<p>Welcome ghouls and goblins, witches and zombies. As CFO (Chief Fright Officer) of Halloween Inc. I would like to thank you for making time to attend this emergency session. We are here today to consider some ideas and to make some decisions about the future. The future not only of our thriving business but of our favorite holiday itself.</p>
<p>You know, sometimes everything you thought you knew turns out to be wrong. I admit I was one of those people who believed the celebration we enjoy every Oct. 31 is a major event on the calendar. Like many people, I believed Halloween was second only to the winter holidays in popularity.</p>
<p>I saw it as a time for sharing laughter and fellowship with family and friends, and as an opportunity to enjoy special holiday foods, apparel and decorations. I also understood Halloween as a chance to make some serious money. Which brings me to a scary report by the National Retail Federation.</p>
<p>If you will direct your attention the PowerPoint presentation, I think you will be as surprised as I was by the numbers on the screen. According to the NRF report, Halloween spending by consumers this year is projected to be $8.8 billion. This is down from last year’s $9 billion and falls short of the record $9.1 billion spent in 2017. The lower predictions are cause for concern, certainly, but that is not the most troubling information in the report.</p>
<p>I direct your attention to the chart labeled “Top Ten Consumer Spending Events” which lists these “events” in billions of dollars. Is Halloween in fact the second biggest U.S. holiday in terms of retail sales behind the “Winter Holidays” ( $1007.24)? Not even close says the NRF. The number two spot belongs to “Back to College” ($976.78) followed by a separate category, “Back to School” ($696.70). Although one could quibble that back to school sales are different in kind than true holidays, the numbers don’t lie when it comes to where consumers spend their dollars.</p>
<p>So where is Halloween on the list? If you cast your eyes way down to the bottom you will see our beloved holiday coming in at number nine. We come in behind Mother’s Day ($196.47), Easter ($151.25), Valentine’s Day ($161.96), Father’s Day ($138.97), and Graduation ($107.46), and just in front of the Super Bowl ($81.3). And Super Bowl celebrants don’t even wear costumes. Well, unless you consider team jerseys and beer hats.</p>
<p>So what to do? Perhaps it is time to alter expectations as to the proper way to celebrate Halloween. We here at Halloween Inc. want to convince people that Halloween should be a time for generous gift-giving. Our goal is to change societal norms so that Halloween becomes a time for consumers to show how much they care about their loved ones by how much money they spend on them.</p>
<p>Along those same lines, we need to elevate the image of the items associated with Halloween. Instead of bags of bite-size pieces of stale candy, perhaps individual gold foil wrapped bars of Godiva chocolate could be handed out to trick-or-treaters. Instead of cheap plastic masks, convince people that one-of-a-kind, hand-carved masks are what all chic Halloween revelers wear. Even replacing a old, worn bedsheet ghost costume with a superfine 500 count Egyptian cotton sheet would improve the bottom line.</p>
<p>Halloween Inc. does not believe we must accept our low position on the National Retail Federation list. We are committed to changing the Halloween experience so as to improve our retail position. We’re fired up. It’s time to shake some bones and rattle some chains. It’s time to make Halloween great again.</p>
