If the day of Halloween itself were a character and could pick a costume to wear, any outfit that depicts money, such as Richie Rich, would be the most appropriate choice.
That’s because Halloween is HUGE business and creates even more money than the record Mega Millions jackpot America fawned over last week.
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And no, this has nothing to do with candy.
Sure, it’s one of the most important times of year for candymakers, and they do pull in some big coin, with roughly $2.7 billion expected to be spent on Halloween candy, according to an article on thebalance.com.
But there are others that profit handsomely from Halloween, so much so to where spending for Halloween is estimated to be at roughly $9 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation.
That figure is still behind days such as Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter, Valentine’s Day and, of course, the holiday shopping season, according to a 2017 article on time.com.
But Halloween is still a nice injection for the economy.
Others that love Halloween besides candymakers are as follows.
Retail stores
Dress-up parties are as big of a rite of Halloween as Kit-Kats or M&M’s, and to partake in that, people obviously need to run out to stores and buy costumes.
A reported $3.2 billion will be spent by consumers on costumes, according to thebalance.com, and that’s not just for human beings.
An estimated 20 percent of people who buy costumes will do so for their pets, so their dog or cat looks like a hot dog or a pumpkin.
People also flock to stores to buy Halloween decorations for their homes. According to the National Retail Federation, an estimated $2.7 billion will be spent on Halloween decorations.
Pizza shops
Super Bowl Sunday still is widely regarded as the most popular day for pizza sales around the country, but Halloween is a close second, according to an article on myfitnesspal.com.
As if getting loads of candy wasn’t enough junk food for kids, parents pressed for time before trick-or- treating begins understandably shun cooking and treat their children to pizza.
Farms/cider mills
Americans are expected to spend just over $575 million on pumpkins this Halloween season, according to an article on finder.com. That means it’s a lucrative time for farms and cider mills in the Midwest, as well as retail stores, that have lots of pumpkins for sale.
Just don’t be like the “Peanuts” character Linus and wait around too long for the “Great Pumpkin” to arrive.
Haunted houses
According to a 2017 article on listverse.com, there are more haunted houses in the United States than there are Target stores.
The article also said haunted houses are a $300 million industry and that a 2013 survey conducted by the National Retail Federation found that 20 percent of Americans who celebrate Halloween visited haunted houses or attractions.