• handing out candy (73.4%) 
• dressing in costume (34.0%)
• visiting a haunted house (17.2%) 

In addition to a rise in celebrations, per-person spending is also increasing: the average consumer plans to spend $59.06 on Halloween, compared to $48.48 last year.

Maintaining its spot as the second-biggest decorating holiday of the year after Christmas, decorations continue to be a strong category as 67.0% of consumers plan to purchase Halloween décor and almost half (48.6%) plan to decorate their home or yard.  Additionally, most people (95.7%) will be scooping up plenty of candy, with the average consumer spending $18.72 in that category.  Costumes are also expected to increase in popularity this year with consumers spending $21.57 to dress up as their favorite alter-ego. 

The popularity of Halloween among young adults continues to surge for the second year in a row.  This year, 85.3% of 18-24 year olds plan to celebrate the holiday, up from 66.8% last year. 76.5% of consumers aged 25-34 and 71.3% of 35-44 year-olds will be joining in the fun as well.

Though growing, Halloween remains the sixth-largest spending holiday after: Winter Holidays ($457.4 billion estimated), Valentine's Day ($13.70 billion), Easter ($12.63 billion), Mother's Day ($13.80 billion), and Father's Day ($9.01 billion). 

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 (20% of all American workers) and 2005 sales of $4.4 trillion. As the industry umbrella group, NRF also represents more than 100 state, national and international retail associations. www.nrf.com.