Trick or Treat?

by Aly Henneberry

As you walk down the dark streets, you pass Elsa and Anna, numerous ghosts, witches and many different princesses.  All of these different characters have one thing in common.  They are all out on this spooky Halloween night with one goal in mind–to get candy!

According to fortune.com, Americans spend roughly $74 billion dollars during the Halloween holiday season, $2.2 billion of which is spent on candy, which averages out to be about $72 dollars per person.  This amount of money is more than the gross domestic product of many small European countries. 

Stores start stocking their shelves with pumpkin candy and bags of orange and black sweets as early as September.  This strategy is a great way to get in the minds of the shoppers and make them believe it is time to buy their candy.

“Retailers will pull out all the stops to be the consumer’s first stop,”  Alison Jatlow Levy, who works for consulting company Kurt Salmon as a retail strategist, said in an interview with business.time.com.

However, for some, purchasing candy before October isn’t for Halloween at all. According to Consumerist.com, Halloween Kit-Kats have been on the shelf since mid-August.  A Big-Lots had Halloween candy up as early as mid-July.

“The candy companies know that most people buying Halloween candy now buy it for themselves, telling the cashier and people who come over to their homes and see it that it’s for the trick-or-treaters.  Then they can come back a couple more times before Halloween to get more candy for themselves and say the same thing to everyone,” said blogger Sandooch in a forum on community.jennycraig.com.

So what exactly is the price of this holiday season?  Is it a trick or treat?