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Article by Alex Rayner

What Halloween Teaches Kids About Money

It’s a fun and spooky time, but it can also be pretty instructive. Here’s a few financial facts kids can learn from Halloween.

🎃 Some people think Halloween teaches kids more about money than Christmas

It would take a lot to knock Christmas off the number one spot, but some believe that the 31st of October is a better time to spark a bit of conversation with your kids about money. The American economic commentator Jeffrey A. Tucker wrote that kids have to work hard for their sweets at Halloween, by creating scary costumes and calling on their neighbours, unlike at Christmas when children just have to be good to receive gifts. This means Halloween is more instructive, says Tucker. He also pointed out that plenty of children swap and trade their trick-or-treat sweets, which means they also learn a bit about the free market.

Ask the kids:

Do you feel like you’ve earned your Halloween sweets? Which ones do you swap afterwards? Which sweets are worth the most? Which ones do you always want to get rid of?

🤑 Others think giving Halloween candy wastes money

Trick-or-treaters can never be sure what sort of sweets they’ll get when they knock on a door, and the homeowners can never truly know what sort of sugary treats the kids will prefer. This, according to another US economist, Kevin A. Hassett, leads to a lot of unwanted candy and wasted money. Back in 2006 he argued that children should get cash! “That solution would get an A-plus in economics,” he wrote. But wouldn’t that take some fun out of the night?

Ask the kids:

Would you prefer to get money rather than sweets? Or would that spoil the traditions of Halloween a little bit?

🔮 Sometimes, Halloween spending predicts the future

A lot of people think Halloween masks can do something especially spooky: predict the winner of the US Presidential election. You see, on election years, Halloween falls just before the day Americans vote for their President. A lot of people also choose to dress up as presidential candidates, and in previous years, costume shops have pointed out that the candidate whose mask proves most popular is also the candidate that goes on to win the election. Back in 2016, US retailer Spirit Halloween said their mask sales had correctly predicted the Presidential outcome since 1996!

Ask the kids:

Would you dress up as your favourite politician? How about your least favourite one? Which costume would you never wear?

🗓️ There’s a reason why Halloween feels as if its coming earlier each year

Sometimes shop owners think they can lengthen out a spending season if they start selling themed goods a little bit earlier in the year. Most people have noticed this around Christmas, with a phenomenon called ‘Christmas Creep’. However, it also has been known to happen around Easter, Valentine’s Day, and, yup, Halloween. This year, Starbucks started offering its Pumpkin Spice Latte in September, more than a month ahead of Halloween!
Despite this seasonal creep, experts don’t actually believe retailers necessarily make more money by stretching seasons out like this; some think you’ve got to be in the mood to do seasonal shopping.

Ask the kids:

Does it feel right buying Halloween stuff at the end of August, or Christmas tree tinsel in September?

😟 Not everyone has a Happy Halloween

In a 1995 episode of the Simpsons, Homer vs. Patty and Selma, Homer Simpson loses a lot of money thanks to Halloween. “This year I invested in pumpkins,” he tells the regulars at Moe’s bar. “They’ve been going up the whole month of October, and I got a feeling they’re going to peak right around January.” Unfortunately, things don’t go Homer’s way.

Ask the kids:

Why might people want to pay a lot for pumpkins in October? And why might prove less interested a few months later?

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