Adults, Kids and Pets Celebrate Halloween in Style

- From Devils to Pumpkins, Pets Will Be All Decked Out this Year -

ashington, September 26, 2007 – Children aren’t the only ones who will be celebrating this Halloween; their furry friends will actually be joining them on Halloween night in the search for treats. According to the National Retail Federation’s 2007 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, an estimated one in ten celebrants (11.0%), or 7.4 million households, plan on donning their beloved pet in some sort of costume this year.

Devils (12.0%) and pumpkins (9.2%) top the list of pet costumes, with witches (4.5%), princesses (3.8%) and angels (3.3%) rounding out the top five.

“Many consumers who own pets think of them as family members,” said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. “Pet owners will go all out to include dogs, cats and other critters in Halloween festivities, including trick-or-treating, handing out candy or even celebrating at a friend or family members’ house.”

The survey also ranked top adult and children’s costumes. Once again, little girls everywhere have ranked princess as their top choice for dressing up this year (10.7%). Spider-Man comes in second at 4.8 percent, followed by a pirate (4.7%), witch (4.2%) and fairy (2.8%). New additions to the list this year include Disney’s Hannah Montana, which comes in at 23rd on the list, immediately followed by the wizard himself, Harry Potter.

“Many consumers choose their costumes based on their personal style and personality, while others stick to traditional favorites like witches or ghosts,” said BIGresearch Vice President of Strategy Phil Rist. “Either way, showing off their selected costume with friends and family is a tradition that will never get old.”

With nearly 60 percent of consumers planning on celebrating Halloween in some way, adults will be hitting the town Halloween night as well. One-third (33.8%) of adults will dress in costume this year, and of those, nearly three-quarters (74.8%) already have a costume in mind. The top five choices consist of traditional favorites such as witch (16.9%), pirate (3.8%), vampire (3.1%), cat (2.5%) and princess (2.2%). Other favorites include a Star Wars character (1.2%), doctor (0.9%) and an athlete (1.0%).

The NRF 2007 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the Halloween season. The survey, which polled 8,877 consumers, was conducted for NRF by BIGresearch from September 4-11. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.0 percent.

BIGresearch is a consumer market intelligence firm that provides unique consumer insights that are gathered online utilizing very large sample sizes. BIGresearch’s syndicated Consumer Intentions and Actions survey monitors the pulse of more than 7,000 consumers each month to empower its clients with unique insights for identifying opportunities in a fragmented and changing marketplace.

The National Retail Federation is the world’s largest retail trade association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet, independent stores, chain restaurants, drug stores and grocery stores as well as the industry’s key trading partners of retail goods and services. NRF represents an industry with more than 1.4 million U.S. retail establishments, more than 23 million employees – about one in five American workers – and 2006 sales of $4.7 trillion. As the industry umbrella group, NRF also represents more than 100 state, national and international retail associations. www.nrf.com

For more information, see the original press release here.

###