Halloween and are open late the final 2 weeks building up to Halloween. If you’ve ever stepped foot into one of these stores, you’ll be overwhelmed by the costume options they have. From Scary Costumes to Sexy ones, There’s something for everyone. With 61% of Adults say they’re going to purchase a costume, It’s a no brainer that these stores have started to appear on every major intersection. While online costume sales have started to take off, it doesn’t seem to have any affect on Pop up Costume stores… yet.

Fun for your Pets

Halloween has become so widespread that even household Pets are starting to get in on the fun. According to Newsweek – 22 Million Americans plan on dressing up their pets in 2013. Pet owners spent an estimated 330 million on costumes for pets- Making this niche no laughing matter. If you have any doubts, Look up the hashtag #dogcostume . There’s dozens of pets that have gone viral in their pet costumes and millions of dollars made.

Escape Rooms

One of the latest trends this year is Escape/Maze Rooms. These are all the hype on Social Deal sites like Groupon and Living Social. The live puzzle game requires you as a group to work together to escape something. Usually it’s a room, or building that you’re locked into. You’ll get briefed on a story-line (Getting chased by Zombies, or Finding a ghost is Common Variations) and then released to solve the game as a group. There’s tons of different things to make the escape room extra spooky – Zombies, Vampires and Aliens are common. While Haunted Houses are starting to lose their appeal, Creepy Escape Rooms are starting to take their place all over the country.

Candy

The biggest winner of Halloween? Candy companies. How much candy are they able to sell by Halloween? 2 Billion dollars worth. You know the huge bags of candy that you see at the grocery store? Average American consumes 24lb of candy a year, which is about 5x of those bags. America’s Trick-Or-Treat tradition is the reason why the candy companies cashing in.
Interesting Fact: Candy Corn is the most consumed candy in America with 22 million pounds of candy consumed, Snickers is the runner up.

It shouldn’t be too spooky how much Americans spend on Halloween. And we aren’t the only ones, Canadians are cashing in on the tradition and quickly gaining on us with their spending on our Holiday. It’s difficult to ignore the wide reach of Halloween. Especially with Social Media channels being flooded with photos of their cute pet costumes, spooky experiences, and hilarious costumes – its only right to take part!

Just remember if you want to cash in, Choose one of these booming businesses above. If you’d like a quick financing quote, it only takes 2 minutes.