Spooky Economy Aside, Most Americans Will Celebrate Halloween: NPD

Somber economic news and presidential election frenzy will be put on hold on October 31, as nearly 8 of 10 Americans will participate in at least one Halloween activity, according to a report by The NPD Group.

What's not scary for grocers is that the top two ranked activities in which they will likely participate are giving out candy for trick-or-treating, and eating it, according to The Halloween Holiday Profile Report based on NPD's SnackTrend, which monitors consumption of snack foods, both at-home and away from home.

Other findings from the NPD Halloween Holiday Profile Report include:
- Candy continues to have a nearly exclusive hold as the type of treat handed out on Halloween. 
 - 82 percent of treat givers hand out mini or bite size candy bars -- and 45 percent hand out multiple types of candy treats, including mini candy bars, lollipops, gummy candy, non-chocolate assorted candies.
- Only 20 percent of Halloween revelers let trick-or-treaters pick out their own treat from what is being offered.
 - More than 40 percent of treat givers shop for the treats they hand out within days of the holiday.
- One in four individuals report someone in their household bakes for Halloween, generally cookies, which were found to be the most popular baked Halloween treat.
 
Compared to individuals of other ages, kids 6-12 years old are the most likely to participate in some kind of Halloween activity, paced by the 2-5-year-old sector. Trick-or-treating begins to decline when kids turn 10, and sharply declines in participation during the teen years, when trick-or-treating becomes more about handing out the Halloween treats.

The top three choices for Halloween costumes for kids 2-17 are TV/movie character, fairy tale character, and action hero. There are definite gender skews in the type of costumes kids wear.

For more information about this and other NPD SnackTrack reports contact Kevin Zieziula at [email protected] or 847-692-1815.
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