The candy industry here in the United States is a whopping 20 billion dollar a year business. Candy, Candy makes up about 1.9 billion dollars of the Halloween “budget.” Decorations $1.65 billion, greeting cards $350 million, and costumes take the cake at 2.12 billion dollars. On average, houses in America spend around $44 on Halloween candy every year, and the candy purging starts usually around October 21st
Americans consume around 24 pounds of candy each year, which is the equivalent of 247 and 3/4 hershey’s chocolate bars. This goes without saying that the most candy is eaten in the few days before Halloween, but mostly in the days to follow it. The top selling kind of candy is ——— you guess it! Candy corn. We consume around twenty million pounds of candy corn, followed by snickers in second place, dresses peanut butter cups at third, kit kats and number four, and m&ms pulling up the rear at fifth place.
After deciding what to dress up as for Halloween the next important question is, “chocolate or non-chocolate candy?” Out of the 1.9 billion dollars spent on Halloween candy around 1.2 billion is spent on chocolate candy, leaving about 680 million dollars on non-chocolate flavored candy. What do we all like the least? Those weird warm-colored taffy candies that no one likes but somehow end up in our candy stashes. Those are the first to be offered when trading the loot with others.
Major spending holidays, like Halloween, can sometimes have significant short-term benefits for the economy. People are encouraged to buy extra things that they might not usually need to buy. This stimulates our economy and helps it to grow. Some people argue that the current state of the economy affects the Halloween industry more than it affects the economy. For example in a down economy patrons might be less likely to spend their money on “unnecessary” things like candy, costumes, decorations and pumpkins, thus less stimulation of the economy. It is also possible that some families anticipate spending more during the Halloween season than they normally would during the year. As a result they anticipate this by saving more money in the months prior ( July, August, September) which reduces gross spending during those times.
The most important part of Halloween is that everyone have fun, stay safe, and enjoy their fair share of tricks and treats. Listen below to Win Damon and I chat this up on WNBP FM radio 1061.1 Newburyport and WNBP.com.
Sources
http://www.creditloan.com/infographics/the-economics-of-halloween/
http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/102714/how-does-halloween-affect-economy.asp