From ball gowns to naughty nurses: what Halloween means today
10/27/2009
By Erin Van Quill
Contributing Writer
Decorations: $18.00. Candy: $20.00. Costumes: $24.00. Celebrating the most popular growing holiday in the United States: priceless…or is it just plain pricy? All over the country, parents and retail stores alike are preparing for a surge in purchases thanks to the black and orange holiday.
Some now consider the celebration to be the kickoff to the holiday season.
“Halloween is a major holiday, and it’s been that way for several years,” said Wal-Mart employee Reed Johnson. “It really is the start of the holiday shopping season.”
Stores themselves even start prepping early for the big surge in sales. Sam’s Club got their first shipment of Halloween items back in July.
Halloween is the third largest party day behind New Year’s and Super Bowl Sunday, and second only to Christmas, in retail sales in the nation.
The National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail trade association, sent out a news release estimating that the total for Halloween spending for 2008 would reach $5.77 billion.
Their Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey said that “the average person plans to spend $66.54 on the holiday,” up from $41.77 in 2003.
Halloween Express, the largest retailer of Halloween costumes and décor, has a year-round website devoted to selling Halloween-related items and over 200 seasonal retail stores around the country.
Some of the Halloween Express stores in Wisconsin are so large they can be seen from Interstate 94, which runs from Eau Claire to the shores of Lake Michigan.
In Milwaukee, a massive, pumpkin-shaped tent is set up on the State Fair Grounds that expands over what is usually the Midway area of the fair.
Another in Madison is a giant warehouse with an immense, bold sign stretched across the roof advertising their presence.
Inside one of these stores is even more impressive. Black, orange, yellow and purple colors dominate the area. The space is filled wall to wall with anything and everything Halloween-related.
“It’s like a mall dedicated to Halloween,” said student and Halloween fan Chris Wickler. “It’s pretty spectacular to say the very least. There’s nothing like it for any other holiday.”
It’s possible that the surge in Halloween sales over the past few years is because that the holiday has become more for adults and less for kids.
James Lowry, a man who has been tracking retail marketing for nearly four decades at Ball State University in Indiana, said that “over the last decade, Halloween has become an adult holiday while children have become secondary for many retailers. Adults want to relive that time when they could pretend to be a superhero or monster.”
USA Today reported, “Nearly 70% of adults ages 18 to 34 are expected to celebrate Halloween in costume or at a party.”
UW-Madison, named number one in Princeton Review’s annual survey of top party schools, is well-known for their Halloween festivities with the annual State Street Halloween Party. Tens of thousands of people of partiers attend every year, including many from out of state.
The Badger Herald, UW-Madison’s student newspaper, reported, “in 2004, police estimated as many as 75,000 people flooded State Street.”
Not all Halloween parties are as extravagant as UW-Madison’s, though. Many adults hold their own parties for friends and families.
Duluth resident Lisa Coursin and her husband Craig have been holding an annual Halloween costume party for their neighbors since 1998.
“We look forward to Halloween every year because of our annual party,” said Lisa. “It is so much fun to see our friends and family and their children dressed up having a good time.”
Halloween isn’t just about adult costume parties. The National Retail Federation said “people will celebrate Halloween in a variety of ways, with the most popular activities including handing out candy (73.7%), carving a pumpkin (44.6%) and decorating (50.3%). Many consumers will also … take children trick-or-treating (33.6%).”
However, trick-or-treating has changed through the years, too. Not that long ago, kids were able to trick-or-treat on Halloween night when it was dark. Many children were able to go without adults as well.
Nowadays, many cities and towns are choosing to offer their trick-or-treat times earlier, and, on some occasions, not on October 31. UW-Superior offers trick-or-treating for families in their residence halls on Halloween weekend from 5 to 7 in the evening. It poses as a safer alternative to kids roaming the streets of Superior at night.
Between the mega retail sales, over-the-top adult parties, and dwindling trick-or-treat times, people wonder whatever happened to jack-o-lanterns and Casper the Friendly Ghost.
Washington Post writer Terri Sapienza wrote an editorial in 2007 on the change in Halloween. She said, “Back in the ‘50’s, Halloween was a holiday centered on children and candy bars… We think of families carving jack-o-lanterns, decorating tricycles for neighborhood parades, bobbing for apples, and trick-or-treating.”
Paul J. Donahue, a clinical psychologist that primarily works with children and families, said, “We’re a culture of extremes. We have to push things. At Halloween it becomes a competition among adults to outdo and go further and further.”
Maureen Dugan, whose birthday is on Halloween, said that “it’s a good release. It’s an opportunity for adults to be silly and get away with it.”
Whether the holiday is for competition or just for kicks, it is obvious that Halloween has changed over the last few decades. It has gone from local festivals with apple bobbing and the telling of ghost stories to over-the-top costume parties for adults.
In the early 1900s, people were wearing ball gowns to Halloween parties. They probably never thought they would see a naughty nurse coming.
Some now consider the celebration to be the kickoff to the holiday season.
“Halloween is a major holiday, and it’s been that way for several years,” said Wal-Mart employee Reed Johnson. “It really is the start of the holiday shopping season.”
Stores themselves even start prepping early for the big surge in sales. Sam’s Club got their first shipment of Halloween items back in July.
Halloween is the third largest party day behind New Year’s and Super Bowl Sunday, and second only to Christmas, in retail sales in the nation.
The National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail trade association, sent out a news release estimating that the total for Halloween spending for 2008 would reach $5.77 billion.
Their Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey said that “the average person plans to spend $66.54 on the holiday,” up from $41.77 in 2003.
Halloween Express, the largest retailer of Halloween costumes and décor, has a year-round website devoted to selling Halloween-related items and over 200 seasonal retail stores around the country.
Some of the Halloween Express stores in Wisconsin are so large they can be seen from Interstate 94, which runs from Eau Claire to the shores of Lake Michigan.
In Milwaukee, a massive, pumpkin-shaped tent is set up on the State Fair Grounds that expands over what is usually the Midway area of the fair.
Another in Madison is a giant warehouse with an immense, bold sign stretched across the roof advertising their presence.
Inside one of these stores is even more impressive. Black, orange, yellow and purple colors dominate the area. The space is filled wall to wall with anything and everything Halloween-related.
“It’s like a mall dedicated to Halloween,” said student and Halloween fan Chris Wickler. “It’s pretty spectacular to say the very least. There’s nothing like it for any other holiday.”
It’s possible that the surge in Halloween sales over the past few years is because that the holiday has become more for adults and less for kids.
James Lowry, a man who has been tracking retail marketing for nearly four decades at Ball State University in Indiana, said that “over the last decade, Halloween has become an adult holiday while children have become secondary for many retailers. Adults want to relive that time when they could pretend to be a superhero or monster.”
USA Today reported, “Nearly 70% of adults ages 18 to 34 are expected to celebrate Halloween in costume or at a party.”
UW-Madison, named number one in Princeton Review’s annual survey of top party schools, is well-known for their Halloween festivities with the annual State Street Halloween Party. Tens of thousands of people of partiers attend every year, including many from out of state.
The Badger Herald, UW-Madison’s student newspaper, reported, “in 2004, police estimated as many as 75,000 people flooded State Street.”
Not all Halloween parties are as extravagant as UW-Madison’s, though. Many adults hold their own parties for friends and families.
Duluth resident Lisa Coursin and her husband Craig have been holding an annual Halloween costume party for their neighbors since 1998.
“We look forward to Halloween every year because of our annual party,” said Lisa. “It is so much fun to see our friends and family and their children dressed up having a good time.”
Halloween isn’t just about adult costume parties. The National Retail Federation said “people will celebrate Halloween in a variety of ways, with the most popular activities including handing out candy (73.7%), carving a pumpkin (44.6%) and decorating (50.3%). Many consumers will also … take children trick-or-treating (33.6%).”
However, trick-or-treating has changed through the years, too. Not that long ago, kids were able to trick-or-treat on Halloween night when it was dark. Many children were able to go without adults as well.
Nowadays, many cities and towns are choosing to offer their trick-or-treat times earlier, and, on some occasions, not on October 31. UW-Superior offers trick-or-treating for families in their residence halls on Halloween weekend from 5 to 7 in the evening. It poses as a safer alternative to kids roaming the streets of Superior at night.
Between the mega retail sales, over-the-top adult parties, and dwindling trick-or-treat times, people wonder whatever happened to jack-o-lanterns and Casper the Friendly Ghost.
Washington Post writer Terri Sapienza wrote an editorial in 2007 on the change in Halloween. She said, “Back in the ‘50’s, Halloween was a holiday centered on children and candy bars… We think of families carving jack-o-lanterns, decorating tricycles for neighborhood parades, bobbing for apples, and trick-or-treating.”
Paul J. Donahue, a clinical psychologist that primarily works with children and families, said, “We’re a culture of extremes. We have to push things. At Halloween it becomes a competition among adults to outdo and go further and further.”
Maureen Dugan, whose birthday is on Halloween, said that “it’s a good release. It’s an opportunity for adults to be silly and get away with it.”
Whether the holiday is for competition or just for kicks, it is obvious that Halloween has changed over the last few decades. It has gone from local festivals with apple bobbing and the telling of ghost stories to over-the-top costume parties for adults.
In the early 1900s, people were wearing ball gowns to Halloween parties. They probably never thought they would see a naughty nurse coming.
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