Do you want to hear a frightening story? Inflation has made Halloween more expensive than ever.
While we are seeing higher prices everywhere, Halloween is still a scary event.
Let’s begin with the most important part of Halloween: candy. The cost of candy has risen dramatically, not only for Halloween. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the candy price has increased by 13.1% since September last year. This is the largest jump since 2008’s Great Recession and also the highest level of candy inflation in this century.
Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Over the past few months, candy prices have been steadily rising. You’ll get even less bang for the buck when you consider that candy manufacturers are packing candy in smaller quantities.
It is almost enough to make more people bored and give apples to trick-or-treaters.
Let’s talk pumpkins while we’re at your grocery store. Pumpkin prices have risen, as you can see. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, pumpkin retail prices have increased by 2 percent in the third week of Oct 2022. Pumpkin prices at $5.07 per Howden jack-o-lantern type (Howden) are up 2 percent over the previous year.” The demand for unusual pumpkins has also increased, which will undoubtedly increase their prices.
Halloween is becoming more expensive due to rising energy prices. What about decorations that light up and inflate? According to the BLS, they are more expensive to run because electricity prices have increased an average of 15.9% nationwide over last year. This will also affect Christmas lights, projections, and inflatables.
What about taking the children trick-or-treating with you? You’ll pay more for that too. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, gasoline prices have increased 38.6 cents per gallon over last year. Diesel is even worse, at $1.62 per g more than last year. Even though gas prices are decreasing, it is not easy to overlook the rise in diesel prices. It’s no wonder that witches love riding brooms.
Let’s not forget about costumes. Newsweek highlights, using data from BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI-U), how, although it is difficult to track the rise in costume prices, we can make some conclusions about why.
The BLS statistics do not include Halloween costumes but the overall category of apparel’ has increased 5.5 percent year-on-year, according to Chloe Mayer at Newsweek. “Even those who make their own costumes may notice an increase in prices, as the category sewing machines and fabric’ were up 11% in September compared with last year.”
You can see how inflation affects what costumes your children wear to trick-or-treat.
Halloween has become more of a trick rather than a treat, with almost everything we buy this year costing more. We can’t be afraid. Instead, we must make sure that the Democrats are voted out of power eight days after Halloween. This is the first step towards ending the horror story of the Biden administration’s attack on our wallets.
