Halloween is just around the corner and the holiday falls on a Sunday. That could make for a busy night for trick-or-treating this year.
The Centers for Disease Control is green lighting the Halloween fun this year, but healthcare providers are still suggesting face masks and social distancing.
Now, the scariest thing this Halloween might not be the ghosts, ghouls or goblins. It might be checking your bank account after buying all those holiday items.
Halloween 2021 is expected to scare more money out of your bank account. Shelling out on Halloween items is expected to reach an all-time high of more than $10 billion this year. Nancy Dennis with the Alabama Retail Association said that means spending in Alabama is going up.
“The average consumer plans to spend $102 on Halloween decorations, candy, costumes, greeting cards, all that kind of stuff. It's just about 10 more dollars than they plan to spend last year,” Dennis said.
Dennis said people are ready to shop, and Halloween spending started along with other on holiday items back in late summer.
“Stores began stocking shelves with Halloween items in late August,” she said. “So, now those items are already out on the shelves there, side by side with Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
Cliff Thomas is the manager of Party On in Tuscaloosa. Balloons, party decorations and dress-up items are found in the store. Thomas said this time of year draws in the crowds.
“I mean it's busy for us. Everybody wants to dress up and taking consideration this year,” said Thomas. “You know, you really couldn't really do what you wanted to do last year, that I think a lot of people are going to be out dressing up and taking advantage of that this year.”
Bob Hoagland runs of Billy Bob’s Halloween Super Store in Cullman. The shop is open from September first to the end of October and features all the usual inventory like decorations, mass makeup, and costumes. Hoagland shared what people are buying most in 2021.
“Well, you have your typical traditional vampires, witches and stuff that are popular, but you also have your Disney princesses and like halo costume Fortnite, I mean just several different brands,” said Hoagland.
COVID-19 cut back on a lot of Halloween activities in 2020. The pandemic may less of an impact on trick or treating this year. Halloween has the stamp of approval from Dr. Karen Landers with the Alabama Department of Public Health, but with some safety precautions to keep in mind.
“Indoor activities, certainly mask would be reasonable as well as respiratory hygiene and, you know, good environmental cleaning, good ventilation of the rooms and distancing to the extent that we can,” Landers said.
Landers said the safety of children should be on the forefront this year when it comes to trick-or-treating.
“We still need to take our mitigation strategy seriously, especially if we're not vaccinated. Kids are not old enough to be vaccinated, and most kids trick-or-treating aren't. So, a lot of activities being done outdoors would be preferable to indoors,” she said.
COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are slowly declining in Alabama. That’s according to the numbers from the Alabama Department of Public Health, but Landers points out a certain age group continues to be affected by the virus.
“And I realized this is a message that we've spoken about over and over, but it just bears repeating that about 20% of our cases of COVID-19 are still in persons under 17 years of age. Someone needs to do all we can to control COVID in that population,” Landers said.
As to what you might expect in your trick or treat bag this year, the website Candystore.com says Starburst, Skittles, and candy corn are the most popular in Alabama. Three Musketeers, Snickers, and Butterfingers rank high in Mississippi. Trick or treaters in Florida lean award Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.
