What Halloween Teaches Kids About Money

It would take a lot to knock Christmas off the number one spot, but some economic commentators believe the 31st of October is more instructive than the 25th of December. The American economic commentator Jeffrey A. Tucker wrote that kids have to work hard for their candy at Halloween, by creating scary costumes and calling on their neighbours, whereas at Christmas children just have to be good little boys and girls to receive gifts. This means Halloween is more instructive, according to Tucker. He also pointed out that plenty of children swap their trick-or-treat sweets, where they also learn a bit about free-market economics.

Trick-or-treaters can never be sure what sort of sweets they’ll receive when they knock on a door, and the homeowners can never truly know what sort of sugary treats the kids calling ‘round 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?

A lot of people think Halloween masks can do something especially spooky: predict the winner of the US Presidential election. You see, Halloween falls just before the Tuesday following the first Monday in November, which, during election years, is 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. The Spirit of Halloween says their mask sales have correctly predicted the outcome since 1996!

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 August, a full two months 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.