Halloween budgets are topping Thanksgiving spending

Halloween budgets are officially outpacing the rest of the holiday season. Thirty-eight percent of American adults plan to spend three hundred dollars or more on Halloween this year, according to the CIT Bank survey released in October 2026 — nearly double the share budgeting that much for Thanksgiving, and more than triple the share planning the same for New Year's Eve or Day.

Fifty-four percent expect to spend two hundred dollars or more on the spooky season, compared with thirty-nine percent for Thanksgiving and twenty-three percent for the New Year holiday, the survey found. Average expected outlay sits near two hundred ten dollars, climbing to two hundred seventy dollars for Gen Z and three hundred eight dollars for Millennials. In other words, the holiday once built on a bag of candy and a bedsheet ghost now commands Halloween budgets that rival the biggest celebrations on the calendar.

The shopping starts earlier every year

Part of the story is timing. Sixty-one percent of shoppers begin buying before October, and forty-two percent start in September, which explains the ever-longer Halloween aisle at big-box stores. The season has quietly crept forward on the calendar: decorating in late summer and stocking up weeks early has become normal, turning a one-night event into a two-month spending window — and a longer season is one reason Halloween budgets keep expanding year after year.

That creep is backed by bigger forecasts too. Industry trackers earlier projected total Halloween spending this year would break records, with per-person outlays climbing into triple digits — a prediction the new bank survey now appears to confirm from the other side, measuring what consumers actually plan to open their wallets for.

Gen Z builds costumes for the feed

Younger shoppers are the engine behind the Halloween budgets boom. Seventy-one percent of Gen Z buy costumes for themselves, versus fifty-three percent of adults overall, and sixty-two percent find costume inspiration on social platforms, compared with twenty-nine percent overall. Thirty-nine percent say pop culture trends guide their choices, and more than half of Gen Z and Millennials say they would pay extra for a costume likely to drive social media engagement. Thirty-seven percent of Gen Z would spend one hundred dollars or more on such a costume. Social performance, in short, has become a line item inside Halloween budgets.

Technology is part of the planning process as well. One in five Gen Z shoppers has used artificial intelligence to brainstorm costume ideas, a sign that the holiday's costume culture is absorbing the same tools reshaping homework, dating profiles and job applications. Costumes are also no longer the biggest line item for everyone: forty-six percent plan to spend one hundred dollars or more on experiences such as haunted houses and hayrides, and twenty-six percent budget forty dollars or more for pet costumes.

Big splurge, tighter purse strings

Here is the tension at the heart of the season: shoppers say they feel the pinch even as their Halloween budgets grow. Sixty-three percent report being more price-sensitive about Halloween spending than they were last year.

That caution shows up in the shopping cart: seventy-one percent buy candy in bulk, and sixty-two percent head to discount or dollar stores for decorations and accessories.

Jose Castro, who heads the bank that commissioned the poll, said the findings show Halloween has grown into a major financial event for households and urged shoppers to treat it like any other holiday budget — planned in advance rather than improvised at checkout.

A second survey confirms that Halloween budgets are rising across the board. Eighty-seven percent of shoppers plan to make at least one Halloween purchase this year, up from eighty-two percent last year, as reported by RetailMeNot, and average planned spending has climbed to nearly one hundred sixty dollars from ninety-two dollars a year ago. Candy remains the most common purchase, followed by Halloween clothing, adult costumes and decorations.

For households feeling the squeeze, the data suggests a playbook: set the ceiling before September, buy candy in bulk, and let do-it-yourself costumes do the heavy lifting. Halloween budgets may have topped Thanksgiving, but the smartest spenders are treating the season's second-place trophy with first-place discipline. Related coverage: Spirit Reveals 2026 Halloween Costume Trends, and more in culture.