October is halfway over (gasp!). And do you know what you’re going to be for Halloween? If not, you’ve fortunately got the National Retail Federation (NRF) to help you out. The NRF recently released its 2011 Top Costumes survey by BIGresearch to help out those of us who may be costume challenged.

First though, we’ve got some fantastic news to report:

• It’s anticipated that consumers will spend $2.5 billion on Halloween costumes this year.

• $1 billion will be spent on children’s costumes, $1.2 billion on adult costumes and $310 million for pets.

• The average American is expected to spend $72.31 on Halloween candy, costumes and décor.

• In total, Halloween spending is set to reach $6.86 billion.

And guess what? That’s the highest amount in the survey’s nine-year history. Who says things aren’t looking up?

Bottom line: Halloween is going to be a blast this year – whether you’re a consumer or a retailer. To ensure that it’s your best ever, follow some of the costume guidance below:

• Already, more than 2.6 million men, women and children will dress as zombies this year (Note: please don’t dress like a zombie, it’s waaaay overdone. Clearly.).

• Witches are the top choice for adult costumes, followed by pirates, vampires, Batman, cats and vixens.

• For the kiddos, princesses reign supreme along with Spiderman, Batman, Superman, fairies, Disney princesses and vampires.

• Dogs, apparently, like to dress up, too (or more accurately, their crazy owners like to dress them up). The top dog costumes are pumpkin, devil, hot dogs, and cat (ouch!).

So, get out there and spend your $72.31 – or more. And while you’re at it, try to guess what I’m going to be for Halloween this year. I’ll give you a hint: it’s from the '80s.

Happy Halloween!
-Heather Strang

*Photo by By AlejandroLinaresGarcia (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons