Scary Halloween numbers

Five billion dollars – that’s how much Americans will spend on Halloween this year. That’s up 58% from 2002, and it doesn’t include booze.

Sixty percent of Americans celebrate Halloween, by dressing up, going to a Halloween party, decorating, or trick or treating. And 95% of Americans will buy Halloween candy, with candy corn as the favorite: 20 million pounds worth, or over 100 billion calories, which is 2,500 calories of just candy corn per trick-or-treater.

More numbers: 90% of parents take candy from their children’s trick-or-treat bags, presumably to reduce those sugar calories. Spending on Halloween decorations now ranks only 2nd – to Christmas. And last year farmers harvested one billion pounds of pumpkins from 43,000 acres, in part for the 40% of people who plan to carve them.

Halloween parties rank third behind New Year’s Eve and Superbowl Sunday, with 30% of Americans hosting or attending. The most popular adult costumes: vampires, witches, celebrities, monsters, and pirates. For people that is. Three and a half million pets – mostly dogs, cats and birds – will be endowed with Halloween garb or other Halloween treats this year.

It looks like even on Halloween, the country’s going to the dogs.