TweetHalloween History

The origins of Halloween can be traced to the ancient Celts. The Celtic New Year rituals first blended with Roman holidays and then the Roman Catholic All Saint's festival.

In 1921, Anoka, Minn., held the first official, citywide observance of Halloween in the U.S.


Candy and Costumes by the Numbers

Each American ate 24.5 pounds of candy last year, on average. There were 2,077 costume rental shops across the country in 2006.

About 1,170 manufacturers make chocolate and cocoa products, employing 39,457 people and shipping $13.9 billion worth of sweets. The most are located in California and the number two state is Pennsylvania.

Only 473 plants manufacture non-chocolate candy, worth $7.2 billion, providing jobs for 18,733 people. Again, California was the sweetest state.


•35 million lbs. of candy corn are sold each year.

•The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 1,810 lbs. and was donated to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden afterwards.

•11% of all Americans dress up their pets for Halloween.

•Halloween is the 2nd most commercially successful holiday, with Christmas being the first.

•Halloween candy sales average about 2 billion dollars annually in the United States.

•Of all the candy sold annually, one quarter of it is sold during Halloween time.

•Chocolate candy bars top the list as the most popular candy for trick-or-treaters with Snickers #1 and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups #2. Chocolate makes up about ¾ of a trick-or-treaters loot.

•Orange and black are Halloween colors because orange is associated with the fall harvest and black is associated with darkness and death.

•Pumpkins also come in white, blue and green. Great for unique monster carvings!

•The next full moon on Halloween night will be October 31, 2020.

•Harry Houdini died on Halloween in 1926.

•The first Jack-O-Lanterns were not pumpkins - they were hollowed-out turnips and originated in Ireland.

•Tootsie Rolls were the first wrapped penny candy in America.

•If you see a spider on Halloween, it’s believed to be the spirit of a loved on watching over you.

•The common little brown bat of North America has the longest life span for a mammal its size, with a life span averaging 32 years.

•The Ouija Board ended up outselling the game of Monopoly in its first full year at Salem. Over two million copies of the Ouija Board were shipped.

•“Halloween” movie facts: 'Halloween" was made in only 21 days in 1978 on a very limited budget. The movie was shot in the spring and used fake autumn leaves.

TweetINTERESTING!