4. Halloween Is the 2nd Most Commercial US Holiday
Christmas is the most commercial holiday in the United States, with gift giving driving the bulk of the spending. However, Halloween has taken the second spot as one of America’s most commercial holidays. Americans spend an average of over 6 billion dollars a year on Halloween between costumes, decoration, themed foods and, and candy. Despite sounding like a lot, 6 billion still barely holds a torch to the almost 500 billion Americans spend annually on Christmas.
About a third of the six billion dollars spent on Halloween is spent on candy. If measured in chocolate, that much spending would equate to approximately 90 million pounds of chocolate bars. While every state has its own favorite candy, based on total purchases, some current favorites are Snickers, Twix, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and Pixy Stix.
A rapidly growing area of spending is costumes…for pets. Americans spent over 300 million dollars on pet costumes in 2015, a number which is only expected to increase as pets continue to be treated more and more as members of the family. For those who are curious, the most popular dog costume in 2015 was the Star Wars Sith Lord, Darth Vader. Yoda and Ewoks also made the top 10 most popular pet costumes.