WHY HAS HALLOWEEN STAYED SO POPULAR?

13% of Americans ages 18-44 say Halloween is their favorite holiday, reports DDB Worldwide.

Many companies allow, and even encourage employees to wear costumes.

Six million adults plan to dress as a witch this year, and 3.2 million will dress as vampires, say NRF and BIGInsight. 

One million will dress as some type of athlete, and 767,000 will wear a politically-inspired costume.

Remember when it used to be THE kid holiday?

No more.

There are several reasons for its adult popularity.

There’s no stress to it. You don’t have to travel or deal with relatives.

There’s not the holiday pressure to find a date if you are single.

You can wear whatever you want and not be judged.

There’s the fantasy, role-play element. 

If you think about it, it’s surprising that 90% of people don’t feel it’s their favorite holiday.

Adult Halloween lovers also possess supernatural beliefs not shared by those who don’t enjoy dressing up as Honey Boo Boo. 

Two in three of those who love Halloween believe in ghosts, 33% claim to have actually seen a ghost, 

and 28% believe people can really put a curse on someone that works. 

Who can tell if it’s the chicken or the egg,

That those who believe in ghosts are more likely to love Halloween or vice versa. 

There’s just a certain kind of person who thinks that anything is possible.

Millennials, in particular, seem to embrace this willy-nilly anything goes mindset.

Halloween’s influence also extends to pets, who may not quite love the holiday as much as their owners because they don’t get a say about dressing up. 

Unlike Thanksgiving and Christmas which seems to spread over more and more weeks, 

Halloween still remains firmly limited in its season ... and so valued for the short time it lasts.

Thankfully pumpkins don’t start to ripen until late September.

Unless they can figure out how to change that, I think we’re spared from seeing Halloween become a summer holiday.