With the second most popular holiday of year drawing near, Americans are spending scary amounts on Halloween, even though they’re cutting back by 7.4 percent. The annual National Retail Federation’s 2015 survey estimates $6.9 billion will be spent this year, with nearly 28 percent of that purchasing ghosts, skeletons and other spooky decorations.
SLIDESHOW: 13 Spooky Halloween Decorations for Every Budget
Hanging a few cardboard skeletons on your porch used to amuse tiny trick-or-treaters, but like the neighbor who wants hers to be the Christmas show house in the neighborhood, decorating for Halloween is now creating a house of horrors. And it can cost big bucks. A vampire in a coffin goes for a cool $149, or you can drop a cool $14,000 on a stone gargoyle. What would Bernie Sanders say?
Consumer spending on decorations is second in line to the money spent on chocolate and candy corns. Over 106 million people will be stocking up on tons of sugary treats for the estimated 43 million trick-or-treaters expected this year. Halloween candy spending is expected to total $2.1 billion.
