• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, September 30, 2008

Fed up with spooky economic headlines and grim reaper-style newscasts, the National Retail Federation predicts that Americans will celebrate Halloween in a big way this year, increasing spending to $5.77 billion.

"Consumers--who have been anxious and uncertain for the past several months--may be looking at Halloween as an opportunity to forget the stresses of daily life and just have a little fun," the NRF says in its poll analysis--seeing a strong correlation between consumers' mood this Halloween, and back in 2002, when Americans were also very worried about the economy, as well as world politics. That year, spending was strong, the group says, as "a way for consumers to escape from the uncertainties of daily life, and let loose during an otherwise tense period."

The NRF--the Washington D.C.-based trade association for major chains--polled consumers, and found that 64.5% of them plan to celebrate on Oct. 31, versus 58.7% last year. And per person, consumers say they plan to spend $66.54 on Halloween, up from $64.82 one year ago. (As ever, the holiday is most important to the 18-24 crowd, which says it will spend $86.59 on the holiday, the most of any group.) Because the holiday falls on a Friday this year, the NRF forecasts that some consumers may celebrate all weekend long.

By category, the poll finds that consumers are planning to spend $24.17 on costumes, including outfits for kids, adults, and pets; $20.39 for candy; $18.25 for holiday decorations, and $3.73 for greeting cards.

Passing out candy to trick-or-treaters is by far the most popular activity, with 73.7% of respondents planning to do so. About 50% say they will decorate, 44.6% will carve pumpkins, and 35.3% of adults will dress in costumes.