Halloween Must Evolve to Thrive and Survive

Many people voiced disappointment and discouragement about a few aspects of Halloween last month and also about its downward trend. Many mentioned that they had very few or even no trick-or-treaters, stores had Christmas running up Halloween’s ass on the aisles and TV had only a handful of channels showing horror movies.

Has America’s love affair with Halloween died out?

We may be a fairly conservative country, but nearly everyone gets a thrill the moment witches and bats, mummies and skeletons begin to show themselves on store shelves. There are some things about Halloween that are unique and must be considered when compared to other holidays.

Christmas is red and green, Santa and nativities, pine and lights. Easter is bunnies and eggs, chocolate and mass. Fourth of July is barbecue, flags and fireworks. If you exclude the fact people buy each other gifts at Christmas, Halloween is actually the most profitable holiday.

It supports:

Horror movies/DVDs/books/music
Costumes
Party costs and products (you don’t have Halloween dishes and cups around the house, you must purchase special table cloths and accessories and props for such a party)
Props for home decorating
Haunted attractions
Pumpkin growers/farm festivals
Candy makers
Night club events

The evolution of Halloween depends purely on the timing of it. Halloween must be relocated to the last Saturday of October. Why?

Well, it’s not just for the children who won’t have school the next day and can go out trick or treating and having holiday parties, but it’s also for the adults. Friday night the adults can do their costume parties, bar hopping, haunted attractions and be home on Saturday night for the kids. The profits to be made are extensive compared to having such festivities mid week. Every year we agonize over when to hold a Halloween party because it rarely lands on a weekend and if it lands on a Friday, we are likely to not be able to go to a party of a night club event if that’s the night our kids must trick-or-treat.

When people can stay up and watch horror movies and get into the mood of the holiday without work looming over them the next day, television stations plan more exciting events for the “Halloween weekend” which would be the new buzz term.

America is great at selling the holidays and sales of Halloween will be a fickle thing so long as a holiday celebrated at night by children is held on a weeknight. Plain and simple. Move Halloween to the last Saturday of October and the bars, haunted attractions, candymakers, adults and kids all profit from something truly marketable.