Economy Doesn't Scare Halloween Spending

Most of us have kept our wallets and purses closed for most of the year, attempting to minimize the effects of this turbulent economy. As the holidays approach, many have already forgotten about their current debt burdens and have opened up spending for the next few months.

Spooky Statistics

Halloween isn’t thought of as one of the more expensive holidays like Christmas, but many people spend hundreds of dollars for a single night of fun. Between the candy, costumes, decoration and party expenses, Halloween costs the average family over $100 dollars. An average of $50 dollars is spent on candy and nearly $80 for costumes. Throw in food and drinks for the party with your friends and that total easily rises to several hundred dollars.

These amounts may not sound like much, but how many of us have $100 or more dollars in the budget for Halloween expenses in the month of October? Reports show less than 10 percent of families actually budget for Halloween, making it a large unaccounted for expense. Even worse is the fact that most of this type of spending ends up on a credit card. It is easy to justify a few hundred dollars on the credit card, but that one-time charge can cost you far more in interest over a period of years as slowly chip away at debt balances.