TORONTO, Oct. 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Goblins, ghouls and spending … oh my! It's been six years since All Hallows' Eve has fallen on a Saturday, and according to a new survey from digital offers site RetailMeNot.ca, 66 per cent of Canadians agree this will result in people spending more money to celebrate. Not only is more money being spent, but more Canadians are getting in the spooky spirit with 64 per cent planning to hand out candy this year, compared to only 50 per cent in 2014.

Candy isn't just for the kiddies, though. Half the country (51 per cent) plans to buy candy for themselves, and 72 per cent are looking to buy more candy than they need so they can chow down on leftovers. Better to stock up on extra; after all, 73 per cent of parents admit they have taken candy from a child!

"More Canadians will be handing out candy this year than last, and we're not talking about the cheap stuff. The average Canadian plans to spend more than $40, with one in three hoping to become the new favourite neighbour by purchasing the best candy, regardless of the cost," says Kristen Larrea for RetailMeNot, Inc. "It's easy for the dollars to start adding up, but with a little smart spending and searching for the best deals and promo codes on everything from candy to costumes, there is no excuse for parents to hold back on this season's celebrations!"

How much are Canadians spending this year? Saturday celebrations are proving to be more budget busters than ghost busters, with Canadians spending an average of $169 on hosting a spooky shindig. The spending doesn't end there, though. Other budget-gobbling expenses include:

• Attending a party: $77
• Alcohol: $55
• Costumes: $52
• Entertainment (performers, music, bar cover, etc.): $48
• Decorations: $43
• Candy: $4214

Other survey findings include:

• Best place to party: 1 in 4 Canadians think Toronto is the best Canadian city to party in for Halloween, while 18- to 34-year-olds prefer Montreal as their Halloween destination of choice;
• Aren't you a little old? 21 per cent of Canadian parents agree that children should stop trick-or-treating by age 12;
• La Belle Province? Only 46 per cent of Quebecers plan to give out candy, less than any other province, with East Coasters proving to be most generous (80 per cent);
• Wild West spending: Albertans are the biggest overall spenders for Halloween, with the average person planning to shell out nearly $200.

RetailMeNot.ca regularly conducts consumer trend and spending surveys.

About the survey:

From October 5 to October 7, 2015, an online survey was conducted among 3,024 randomly selected Canadian adults who are Angus Reid Forum panelists. The margin of error, which measures sampling variability, is +/- 1.8%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been statistically weighted according to education, age, gender and region (and in Quebec, language) Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of Canada. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding. 

About RetailMeNot, Inc.

RetailMeNot, Inc. (http://www.retailmenot.com/corp/) operates the world's largest marketplace for digital offers. The company enables consumers across the globe to find hundreds of thousands of digital offers for their favorite retailers and brands. During the 12 months ended June 30, 2015, RetailMeNot, Inc. experienced over 730 million visits to its websites, and during the three months ended June 30, 2015, RetailMeNot, Inc. averaged 18.4 million mobile unique visitors per month.  In 2014, RetailMeNot, Inc. estimates $4.4 billion in paid retailer sales were attributable to consumer traffic from digital offers in its marketplace. The RetailMeNot, Inc. portfolio includes RetailMeNot.com, the largest digital offer marketplace in the United States; RetailMeNot.ca in Canada; VoucherCodes.co.uk, the largest digital offers marketplace in the United Kingdom; deals.com in Germany; Actiepagina.nl, a leading digital offers site in the Netherlands; ma-reduc.com, a leading digital offer site in France; Poulpeo.com, a leading digital offers site with cash back in France; and Deals2Buy.com, a digital offers site in North America. RetailMeNot, Inc. is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol "SALE." Investors interested in learning more about the company can visit http://investor.retailmenot.com.

For interview requests or more information, please contact:

Rachael Collier
Citizen Relations
416 306 6641 office
416 995 1432 mobile
rachael.collier@citizenrelations.com

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