Bucking the trend

I was reading a MSNBC article today about the economy (following Friday's broad 2.5-3% declines in the stock market), and a hyperlinked related article about Halloween and the economy caught my eye. So I started reading and was intrigued to find out that the "industry" (I guess that means all things related to Halloween: candy, costumes, food/parties, etc) is now at $6 billion/year. The author stated:

The under-35 crowd is the key demographic for Halloween, with more than 80 percent of adults 18 to 34 surveyed saying they expect to spend money on costumes, whether for themselves, their children or their pets.

“Spending among young adults without children has increased dramatically over the last five years,” said (National Retail Federation) Vice President Ellen Davis. “Today’s young adults celebrated Halloween vigorously as children. They’re not ready to relinquish that fun.”

Costumes account for the biggest chunk of the spending — about $1.75 billion, according to the NRF, followed closely by candy and decorations. About $250 million is spent on Halloween greeting cards. Consumers, on average, are projected to spend $56.31 (this Halloween 2009).

I definitely bucked the trend: I spent a grand total of $0.00 on Halloween and still had a great weekend. Two Chilean exchange students came over for a bar-b-que on Friday night (which just happened to coincide with 30 Oct festivities), and after going to the Navy-Temple football game on Saturday with Luis, Jose, and Joaquin (which just happened to be on 31 Oct), I went to small group (regularly scheduled each Saturday night) and then joined them in celebrating Baltazar's birthday with a typical Guatemalan dinner after bible study: rice, salad, and boiled chicken with spice similar to a curry.

So today I wonder why I had no interest whatsoever in anything Halloween this year, especailly after enjoying it quite a bit when I was younger, up to and including my days in Chapel Hill, which is one of the growing number of American cities that host blocks-long street parties on the night of Halloween for 10,000s of revelers. A few thoughts are (1) None of my close friends in Annapolis celebrated Halloween, so if I wanted to be with them, it involved not celebrating; (2) Most of the adult Halloween festivities center around debauchery and drunkenness, neither of which gets me very excited. As a side note, I wonder how many people across the country are waking up this morning sad or depressed because their costume "flopped" at the club/party? Is there a culture of performance (and hence performance anxiet)? What if you spent months thinking of and preparing a costume, and didn't get the attention you thought you deserved? (3) I guess playing dress-up doesn't hold the same novelty it held in years past ... again partly because I think a major part of why we dress up is to impress friends/be noticed. Anyway, I'm happy to have "saved" $56.31 this year. Now I'm curious: what was your expenditure, and why do you (or do you not) celebrate Halloween?