One of America’s biggest events, Halloween, is taking hold Down Under with Aussies tipped to spend close to $500 million on the spooky holiday this year.
New research from the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) found Australians of all ages, including 1 million more aged over 50, were embracing the October 31 party, with record spending on Halloween festivities predicted.
ARA Chief Industry Affairs Officer Fleur Brown said with fright night falling on a Friday this year, in addition to the thousands of children roaming streets in search of treats, more than one in five Australians adults were preparing to spend big.
Ms Brown said that meant around 4.8 million adults were gearing up to don creepy costumes, decorate their haunted houses, stock up on lollies or throw a monster bash.
“These figures show that Halloween is no longer just child’s play,” she said.
“It’s become an event for Australians of all ages.”
Ms Brown said average spending per person was set to rise to $103, up 11 percent on 2024.
She said Victoria and Tasmania would lead the spooky splurge ($112 per person), followed closely by NSW ($107) and South Australia ($102), with Queensland and Western Australia projected to spend slightly less than $100 per person.
“Spending on costumes, decorations, treats and parties is tipped to climb to about $500 million compared with last year.”
Ms Brown said other key findings from the research included:
- Top activities were costumes (43 percent), trick-or-treating (46 percent), stocking up on sweets (47 percent), and home decorating (38 percent).
- Men (2.2 million) and women (2.6 million) were celebrating in similar numbers to last year.
- Older Australians were joining the fun in bigger numbers, with participation among 50-to-64-year-olds rising to 21 percent (up 8 percent) and over-65s also at 21 percent (up 12 percent). That’s 1 million more ghouls and ghosts from these age groups taking part.
