Princess Reigns as Most Popular Costume for Kids, According to NRF

For Immediate Release
Contact: Ellen Tolley Davis or Scott Krugman (202) 783-7971
Email: davise@nrf.com or krugmans@nrf.com
www.nrf.com/holidays

Princess Reigns as Most Popular
Costume for Kids, According to NRF
--Adult Costumes Also Stick Close to Tradition--

Washington , DC , September 29, 2005 – As masked crusaders and evil villains fill the streets this Halloween, timeless favorites will rule the holiday, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). The NRF 2005 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, found that 3.78 million children plan to dress up as a princess on October 31, making it the most popular Halloween costume for kids this year. Other popular costumes this year will include Star Wars characters (2.07 million children), witches (1.66 million), and Spiderman (1.44 million).

“Classic costumes will always remain Halloween favorites, despite the draw by many kids to dress as their favorite modern-day heroes,” said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. “The key to success for retailers is being able to anticipate the year’s best costumes and stock them in a variety of sizes, since both children and adults are taking part in the fun.”

According to the survey, 53.3 percent of consumers plan to buy a costume for Halloween and will spend an average of $31.88 on that purchase. An estimated $3.3 billion will be spent on the holiday, making Halloween the sixth-largest spending holiday of the year.

Adults will also be altering their personalities on Halloween with nearly one-third (31.5%) planning to dress in costume. Young adults, many of whom plan to attend Halloween parties, are the most likely to be scouring stores for costumes, with more than half (54.7%) of 18-24 year olds planning to dress up this year. Top Halloween costumes for adults include witches (3.9 million), vampires (1.45 million) and actor/famous person (784,625). 

“Though many adult costumes will stick close to tradition, others will focus on pop culture and top news stories,” said Phil Rist, Vice President of Strategy for BIGresearch. “For many adults, creating the perfect costume is a competitive sport. Retailers are refocusing their merchandising strategies to take advantage of young adults’ eagerness to celebrate Halloween.”

About the Survey

The NRF 2005 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to Halloween. The survey, which polled 8,106 consumers, was conducted for NRF by BIGresearch from September 7–14, 2005. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.0 percent.

BIGresearch is a consumer market intelligence firm that provides unique consumer insights that are gathered online utilizing very large sample sizes. BIGresearch’s syndicated Consumer Intentions and Actions survey monitors the pulse of more than 7,000 consumers each month to empower its clients with unique insights for identifying opportunities in a fragmented and changing marketplace.

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 - about one in five American workers - and 2004 sales of $4.1 trillion. As the industry umbrella group, NRF also represents more than 100 state, national and international retail associations. www.nrf.com.

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