Each year on October 31st, a holiday called “Halloween” is celebrated; people light bonfires and wear crazy costumes. One may expect to see kids running around laughing, delicious candy waiting to be given out, pumpkins carved in unique designs with  candles brightly lighting up the inside. 

In Colonial New England, the celebration of Halloween was extremely limited because of  rigid protestant beliefs , but  was much more common in the Southern Colonies. The first celebrations of Halloween were “play parties”, or public events that were held to celebrate the harvest where neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other fortunes, and dance and sing. 

Trick-or-Treating is something many people enjoy, where kids  walk around with  bags or Halloween buckets and visit houses hoping the owners are handing out candy. Before these were European traditions during the 1800s, Americans began to wear costumes and go house to house asking for money or food which came to be as “trick or treat”. Young women used to believe that during Halloween they could divine the name or appearance of their future husbands using yarn, mirrors, or apple parings.

Yearly, the average amount spent on costumes, candy, decorations, and greeting cards per person is roughly $100- $102.74. During 2021, Americans will spend around $10.4 billion on Halloween accessories, a record high. Plans to take part in Halloween celebrations are shy of pre-pandemic levels in the U.S.Halloween is a time for friends and family to celebrate together, dressing up in costumes, going trick or treating, enjoying all types of delicious and flavorful candies, staying home watching horror movies and eating popcorn, or spending time with friends & family. This will give many families a chance to bond, awaiting the next year where Halloween will once again arrive, causing joy all over America.