Celebrating Halloween is a tradition for some families. It seems as though people are spending more money on the unofficial holiday each year. It appears that they try to top what they did the previous year. The National Retail Federation (NRF) is known as Halloween headquarters that has been charting spending for Halloween since 2003. The organization reports that Americans will spend $9.1 billion in 2017. NRF indicates that spending this year is reaching a record high.

Items that contribute to that huge figure include Costumes, candy, pumpkins and other decorations.

This amount is an all-time high. Last year, the amount spent was $8.4 billion. To prove the point, this year's figure is 8.3 percent higher than it was last year. No doubt, it will be even higher next year.

Costumes, candy, and festivities

Of the more than $9 billion, at least $3.4 billion is spent on costumes for people to dress up like monsters, superheroes, vampires and evil creatures. The top costume for kids will be a superhero or an action figure. Adults are going back to the witch costume that has been a favorite for years. Men will spend about $96 and women will spend about $77. About 10 percent of families will dress up their pets as pumpkins.

Following behind the amount for costumes is $2.7 billion that Americans are spending on candy this year.

Candy corn is still a favorite along with a variety of miniature chocolate bars as shown in the above picture.

Each person will spend about $86.13 on festivities. Last year, it was $82.93. It is up a little proving again that people are spending more this year in every category. Only 12.9 percent of Americans say the amount they spent had anything to do with the economy today.

People participating in Halloween

Not only is spending up, but the number of Americans participating is up as well. About seven out of 10 people in the United States plan to celebrate Halloween in 2017. Even though Halloween this year is on a Tuesday which is a school night, it doesn't seem to be having any effect on who is celebrating.

According to NRF, more than 179 million Americans are planning to participate in festivities. This number is up a bit from 171 million last year.

It appears that what each person will do depends on their age. For instance, kids will go trick or treating. Young adults will dress up in a costume, attend a party, or just hang out. Older people customarily stay home and hand out candy to those who stop by. If they go out, it will be much later.
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