Being a household with small kids, this weekend has been filled with Halloween events. Nate’s preschool had its annual party, which is great for the little ones and Ella’s elementary school produced another fantastic Highland Park Elementary HOOT Carnival. The HOOT is produced by the PTA and raised $40,000 last year for the school. This weekend also involved some pumpkin carving, which is always a yucky, but necessary family activity.

On CNN’s State of The Union, Candy Crowely interviewed Ellen Davis of the National Retail Federation for a brief discussion about the economics of Halloween. You can watch the full interview here. In down economies, consumer spending around holidays – like Christmas – goes down, indicating that people are cutting back. The opposite is true about Halloween, where consumers actually show an increase in spending during down years. Ms. Davis hypothesized this is true because it’s a brief holiday, that’s not tied to any religion or person, it’s accessible to all socio-economic classes, and, probably most importantly, it allows us an opportunity to take a break and have fun.

Have a safe and enjoyable Halloween. Trick or Treat!