Consumers are spending more money on Halloween than ever before, with record-breaking expenditure anticipated to hit $12.2 billion this year, as per the National Retail Federation.

This amount is roughly $2 billion greater than the $10.6 billion that consumers spent on the holiday in 2022.

Additionally, people are spending a record sum on costumes. According to the NRF, consumers will spend $4.1 billion on adult, child, and pet costumes. That is almost a billion dollars more than what was spent before the outbreak.

Adult costumes like witches’ hats and vampire cloaks are perennial favourites. According to NRF, 2.4 million individuals want to dress as vampires this year, while 5.8 million people want to dress as witches.

Spirit Halloween, the biggest Halloween chain in the United States, the most popular costumes change each year depending on what’s trending in pop culture. So the third most chosen option was a fresh new lady in town.

“When the parties start happening, we’re gonna see a lot of Barbie,” Marisa Uzzolino, manager of PR for Spirit Halloween, told NPR’s Morning Edition. “Western Barbie, Skating Barbie, Skating Ken.”

The Barbie movie earned over $1 billion at the box office, making it the highest-grossing film of the year. This year, almost 1.8 million people intend to dress like Barbie.

According to Uzzolino, Spirit Halloween is “looking at Wednesday, the Addams Family, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” for the other most popular costumes of the year. Over the past year, new films and TV episodes have been released for both.

The 1980s were among the most well-liked decades for vintage-inspired costumes last year. But this year, bell bottoms, tie dye, and gowns with fringe from the ’70s are all the rage.

“We did see a new wave of the hippie styles and hippie stuff coming back,” Uzzolino says — adding that Spirit Halloween expanded that section in stores this year.

With 2.6 million kids planned to dress as superheroes, Spiderman is the most popular kid’s costume this year. But according to Uzzolino, Spiderman isn’t the only Halloween character who is hugely popular with kids.

“We see a huge rise in Bluey. It’s a very popular show, and it’s also geared towards parents too. So we have it for the kids and we have it for the parents,” she says, referring to the main character from the hit children’s show Bluey.

Speaking of dogs, pet costumes have been more and more fashionable in recent years.

“This is something that we’ve expanded on since last year. Next year we’re going to continue to grow it because it’s something that people ask for every year.” Uzzolino says.

According to NRF, the top three pet costumes are bats, hot dogs, and pumpkins. During the pandemic, pet costume expenditures increased by $200 million.

Regardless of whether you’re going as Barbie, Wednesday, or Spiderman, it is still advised that you purchase your Halloween attire now. According to Spirit Halloween, business is heaviest in the final two weeks before Halloween, when most clients are last-minute purchasers.

“The month goes fast. So I think the earlier, the better. Get your costumes now,” Uzzolino says.