According to the National Retail Federation, consumer spending on Halloween-related items is expected to reach an all-time high of $10.14 billion in 2021. That is up from the $8.05 billion U.S. citizens spent in 2020, during the pandemic. On average, consumers plan to spend a little more than $100 on costumes, candy, decorations and greeting cards, about $10 more than they spent last year. Americans are nearly back to pre-pandemic levels — at least for Halloween, anyway. The NRF says 65% of Americans plan to participate in Halloween activities this year, just under the 68% that planned to participate in 2019, before the pandemic. That is great news for state and local economies who earn revenue from all the pumpkin patches, hay rides, and corn mazes.
Since there will be more people out trick-or-treating than last year, homeowners will have to make sure to have more candy out for children. The Mars Chocolate North America factory in Topeka can produce 14 million bite-sized Snickers candy bars and 39 million M&Ms — enough to fill 1.5 million fun-sized packs — each day, according to some reports. That’s about 8,000 pounds of cocoa butter, and 117,000 pounds of peanuts. States like Kansas will play a starring role in filling the candy bags on the holiday. Milk from western Kansas dairies is dehydrated and turned into milk powder that likely makes it into candies all over the U.S. and the globe. In a country hindering from a worker shortage and a supply chain crisis, at least we can thank Halloween for maybe sparking some economic growth into our economy.
Source: Halloween brings an economic treat (farmprogress.com)
6 comments:
This is very interesting. You look at holidays such as Christmas as having a big economic impact, but you don't always think about the impact that some of these other holidays have. It's great to see people getting back out and participating in Halloween and almost seeing the same level of participants that we saw in 2019. It's good to see the supply chain working well in this part of the economy. I know Black Friday and Christmas might struggle, but hopefully, this is a good sign moving forward.
It is also surprising that the labor shortage did not impact the Halloween season as labor including workers in the manufacturing and packaging industry, lorry drivers, salespeople in the Holloween stores, etc. play an important role in the success of a holiday season. In addition, the fact that consumer spending on Halloween-related items reaching an all-time high reflects the strong consumer confidence in the economy right now. Despite being a sign of the economy recovering from COVID, it also poses a potential threat of rising inflation.
The vast amount of people I saw in my neighborhood this Halloween was incredible. It's the same reason that tickets for sports games, concert, and other outings are extremely expensive. People did not get the opportunity to travel or go out last year due to the extreme fear brought by COVID and the shutdowns. It seems to me like people are trying to "make up" for what they missed. It does surprise me that there wasn't a drastic shortage of candy for the holiday as in your summary you did mention the worker shortage and supply chain crisis. Some busier stores were almost sold out, but finding candy this year was easier than I thought!
I could see a similar effect coming for the holiday season. There will be massive gains for firms that are ramping up production in lieu of the holidays. Not only toys and electronics, but food and décor will likely see a boost now that people are able to visit again after the pandemic.
During the pandemic, there was probably a lot of built up energy going into this year to make the most of it. People now know how precious these experiences are and might spend extra money to capitalize on the holidays in the future. I just hope that the holidays don't overwhelm our supply chain more than it already has.
It is interesting to me to see a splurge on a holiday after a pandemic. I can understand wanting to spend a little extra money due to the fact that you weren't able to celebrate last year, but to what expense. I also find it interesting that our economy can be boosted just from a holiday, this is definitely why the U.S. has so many holidays in a calendar year.
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