#ThrowbackThursday: Budgeting – The Real Scare Of Halloween!

Every year as the fall comes around, people start preparing to celebrate a number of occasions. But the most talked about are, undoubtedly, the Christmas, and the second highest in grossing expenditure is Halloween. People begin preparing for Halloween weeks before it actually comes because having the right costume and abundant amount of candy to give out to the trick-or-treaters is very important. And if you have kids of your own, then there can be no escape for you, as any parent would tell you, it is not easy to convince a child to change his mind once he has his heart set on a particular character.

It gets trickier every year to sustain the standards that are set and to meet the expectations, not to mention the costs. Popular brands treat their customers by launching special Halloween campaigns and working out a budget is the only way to survive Halloween and still be able to say Grace on Thanksgiving with a turkey.

It Used To Be A Day…

The occasion of Halloween used to be a one day affair, when everybody would either go to or organize a party and kids would dress up and go for trick or treat around the neighborhood. Now, it has become a month long affair, where parties and haunted house shows start way before the actual date, and many people have two to three ghoul galas to attend.

Previously, only children and teenagers used to dress up as their favorite superhero or vampires and werewolves, now grownups are more interested in partaking in the festivities of Halloween. Various surveys show that from decorating their homes and yards to their office cubicles, people of every age can be seen caught up in this hoopla. Nearly 60 percent of the 8,877 people surveyed by the NRF plan to celebrate Halloween in some way including dressing up, going to a party, handing out candy, carving pumpkins, trick-or-treating and decorating. According to the survey, those celebrating are expected to spend an average of $72.31 on decorations, costumes, and candy, which is a climb up from $66.28 in 2010. Total spending is expected to reach $6.86 billion.

On an average, the NRF is expecting that those who celebrate Halloween, will spend about $77 each this year on haunted house tickets, candy and pet costumes. Which is already an up from the $72 each person of the year gone by. And don’t forget all those pumpkins: According to the NRF survey, more than 40 percent said they were going to carve pumpkins for Halloween this year.

Times Have Changed:

Nowadays, Halloween is celebrated for weeks. Throughout the month, there are parties and Dances and events organized around this theme, and this trend has resulted in the spending spree that Halloween ensures, which has left many people worrying about debts, and searching out thrift stores, dollar stores and even reusing the costumes and the decorations year after next. To be able to participate in the festivities that go around, the food and the drinks, the gifts and the parties, the pumpkins and the pumpkin juices, the candy and the outfits; advance planning is essential.

To keep up with the social circle, to provide for your kids so that they may be able to have fun on their Halloween parties and trick or treating ventures, parents need to work out a Halloween budget months before it comes. Just like every major occasion, it comes down to planning ahead to save money. If you wait until the last minute to think about your costume, you’ll probably end up paying too much in your rush from the house to the Halloween store to the party. It might sound ridiculous to plan for Halloween spending, but according to the NRF, the amount spent each year on Halloween decorations is second only to spending on Christmas décor.

Halloween in Numbers – Scary!

There are many statistical figures that will make you run for cover as no scary witch would, in fact you might even borrow the broom to fly away to an escape. But, if NRF is to be trusted, and I am pretty sure that it is, then the numbers they have churned up are whooping, and make facing a ghoul or a goblin look like a piece of cake.

What used to be the annual expenditure of $ 5.6 billion in 2009, has climbed up steadily to $6.6 billion in 2010, $ 7 billion in 2011, a bit dip in 2012 as it went down to $6.35 , then again came up in 2013 to $6.9 billion! People actually spend that much money on Halloween that it has transformed the entire retail industry.

Now if we further take it down to the Annual consumer spending on Halloween, we will find that on average $72 are spent by every individual, in which $26.52 is spent on costume, $19.75 on decorations and $21.05 on candy shopping. What is even more surprising is the fact that where on children’s costumes, only a $1billion is spent; on the adults’ costumes, $1.21 billion is spent. Among various planned trips, 9% will visit a haunted house, 32.9% will take their kids trick-or-treating and 49.5% will decorate their homes or yards. Majority of the people, about 68.5 %, plan on celebrating Halloween and about 85.3 % fall in the age bracket of 18 to 24. Whereas 43.95% plan on wearing a costume, 11.5 % will also dress their pets! And if 16.6% will make use of past costume, rest assured that 18.9% will design their own costume. About 34.3 % will throw or attend a Halloween party, 49.5% like to carve a pumpkin on Halloween and whooping 73.5% will hand out candies. All in all, it amounts to an extremely high expense that not everybody can easily afford.

Don’t Let It Get To You:

In addition to being tiring, the cost of all this partying adds up. Unless you’re adept at homemade costumes or have time to browse thrift shops, you’ll pay about $15 to $20 per child for an out-of-the-bag get-up, and three to four times more if you order from a higher-end catalog. If your child is the messy type, you may need more than one costume for the different events, which adds to the cost. Add up the cost of candies and decorations, and your own costume, and you have yourself a big fat check that you will be worrying about till the next event; i.e. Christmas, is upon you.

To avoid all this, the trick to really treating you and your kids on this fun occasion, is to plan ahead and make better arrangements. Search up on the internet to find ideas, templates, and projects that you can quickly and easily do at home. A few places to start your search are Martha Stewart’s Halloween Decorations You Can Make or Buy; the DIY Network’s Halloween decoration ideas; and Pinterest (search for “Halloween”). Start your candy hunt ahead of time, search at dollar stores for good deals.

For greeting cards, again the best option is getting crafty and making your own. Instead of giving in to the Fear, make it a memorable and easier to indulge holiday. Figure out such ways that can help bring down the annual expenditure, so that you may enjoy without having to worry about the bills next month. Overall, the best way to save on Halloween items is by starting really early. In the week following Halloween, shop around for next year’s items. You might find deals up to 75% off on decorations and costumes. Next year, you’ll be really glad that you thought ahead, and you will be thankful for the Halloween savings!

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