Tuesday 24th October 2023

Our analysis has revealed that the cost of living crisis could be set to leave a sour taste this Halloween, as 59% of households saying they won’t be splashing out on sweets for trick or treaters this year, with the cost of some of our favourite candy increasing by as much as 20% in the last year alone. 

According to the latest figures, we spent an estimated £687m on Halloween in 2022, a 13.2% increase versus the previous year and considerably more than a decade ago when we spent just £230m. 

Our research shows that this equates to an average spend of around £24.32 per household across the UK in 2022, up from £8.63 10 years ago and £2.74 more per household than we spent in 2021 (£21.59). 

This Halloween spend is expected to increase again in 2023 to a total of £777m, or an average of £27.51 per household. However, with the cost of living continuing to climb, a survey we conducted has found that trick or treaters could be in for a fright this Halloween. 

Our survey found 41% said they usually spend money on sweets or similar items for trick or treaters. However, of those who do usually purchase sweets for Halloween trick or treaters, 59% stated that they wouldn’t be spending anything this year due to the higher cost of living. 

15% said they would buy the usual amount of sweet treats despite the higher cost, with 15% keeping their spend the same but buying less sweets as a result of higher costs. A further 12% will still get into the spirit but will reduce their usual spend in order to save money. 

Why?

Our further analysis of ONS data has shown that the cost of our favourite sweet treats has increased considerably in the last year alone.  

For example, a milk chocolate bar has increased by a huge 11.8% in the last year alone (2022-23). To put this into perspective, the same chocolate bar increased by just 4.1% in cost between 2018 and 2022. 

Chocolate caramel bars, like Dairy Milk Caramel or Galaxy Caramel, have increased by 11.1% annually, having only increased by 5.9% over the previous four years. 

Fruit Pastels are 4.1% more expensive than they were a year ago, with malted chocolate sweets such as Maltesers increasing by 19.7% in price since last Halloween.