By bizn_fun 
Overall spending on Halloween hit £2bn two years ago and is predicted to grow again this year. In 2024, as many as 91% of people bought something Halloween-related, Worldpanel’s data suggests.
It’s too early for this year’s full Halloween spending data but last year’s Worldpanel figures suggest the spooky spending period is getting longer.
There was a 37% growth in retail spending on categories associated with Halloween and autumn in the two weeks leading up to October 31 2024, compared with a standard two-week period.
And it’s not just sellers of costumes and sweet treats benefiting: candles and pyjama sales were up nearly 20% too.
Vikash Kaansili, senior retail analyst at Kantar ,says the data suggests Halloween spending is about more than dressing up and carving pumpkins.
“Halloween is no longer just for kids. The growth in sales of pyjamas and candles suggests adults are embracing Halloween as an opportunity for a night in at home, not just for children’s trick-or-treating.
“Despite cost-of-living pressures, Halloween continues to prove resilient,” Mr Kaansili says.
“Shoppers made more trips in the two weeks leading up to Halloween [2024] and spent 16% more than they usually do, suggesting it’s a “must-do” occasion that people are unwilling to cut back on.
Pumpkins remain the unofficial symbol of Halloween, and we’re buying them earlier. Worldpanel data found in the four weeks to 29 September 2024, just under £1m was spent on pumpkins in British supermarkets, nearly doubling figures for the same period in 2023.
Supermarket Asda said this year it is on track to sell 400,000 mini, or “munchkin” pumpkins – for use in displays rather than in the kitchen – up from 200,000 last year.
And it’s not just supermarkets and retailers getting in on the action: leisure and entertainment businesses now see it as a season in itself.
Fiona Eastwood, the boss of Merlin Entertainment, which owns Thorpe Park, Alton Towers and Legoland told the BBC that the lead up to Halloween now rivals its peak summer season in driving profits at some sites.
“Take Thorpe Park: increasingly Halloween is almost half of its annual profit and that’s because we have special rides in the dark, you have mazes, and that whole thrill that we’re tapping into,” she told the BBC’s Big Boss Interview podcast.