# How much do you spend on Halloween? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 24, 2017, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237 "2017-09-24T23:31:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/1 "2017-09-24T23:31:48Z")
According to[THIS](http://www.retaildive.com/news/halloween-spending-to-reach-record-91b/505628/)article Americans will spend $9.1 billion on Halloween. Well that makes sense I see almost as many places selling Halloween decorations as I see selling Christmas stuff. And people will set up[ and leave up Halloween decorations as much as Christmas. Its not even unheard of to see 2 houses next to each other with both set up. So I’d like to ask, how much do you spend on Halloween? Do you do a big display? Do you do a home haunted house? Do you host or attend a costume party? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/2 "2017-09-24T23:37:35Z")
Since the OP is asking for personal experiences, let’s move this to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/3 "2017-09-24T23:50:34Z")
$0. I rent an apartment and I’ll be working that night. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/4 "2017-09-25T00:16:34Z")
Usually about a hundred bucks total counting a party or two we attend and the Phoenix Phall Phunfest at Knoebels; the Halloween part of it. The rest we would do no matter what. Our record was maybe a grand but we did three road trips, counting motel nights, for several zombie walks. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/5 "2017-09-25T00:17:28Z")
Ten bucks or less on candy. I hang up a wooden vampire bat on the door I got at a craft fair decades ago for $2. That’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/6 "2017-09-25T00:25:08Z")
Zero. I’d spend less if I could. I hate pageantry, especially if it is commercially motivated. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/7 "2017-09-25T00:49:20Z")
When I lived in suburbia it’d be $10ish on candy for the kids. More back in the 1980s when kids still came around in number. Far less in the 2000s when they didn’t. $0 when I’ve lived in condos in kid-free zones. Such as I do now. Costumes, decorations, and admission to commercial parties like at bars or restaurants? Adult lifetime total is $0. I’ve certainly hosted or attended private parties and spent a sawbuck or two on booze & snacks. That’s about it. **LSLGuy** Stymieing Hallmark’s plans for world domination for nearly 60 years. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/8 "2017-09-25T00:56:49Z")
We moved this year, so I really have no idea. If the neighborhood is generally ignored by trick or treaters, I’ll spend a little on a door decoration and that will be about it. If there legions of kidlets about, then the decorations get fancier and I spring for big bags of candy. I want to be known as “the house that gives full-size Snickers bars.” ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/9 "2017-09-25T00:58:27Z")
Nothing at all. I always have candy in the house (sweet tooth is my weakness) and if someone rings the bell despite the light not being on, I give them some. But that doesn’t count as money spent for halloween in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/10 "2017-09-25T01:39:44Z")
Nothing ! When I first moved to my condo I went out and brought some candy thinking there would be a lot of kids coming . I waited and waited and not one child came to my condo . The next at school my daughter found out that school kids weren’t allowed to tick or treat here so I had my daughter bring all the candy to school the next day. It was a big disappointment to me b/c I was looking forward to seeing the kids Halloween costumes . I guess some farts complained about the kids coming here ! ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/11 "2017-09-25T01:42:55Z")
Probably nothing. Sadly. When I first moved here I bought several bags of candy and only got 1 trick or treater. I haven’t had one since. Do people still do trick or treating where other people live? I love it, I just don’t get kids coming to where I live for it. I like seeing all the costumes and giving out candy. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/12 "2017-09-25T02:15:44Z")
Well, Ima buy candy, but we’re gonna eat it. For a lot of years we bought candy, cut a pumpkin, drew on the sidewalk etc. But hardly any kids come through this little street. So we just stopped entirely after a while. But I still buy candy, of course. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/13 "2017-09-25T02:19:42Z")
About $100-200. My friends are really into Halloween and invite me to their party every year so I spend about $100 on a costume. Then I carve pumpkins so that’s a few bucks. This year I’m doing a Trunk or Treat so I have to buy candy for that and also decorate my car so it’ll cost a bit more than just buying candy for my house. I’m not huge into Halloween. Not close to how much some of my friends are into it. But I enjoy dressing up and enjoy being a good neighbor so I drop the dough as needed. (No I don’t need a $100 costume but it’s a lot of fun) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/14 "2017-09-25T02:22:19Z")
I live in an apartment complex with lots of kids, but if they trick or treat, they don’t do it here. If I see Halloween pencils, candy, etc. on sale afterwards, I buy it and eat the candy or give the pencils to the elementary school up the street. I used to get a lot of TorTers in my old neighborhood, and I would give out pencils - and only had one complaint. :o He was a little boy about 4 years old who said, “She doesn’t have candy!” and a 40-something woman with him (grandma? mom? aunt?) said, “You be grateful for what you get.” I told him that it was a present and he was OK with that. I said the same thing when I worked at the grocery store pharmacy, and we gave out toothbrushes. ---
**Author:** ![CoastalMaineiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/15 "2017-09-25T02:50:08Z")
$0 I don’t get any trick-or-treaters, and figure my money is best saved for the day after, when all the stores mark down the candy that didn’t sell to half price or even 75% off. THEN I stock my shelves. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/16 "2017-09-25T02:58:47Z")
$0 I have spent far too many Halloween nights working to ever bother with the holiday. For instance, last year I was installing the lights for a Lenny Kravitz concert for a corporate event. And the year before that I was finishing the lighting in a car show booth. The year before that I was lighting a pharmacist’s convention. There’s always something. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/17 "2017-09-25T03:04:44Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > According to[THIS](http://www.retaildive.com/news/halloween-spending-to-reach-record-91b/505628/)article Americans will spend $9.1 billion on Halloween. > > Well that makes sense I see almost as many places selling Halloween decorations as I see selling Christmas stuff. And people will set up[ and leave up Halloween decorations as much as Christmas. Its not even unheard of to see 2 houses next to each other with both set up. > > So I’d like to ask, how much do you spend on Halloween? > > Do you do a big display? > > Do you do a home haunted house? > > Do you host or attend a costume party? I do a little haunted front yard sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/18 "2017-09-25T03:21:00Z")
Under $20.00 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/19 "2017-09-25T05:30:31Z")
Probably $40 or so on candy. I believe in giving the good stuff. No smarties or lame candy that no one really wants. I want to pay it back for the fun I had as a kid. Bonus-if I have leftovers, I get to eat it. 🙂 We don’t decorate or anything though. The number of ToTers that come by varies a lot from year to year. I still have some leftovers from 2016, and yes it’s still edible. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237/20 "2017-09-25T05:43:01Z")
Maybe around 10 dollars. Usually just some Halloween owl decoration for work. I have about three or so I set up. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-on-halloween/797237.md?page=2)