Americans may feel a bit spooked by Halloween prices

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A group of college students walked into Lorenzo Caltagirone’s costume store in Washington, DC, earlier this week to dress up as yellow cartoon Minions for Halloween. Once they saw the price — $60 apiece — they opted for small accessories to get a similar look: goggles, gloves and hats.

The college students aren’t alone in noticing heftier price tags, Caltagirone said. He said he has to play “The Price is Right” with customers now that adult costumes at his store, Total Party, are about $10 more expensive — bringing totals to between $50 and $70.

That’s in part due to licensing costs, but it’s also because Caltagirone has paid more to import costumes due to the Trump administration’s tariffs. The materials used for costumes are also more expensive, he noted.

Caltagirone told CNN that freight costs have gone up at least 20% in the last year. His costumes are mostly imported from China (95%), with some from Vietnam. Few costumes in his stock are made in the United States.

Americans are still expected to spend $4.4 billion on costumes, or 2% more than last year, according to the National Retail Federation.

October accounts for roughly half of Total Party’s sales, 80% of which are in the last week of the month. Caltagirone gets a rush of people whose last-minute online orders went awry and need to shop in person.

Halloween is the store’s “saving grace,” he said. On average, Total Party may get more than a thousand customers during the last week of October.

Caltagirone said there are still customers willing to spend in the high-end section, where costumes like pirate shirts or colonial outfits run as high as $300.

“When it comes to Halloween, (people) tend to splurge on themselves and on their family,” he said. Many people don’t mind paying extra for a branded costume, like Ghostface from the movie “Scream” or Marvel’s Spider-Man.

André Chung/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Camille Campbell, from Southeast Washington, DC, bought her 10-year-old daughter a costume of Jessie from Disney’s “Toy Story.” That $50 costume, in addition to a referee t-shirt, cost Campbell around $75.

She said some people “don’t have (that much)” for a costume, but it was worthwhile for a last-minute costume purchased the day before Halloween.

But Total Party has dealt with fewer customers. The Trump administration’s mass federal layoffs in 2025 wiped away a chunk of regional workers who would normally buy from Total Party, which moved from Crystal City, Virginia, to L’Enfant Plaza in Washington, DC, in April 2025 after nearly 20 years of business.

“We anticipated having a customer base for our party supplies and everyday greeting cards … that has dwindled because of all the cuts,” he said.

Caltagirone is more selective about the products he imports from suppliers, to ensure products don’t sit on the shelf. He has also sold some costumes at lower prices because he worries that customers are more selective.

David Perez, 36, only bought the accessories for a makeshift priest costume. His total came out to about $20 — a decision he made because a full costume cost between $30 and $40.

“I get that inflation comes into play,” he said. “But now I’m paying twice as much for half of what I’m getting.”

Still, Halloween is “one of those things that’s worth splurging … (you) only get it once a year,” Perez said.

Despite price sensitivity, customers celebrating Halloween are just as likely as ever to buy a costume, said Caltagirone.

“People are probably struggling. They might lament the prices. But at the end of the day, they end up whipping out their credit card,” he said.

NRF’s Vice President of Industry and Consumer Insights Allison Zeller said in a news release that Halloween is a “spending priority” for consumers.

“But they are also approaching the season with affordability in mind,” she said.

The NRF estimates consumers will spend $13.5 billion this year on Halloween, or about $400 million more than last year. Consumers are expected to spend an average of $115.14 per person, according to the NRF, up from $103.63 in 2024.

Americans are expected to spend $4.1 billion on candy.

Candy buyers are paying up to 15% more than last year, or about four times more than overall inflation, according to the Groundwork Collaborative. Packs from chocolate makers Hershey and Ferrero are 19% more expensive, as weather conditions have impacted cocoa crops in West Africa.

“I don’t anticipate the price of cocoa coming back down significantly. It has dropped some, but it’s starting to kick back up,” said David Branch, sector manager for Wells Fargo’s Agri-Food Institute.

Stephanie Scarbrough/AP

Rob Faulconer/Round Hill Farm

People have begun to pull back from chocolate candy due to price hikes, said Branch, while companies are making their own changes — like adding wafers in candy bars.

Sugar, corn syrup and fuel costs affect other candies. Gummy candy from Mondelez — the maker of Sour Patch Kids and Swedish Fish — is up 39%.

Americans have also seen a small uptick in the price of pumpkins. At Round Hill Farm near Culpeper, Virginia, guests could hand-pick a pumpkin for 70 cents per pound last year. Owner Rob Faulconer has tacked on 10 cents due to diesel and fertilizer expenses. He “tries not to go up much (in price)” for customers.

“Going to the pumpkin patch and picking pumpkins and then being on a farm … That is an experience that (families) carry over. We have adults that come now that were here as kids, and now they’re bringing their kids,” Faulconer told CNN.

贾斯汀·沙利文/盖蒂图片社

本周早些时候，一群大学生走进位于华盛顿特区的洛伦佐·卡尔塔吉罗内服装店，想在万圣节装扮成黄色卡通小黄人。当他们看到价格——每套60美元——时，便转而选择购买一些小配件来达到类似的效果：护目镜、手套和帽子。

卡尔塔吉罗内说，注意到价格上涨的并非只有大学生。​​他表示，现在他不得不和顾客玩“猜价格”游戏，因为他店里“Total Party”的成人服装价格上涨了大约10美元，总价在50到70美元之间。

部分原因是授权费用，但也因为特朗普政府的关税政策导致卡尔塔吉罗内进口服装的成本更高。他还指出，服装面料的价格也更高了。

卡尔塔吉罗内告诉CNN，过去一年运费至少上涨了20%。他的服装大部分（95%）从中国进口，部分来自越南。他库存的服装中，美国制造的很少。

据美国零售联合会预测，美国人预计仍将在服装上花费 44 亿美元，比去年增长 2%。

十月份的销售额约占Total Party总销售额的一半，其中80%集中在当月最后一周。卡尔塔吉罗内门店会迎来大量顾客，他们之前在网上订购的商品出了问题，需要到店购买。

他说，万圣节是这家店的“救命稻草”。平均而言，Total Party在十月的最后一周能接待超过一千名顾客。

卡尔塔吉罗内表示，仍然有顾客愿意在高档区消费，那里像海盗衬衫或殖民时期服装这样的服饰售价高达 300 美元。

他说：“到了万圣节，人们往往会在自己和家人身上花钱。” 很多人不介意为品牌服装额外付费，比如电影《惊声尖叫》中的鬼脸杀手或漫威的蜘蛛侠。

André Chung/《华盛顿邮报》/Getty Images

来自华盛顿特区东南部的卡米尔·坎贝尔给她10岁的女儿买了一套迪士尼电影《玩具总动员》中杰西的服装。这套价值50美元的服装，加上一件裁判T恤，坎贝尔一共花了大约75美元。

她说有些人“没有那么多钱”买服装，但对于万圣节前一天临时购买的服装来说，这是值得的。

但Total Party的顾客数量有所减少。特朗普政府在2025年进行的大规模联邦裁员，导致原本会光顾Total Party的大量地区性员工失业。这家在弗吉尼亚州水晶城经营近20年后，于2025年4月搬迁至华盛顿特区的L'Enfant Plaza。

他说：“我们原本预计会拥有一定的派对用品和日常贺卡客户群……但由于各种削减措施，这个客户群已经萎缩了。”

卡尔塔吉罗内对从供应商进口的产品更加挑剔，以确保产品不会滞销。他还降低了一些服装的售价，因为他担心顾客会更加挑剔。

36岁的戴维·佩雷斯只买了些配件，凑合着做了一套简易的牧师服装。总共花了大约20美元——他之所以这么做，是因为一套完整的牧师服装要30到40美元。

“我知道通货膨胀会起作用，”他说。“但现在我花两倍的价钱，却只能得到一半的东西。”

不过，佩雷斯说，万圣节是“值得挥霍一下的事情之一……（你）一年只有一次机会”。

卡尔塔吉罗内表示，尽管顾客对价格比较敏感，但庆祝万圣节的顾客购买服装的可能性仍然和以往一样高。

他说：“人们可能生活拮据，他们或许会抱怨物价高昂，但最终还是会掏出信用卡消费。”

美国零售联合会 (NRF) 行业与消费者洞察副总裁艾莉森·泽勒在一份新闻稿中表示，万圣节是消费者的“消费重点”。

“但他们在筹备这个赛季时也考虑到了价格因素，”她说。

美国零售联合会（NRF）预计，今年万圣节消费者支出将达到135亿美元，比去年增加约4亿美元。NRF预测，消费者人均万圣节支出预计将达到115.14美元，高于2024年的103.63美元。

预计美国人将在糖果上花费41亿美元。

据Groundwork Collaborative的数据显示，糖果买家现在支付的价格比去年上涨了15%，约为整体通货膨胀率的四倍。由于西非可可作物受到天气影响，巧克力制造商好时和费列罗的包装糖果价格上涨了19%。

“我不认为可可价格会大幅回落。虽然价格有所下降，但现在又开始回升了，”富国银行农业食品研究所的行业经理大卫·布兰奇表示。

Stephanie Scarbrough/美联社

罗布·福尔科纳/圆山农场

Branch表示，由于价格上涨，人们开始减少对巧克力糖果的购买，而各公司也在做出自己的改变——例如在糖果棒中添加威化饼。

糖、玉米糖浆和燃料成本上涨会影响其他糖果的价格。亿滋国际（Mondelez，旗下拥有酸味软糖和瑞典鱼软糖等品牌）的软糖价格上涨了39%。

美国人也发现南瓜价格略有上涨。在弗吉尼亚州卡尔佩珀附近的圆山农场，去年游客可以花每磅70美分的价格亲自挑选南瓜。农场主罗伯·福尔科纳由于柴油和化肥成本的增加，将价格提高了10美分。他表示，为了顾客的利益，“尽量不大幅涨价”。

“去南瓜地里摘南瓜，然后在农场里待着……这是一种（家庭）可以传承下去的体验。我们这里有些成年人小时候就来过，现在他们带着自己的孩子来了，”福尔科纳告诉CNN。