• Additional £200m to be spent on trick or treat sweets*
• Over half of the UK will celebrate
• £703m to be spent on fancy dress costumes

With Halloween just days away new research and site data from VoucherCodes.co.uk shows there’s still time for retailers to make the most of the seasonal party trade with searches for Halloween related terms*** up 100 per cent in the past week.  In all, 55 per cent of Brits plan to mark the event on the 31st October over the course of the weekend - spending £2.1bn** on costumes, food and drink for parties and a further £200m on goods to give to trick or treaters. 

According to a survey – which investigates the Halloween spending intentions of 2000 Brits - one in four UK adults (25 per cent) will host their own Halloween party this year, spending average of £104.57  each on decorations (£17.65), party food (£20.81), drinks (£21.34), sweets (£11.52) and fancy dress costumes (£33.25). A further one in five Brits (19 per cent) will attend parties held by others, spending an average of £86.82 on their costumes plus food and drinks to take along. 

Fancy dress costumes represent the biggest opportunity for retailers; Brits will splurge a collective £703 million dressing-up costumes for themselves, their children and even their pets. Party food purchases will contribute an additional £452 million to Halloween retail sales while drinks will add £434 million. Retailers in Plymouth stand to benefit the most, with residents planning to spend X.

Year-on-year data shows the number of people who will respond to trick or treaters this year will actually decrease by 20 per cent on 2012. Despite this, stores still stand to make £200m on well-placed Halloween confectionary with 48 per cent of Brits revealing they’ll spend an average of £11.52 each on products for trick or treaters. Sheffield is the city set to make the most out of treat sales, 54 per cent of residents there will be embracing trick-or-treating. 

Interestingly, men will spend more than women on Halloween bashes, splashing £100 on throwing their own party, shelling out £14 worth of treats for trick or treaters and £21 on decorations to make their house look the part.  They’ll also spend £75 attending other people’s parties, far more than the respective £71 and £56 women spend. Those aged 18-24 will spend the most attending other people’s parties, splurging an average of £106.19 each - £2 more than they’d spend hosting their own.

Claire Davenport, general manager of VoucherCodes.co.uk, comments: “Once a purely American phenomenon, Halloween has well and truly arrived on this side of the pond with our latest research confirming consumers’ appetite to spend on the occasion this weekend.

“For retailers the message is, ‘keep your seasonal aisles well stocked’ as early search trends on VoucherCodes.co.uk suggest many Brits have left their Halloween planning and purchasing until the last minute.”

Notes to editors:

Research of 2,000 UK adults conducted by OnePoll on behalf of VoucherCodes.co.uk between 13^th and 20^th October 2014

^* Figures based on ONS UK adult population of 49,280,805.

                48 per cent (23.65m) to spend £11.52 on sweets for trick or treaters = £200,101,211

^** Figures based on ONS UK adult population of 49,280,805.

                25 per cent (12.32m) to spend £104.57 on their own party = £1,288,323,418.57

                19 per cent (9.36m) to spend £86.82 attending someone else’s party = £812,926,307.46

^*** Search terms relating to costumes and decorations