Delta Dental: Top Ten Halloween Facts & Figures

1. Americans purchase nearly 600 million pounds of candy for Halloween each year.
2. Major pumpkin-producing states like California, Illinois, New York and Ohio helped America grow 1.1 billion pounds of pumpkins in 2010.
3. 60% of dentists polled for Delta Dental’s survey said they give out candy on Halloween. Of the dentists who dispense candy, 79% choose chocolate, while just 13% hand out varieties.
4. Americans spent nearly $6.9 billion on Halloween costumes, decorations and "entertainment".
5. About 50 percent of Americans decorated their homes or yards, 44 percent dressed in a costume, 34 percent attended a Halloween party and 23 percent visited a haunted house in 2011.
6. In 2011, the 3 most popular costumes worn by children were Harry Potter, princess & Green Lantern. Classic characters like Winnie the Pooh, Elmo & the Smurfs were also among the top 10 favorites.
7. Nearly one out of four dentists said they do not hand out anything on Halloween, while five percent attack the holiday head on by handing out toothbrushes.
8. Not everyone gives out candy on Halloween. Ideas include toothbrushes, pretzels, fruit (such as raisins), modeling clay and books.
9. An estimated 41 million children between the ages of five and 14 went trick-or-treating across the U. S. in 2010.
10. Candy corn, a popular treat commonly associated with Halloween, was created in the 1880s and popularized by farmers who appreciated its resemblance to kernels of corn.

Notes: References: United State Census Bureau, 2010 Census. http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml. Accessed August 2012. National Retail Federation. Consumers Eager to Have a Frightfully Good Time This Halloween, According to NRF. http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=1197. Accessed August 2012. USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/VegeSumm/VegeSumm-01-27-2011.pdf. Accessed August 2012. Delta Dental conducted the 2011 Tricky Treats Halloween survey. Delta Dental network dentists were invited via e-mail to participate in the web-based survey. For results based on the total sample of 253, the margin of error is ±6.15 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.
Source: Delta Dental Plans
Source URL: http://blog.deltadental.com/2012/10/29/halloween2012/

Printer-friendly versionSend to friendmore...