Americans plan to spend less this Halloween, but most still plan to celebrate the holiday.
“Eight in 10 Americans (80%) plan to make a Halloween-related purchase, down from 90% last year, while those celebrating expect to spend an average of $162 — a 16% decline from $192 in 2025,” according to a Lending Tree survey.
It’s a situation where people might not just be throwing Halloween candy in their carts without considering the price.
But 61% of American households plan to hand out Halloween candy, according to a National Retail Federation (NRF) survey.
The NRF did find that consumers “remain mindful of costs and are taking a strategic approach to their Halloween purchases.”
As part of this, people are planning ahead.
“If they encounter higher-than-expected prices on Halloween items, nearly one-third (31%) say they will comparative shop, while 26% say they will look for coupons or sales,” the data showed.
To help with that, TheStreet’s Co-Editor-in-Chief Daniel Kline and Senior Editor Celine Provini visited South Florida Publix, Target, and Walmart stores in the same neighborhood to check candy prices on popular trick-or-treating favorites.
They also stopped at Dollar General and Dollar Tree to see whether those discount chains offered any viable options for people who want to hand out candy while also saving money.
Halloween trick-or-treating favorites compared
Our comparison was limited to popular candies sold in tamper-evident, individual “fun-size” portions commonly associated with trick-or-treating.
Walmart, as you can see below, was the clear price leader, while Target had a slightly broader selection. Publix had some obvious holes in its selection, such as a surprising lack of single-serving M&M’s.
Although items in the chart were generally more expensive at Publix, the grocer did offer two great buy-one-get-one (BOGO) deals that would let you hand out decent candy (albeit less-popular varieties) at the lowest price:
- Butterfinger 19.8 total oz. of fun-size bars (about 30 bars per bag, or 60 total in two bags, for $11.59, which works out to 19 cents per bar)
- 100 Grand 18.7 total oz. of fun-size bars (about 25 bars per bag, or 50 total in two bags, for $11.59, which works out to 23 cents per bar)
It’s important to note that selection and price can vary by location. The pricing shown above reflects shopping across the five locations in about a two-hour period.
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Dollar stores offered very little
If you want cheap Halloween decorations, both Dollar General and Dollar Tree offered a reasonable selection. They also each had some low-cost (and low-quality) costume options, but neither had much in the way of candy for trick-or-treating.
Dollar General and Dollar Tree both had limited selections of candies that met our criteria, and we saw nothing at either store that would be a better value than what was offered at Walmart, Target, and Publix.
There was, however, one exception: Dollar General offered a 19.5 total oz. package of about 26 snack-size Reese’s cups for $9.50, making each cup about 37 cents, which was actually slightly less than the comparable package sold at Publix, which broke down to 42 cents per cup.
Buy Halloween candy where you shop
All five stores we visited were within two miles of each other on the same road. In a broad sense, the price differences between Walmart and Target were not large enough to justify a separate trip if you already planned to visit one location.
At Publix, however, the higher prices and smaller selection might make it worth going elsewhere for candy. Still, if you’re willing to make some substitutions and go with the BOGO offers, the grocery chain was a viable option.
Even with tighter budgets, Halloween remains a major spending occasion for American consumers, according to the NRF.
“Top shopping categories for the holiday remain largely consistent with last year. Candy remains the most popular purchase, with 96% of consumers planning to buy sweets, accounting for $4.1 billion in spending. Decorations follow at 78% and $4.3 billion, while 71% of shoppers are expected to spend $4.4 billion on costumes,” the NRF shared.
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