The National Retail Federation released a report this morning with the rather unimaginative title “2010 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey.”  The key finding was that Americans will invest $5.8 billion in the holiday.  The typical household will spend $66.28 on costumes, candy and decorations, up almost ten dollars from last year and comparable to 2008.

Apparently these people put a lot of stock into the very specific projections that come from some heavy consumer polling (which incidentally also reports nearly half of us will carve a pumpkin and one in five will visit a haunted house).  The uniqueness of this year’s October calendar also helps the holiday: October 2010 boasts five full weekends with Halloween landing on the final Sunday.  Of course, while respondents plan to spend, they also claim that our ailing economy will make them spend less.

Now, I’m not an economist, but with nearly six billion dollars getting pumped into the economy, clearly we could fuel a recovery by adding a dozen or so more holidays to the national schedule.  It’s at least worth a try; even if we can’t sustain spending, our quality of life will improve.

This is probably why art and english majors aren’t allowed anywhere near the Fed…

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By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

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