We’re lucky that Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, and most shoppers have already bagged their treats. We surveyed 1,784 online buyers right after checkout, October 10–20,2026, to learn how they celebrate, where they shop and what they plan to spend.

The fun-sized version: costumes still rule, pets are joining the party, pop-ups are pulling crowds and budgets are tightening everywhere except the top income bracket. Here are six findings retailers can use in the final stretch, and when planning for 2027.

Source: Bizrate Insights survey of 1,784 online buyers, October 10–20, 2026. Results weighted by age and gender to match U.S. adults 18+, using 2024 U.S. Census Bureau benchmarks.

Costumes are still the main event

Horizontal bar chart showing how shoppers celebrate Halloween: 56% wear a costume, 53% decorate their home or yard, 50% pass out candy, 49% watch a scary movie, 42% take kids trick-or-treating, 31% visit a haunted house, 27% throw a party, and 21% dress up pets. Wearing costumes leads decorating by 3 percentage points. Multiple answers were allowed. Source: Bizrate Insights Halloween survey of 1,784 respondents, October 10–20, 2026.

Bizrate Insights Halloween weighted tables, Q1 · 1,784 respondents, Oct 10–20, 2026

Halloween is a multi-tradition holiday. The average shopper celebrates in more than three ways, so one basket can span a costume, porch decor, candy and a horror-movie night.

Young adults go out. Older adults deck out.

Halloween looks different depending on who is celebrating. For Shoppers 18–34 it’s more of a night out, while shoppers 50–64 pour their energy into setting up their own haunted house.

Grouped horizontal bar chart comparing Halloween activities for shoppers ages 18–34 versus ages 50–64: wear a costume, 72% versus 46%; watch a scary movie, 60% versus 44%; visit a haunted house, 44% versus 22%; throw a party, 40% versus 18%; decorate home or yard, 46% versus 54%; and pass out candy, 44% versus 53%. Younger shoppers are more likely to wear costumes and participate in entertainment activities, while older shoppers lead in decorating by 8 percentage points and passing out candy by 9 percentage points. Ages 65+ are not charted because of a small sample of 66 respondents. Source: Bizrate Insights Halloween survey of 1,784 respondents, October 10–20, 2026.

Bizrate Insights Halloween weighted tables, Q1 by age · 18–34 n=841, 50–64 n=206 

Costumes stay popular through age 49 (68% of 35–49s), then drop off sharply. The youngest shoppers trail on decorating and candy, but they lead every going-out activity by double digits.

Retailer takeaway: Market costumes, party supplies and experiences to shoppers under 35. Point decor and bulk candy at the 50+ crowd.

Women are running Halloween

Women out-celebrate and out-shop men on nearly every measure in our survey. They also lead the pet-costume trend, which gets its own section below.

Grouped horizontal bar chart comparing women’s and men’s Halloween activities: wear a costume, 66% versus 46%; take kids trick-or-treating, 52% versus 32%; shop big-box stores in person, 43% versus 28%; shop large online stores, 48% versus 36%; and decorate home or yard, 57% versus 48%. Women lead in every category, with gaps of 20 percentage points for both wearing costumes and taking kids trick-or-treating, 15 percentage points for shopping big-box stores, 12 percentage points for shopping large online stores, and 9 percentage points for decorating. Source: Bizrate Insights Halloween survey of 1,784 respondents, October 10–20, 2026.

Bizrate Insights Halloween weighted tables, Q1 and Q3 by gender · women n=1,145, men n=639 

Men hold one small edge: 40% shop local retail stores vs. 37% of women. Everywhere else, women are the ones filling the Halloween cart.

Retailer takeaway: If your Halloween creative speaks to a generic shopper, aim it at women first. They are buying the costumes and running the trick-or-treat route.

1 in 5 shoppers is dressing up their pet

Pet costumes have gone mainstream. We didn’t survey the pets, but we suspect they’d like a word.

Infographic showing that 21% of shoppers dress their pets in costumes for Halloween, including 28% of women, 14% of men, and 27% of shoppers ages 18–34. Women are twice as likely as men to dress up pets, a gap of 14 percentage points. Each dog icon represents 5% of shoppers. Source: Bizrate Insights Halloween survey of 1,784 respondents, October 10–20, 2026.

Bizrate Insights Halloween weighted tables, Q1 · 1,784 respondents; women n=1,145, men n=639, 18–34 n=841 


The pet-costume crowd looks a lot like the people-costume crowd: young and mostly female. That makes pets a natural add-on to the costume purchase, not a separate trip.

Retailer takeaway: Give pet costumes real shelf space and real ad spend, and cross-sell them next to human costumes. Matching sets, anyone?

Pop-ups are having a spooky-good season

Large online stores are still the top Halloween destination. But seasonal pop-ups are popping off: 35% of shoppers use them, level with big-box stores and close behind local retail.

Grouped horizontal bar chart comparing where all shoppers versus shoppers ages 18–34 make most of their Halloween purchases: large online stores, 42% versus 48%; local retail stores, 38% for both; big-box stores in person, 35% versus 36%; Halloween pop-up stores, 35% versus 45%; specialty online stores, 22% versus 26%; and grocery stores, 20% versus 18%. Pop-ups trail local retail stores by 3 percentage points overall but lead by 7 percentage points among ages 18–34. Multiple answers were allowed, and all respondents had just made an online purchase. Source: Bizrate Insights Halloween survey of 1,784 respondents, October 10–20, 2026.

Bizrate Insights Halloween weighted tables, Q3 · all shoppers n=1,784, 18–34 n=841

Shoppers 35–49 follow the same pattern, choosing pop-ups over local retail stores (45% vs. 39%). One caveat: everyone in this survey had just bought something online, so online shares may read a little high.

Retailer takeaway: If you don’t run a pop-up, borrow its spell book: seasonal displays, costume try-ons and in-store events aimed at shoppers under 50.

The last-minute shopper is just a ghost story

Most Halloween shopping happens well before the last two weeks of October. A full quarter of shoppers treat Halloween as a year-round category, buying all year or stocking up at post-Halloween sales.

Vertical bar chart showing when shoppers start buying for Halloween: 9% during post-Halloween sales, 17% throughout the year, 16% in September, 23% in the first two weeks of October, 8% in the last two weeks of October, 7% at the last minute, and 21% say it depends. In total, 65% start by mid-October, while 15% wait until the last two weeks or the last minute. The data describe when shopping begins, not when it is completed. Source: Bizrate Insights Halloween survey of 1,784 respondents, October 10–20, 2026.

Bizrate Insights Halloween weighted tables, Q2 · 1,784 respondents, Oct 10–20, 2026

That leaves a skeleton crew of true procrastinators. About a fifth of shoppers say their timing depends on what they need or have planned.

Retailer takeaway: Start Halloween marketing in September, push hardest in the first half of October and plan a post-Halloween clearance event for next year’s early birds.

Budgets will be bare bones, except at the top

More shoppers plan to cut back on Halloween than splurge, and most will hold spending flat. The squeeze is sharpest in the middle of the income range.

Stacked horizontal bar chart comparing Halloween spending plans with last year by household income. Shares planning to spend less, about the same, and more, respectively: all shoppers, 28%, 55%, and 17%; under $40,000, 30%, 52%, and 18%; $40,000–$75,000, 32%, 55%, and 14%; $75,000–$150,000, 27%, 55%, and 18%; and $150,000 or more, 21%, 59%, and 19%. Most shoppers in every group plan unchanged spending, but more plan to cut spending than increase it. Net spending intent—the share planning to spend more minus the share planning to spend less—is −11 percentage points overall and −12, −18, −9, and −2 percentage points across the income groups from lowest to highest. The highest-income group has the smallest gap between cutting and increasing spending. Percentages may not total 100 because of rounding. Source: Bizrate Insights Halloween survey of 1,784 respondents, October 10–20, 2026.

Bizrate Insights Halloween weighted tables, Q4 by income · under $40K n=556, $40K–$75K n=493, $75K–$150K n=508, $150K+ n=227

The $150K+ households holding steady are also Halloween’s biggest participants at home: 66% decorate and 61% hand out candy, more than any other income group.

Retailer takeaway: Lead with value for middle-income shoppers. Save the pricy 12-foot skeletons for the $150K+ crowd.

Your treat list for the final stretch

Halloween lands on Saturday, October 31. Here is how to put these findings to work when planning for 2027.

  1. Market to women first. They lead on costumes, trick-or-treating and nearly every shopping channel.
  2. Split your message by age. Sell costumes, parties and experiences to shoppers under 35, and decor and candy to the 50+ crowd.
  3. Shelve pet costumes next to people costumes. Same shoppers, same trip, easy add-on.
  4. Borrow the pop-up playbook. Seasonal displays, try-ons and in-store events win younger shoppers.
  5. Lead with value in the middle. Middle-income households are cutting back most, while $150K+ households hold steady.
  6. Plan 2027 now. Start marketing in September, peak in early October and run a post-Halloween clearance for the year-round planners.

Want scary-good insights from your own shoppers? Bizrate Insights collects feedback at checkout across a network of 5,000+ retailers, and our core tool is free for retailers.

Learn more at bizrateinsights.com.

Methodology

Bizrate Insights conducted this Halloween survey among 1,784 online buyers immediately after they completed a purchase from a retailer in the Bizrate Insights network of more than 5,000 e-commerce retailers across the U.S. and Canada. Data were collected from October 10 to October 20, 2026. Results were weighted by age and gender to align the sample with the U.S. adult population age 18 and older, using 2024 U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey benchmarks.