Inflation Haunting Halloween

Halloween can be frightening. But this year it probably won’t be as scary as the sticker shock when you saw the price of your costume or the costumes for your kids, the price of the decorations you purchased, or the price of the candy you’ll hand out. Those price increases were multiples of the 3% average rate of inflation for consumer goods over the last 12 months (from September 2024 to September 2025).

You probably spent $5 to $10 more on costumes than you did last year or even paid twice as much, according to Cheapism.com, a website that helps consumers economize. The jump in the price of decorations was even higher. Homecrux, an online home décor magazine, reports that some Halloween decorations have increased by $20 to $200, depending on size and material. And the 12-foot Bone Collector at Lowe’s is now $449, $100 more than last year. A crushing blow to your Halloween milieu.

Some 90% of Halloween products contain at least one component made outside of the United States. The vast majority are made in China and are subject to the Trump tariffs. According to customs agents who reviewed those Halloween products made in China for CNBC, the tariff burden paid by importers such as Signature Brands ranged from 58.1% to 59.6%. That was more than half of the cost of those Halloween imports. And retailers have passed on much of those cost increases to consumers through higher prices for Halloween items, from pumpkin carving kits to spooky costumes.

The price of Halloween candy has skyrocketed as well. The average price of a 110-piece bag of assorted Halloween candy sold in four major supermarkets and retail chains is 17% higher than last year, according to a study conducted by FinanceBuzz, a personal finance company. The Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive economic policy advocacy group found that the price of the Mars variety packs (which include Milky Way, M&M’s, and Skittles) is 12.1% higher than last year, and the Hershey’s variety packs (which include Kit Kats and Twizzlers) is 22.1% higher. In addition, with the rising price of cocoa, Hershey is adjusting its “price pack architecture,” corporate-speak for reducing the amount of candy in the pack. And some specialty chocolate makers are reducing the cocoa content in their bars.

Inflated Halloween prices have scared me straight. I’ll be handing out fruit in my regular clothing, which is often mistaken for a 1970s costume, and without an inflatable bone collector. 

John Miller is a professor emeritus of economics at Wheaton College and a member of the Dollars & Sense collective.