Halloween
Always observed on October 31
Facts
- According to a survey by the National Confectioners Association, 93 percent of children take part in Halloween trick-or-treating activities.
- A 2012 survey by the National Retail Federation determined 71 percent of adults plan to celebrate or participate in Halloween activities and that the average consumer spends about $80 on costumes, candy, decorations and greeting cards.
- Halloween is the third largest party day in the U.S. behind New Year’s Eve and Super Bowl Sunday.
- Halloween is one of the fastest growing holidays for home décor – both inside and out. By some estimates, Halloween is No. 2 in holiday home décor behind Christmas.
- Industry-wide, Americans exchange about 17 million Halloween cards each year.
- Hallmark first produced Halloween cards in the 1920s.
2013 Product News
Halloween Cards
- Hallmark offers more than 300 Halloween cards, including cards for children, humor cards, bonus surprises, and beautiful imagery.
- New for Halloween 2013, Hallmark offers the following:
- Monster-Sized Die-Cuts – These cards have all of the perks. They can be displayed throughout the season; each card features a character on both sides of the card and an easel for display.
- Surprises and Disguises – Each card features a wearable attachment, such as paper masks, fingernail stickers and miscellaneous costume accessories (mad scientist paper glasses, witch's hat and wand, or pirate hat and eye patch).
- Hallmark Signature Collection – Premium cards with fresh, sophisticated designs and messages for spooky fun. Cards also function as unique keepsakes.
- Technology Innovation – New two-way mirror format gives spooky surprises at the touch of a button – revealing what is hidden in the mirror. Cards are complemented by spooky sounds, providing lighthearted fun for kids of all ages.
- Simply Spooky – Sold exclusively in Hallmark Gold Crown® stores, these all-new cards include fall imagery, fresh photography and simply stated sentiments.
- Packaged Cards - Provides a convenient solution for sending Halloween greetings to friends and family.
- Hallmark.com also provides a selection of ecards and paper cards that may be personalized and mailed directly to the recipient.
Halloween Gifts, Products & Party
- Whoo’s Watching Me? Singing Owl Techno Plush – Press button to see owl’s eyes move side-to-side as he sings a parody of "Somebody’s Watching Me." Spooky eyes also appear in the tree.
- Halloween Activity Hallmark Gift Book – Coordinates with Singing Owl techno plush. Filled with coloring pages, connect the dots, matching games, hidden pictures, and much more, this not-too-spooky book is sure to get kids in the Halloween spirit.
- Drop 'n' Greet Spider – This motion-activated spider delivers one of 10 funny phrases as he drops down and bounces up.
- Jokin’ in the John Ghost – It isn't Halloween until there is a ghost in the bathroom! Every time the door opens, he is ready to welcome all with a special song to the tune of "Hall of the Mountain King" and a few other phrases fit for the throne.
- Halloween Mini Glitter Globe Assortment – Light up your home or office for Halloween. Fun for mantels, desks or entry tables, any place you want to spread the Halloween spirit.
- Alive & Talkin' Pumpkin – Comes to life right before your eyes. This motion-activated pumpkin lights up and will surprise guests by changing expressions and saying fun Halloween phrases.
- Shadowcasters – Kids and adults alike will love this mysterious illusion with an unexpected surprise. Button activated, the displayable witch and haunted house flicker and glow as they project a spooky scene on the wall.
- Fortune-Telling Magic Mirror – Motion activated, this spooky fortune teller will appear and share delightfully frightful predictions.
- Pumpkin Talkers – Use included template to carve your pumpkin into one of four different designs – Cinderella, Batman™, Scooby-Doo or a scary face. Place Pumpkin Talker device inside your carved jack-o’-lantern. Motion-activated device will make your jack-o’-lantern talk when someone walks by.
- Halloween at Hallmark is Peanuts® central. Items include:
- Peek-A-Boo! Snoopy™ Techno Plush – Press button on pumpkin to see Snoopy™ creep around and giggle to a classic spooky tune.
- Floppy Count Snoopula™ Plush
- Floppy Li’l Punkin’ Snoopy™ Plush
- Great Pumpkin Water Globe – Shake to see the Great Pumpkin’s shadow appear.
- “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” Recordable Storybook
- “Peanuts® Holidays Through The Year” Hallmark Gift Book
- Pics 'n' Props Halloween Party Activity Kit – Photograph ghouls and goblins against a haunted house backdrop. Great for photo party invites and Halloween party fun. Kit includes photo props, masks, backdrop and coordinating album.
- hoops&yoyo Halloween DVD – A last-minute search for Halloween costumes sends hoops&yoyo on an adventure that’s so funny, it’s scary!
- Hallmark Gold Crown® stores offer a variety of other unique Halloween gifts and decorations including a Flickering Candle, Spooky Halloween Sound Button and the Hallmark Gift Book, “The Halloween that Almost Wasn’t.”
- Monsters, Inc. is invading Hallmark this Halloween. Products include:
- Hide and Scream Sulley – Motion activated. Hear Sulley roar, laugh and say funny phrases.
- Screamin’ Mike – Press button to hear Mike roar, laugh and say funny phrases.
- Itty Bitty Plush – Sulley and Mike available.
- “Life Through My Eye” Hallmark Gift Book – Put on the included 3-D glasses and see what a day in the life of Mike Wazowski and the Monsters, Inc., gang is like through Mike’s eye!
- Hallmark offers an everyday gift line, Interactive Story Buddy™ characters, during the Halloween season. Interactive Story Buddies are loveable plush characters that can respond with several different adorable phrases when they hear their stories read to them, when they listen to their read-along CDs or when you play with them on their app or online.
- New just in time for Halloween, a new storybook, “Scooby-Doo Finds a Clue,” to accompany the Scooby-Doo™ Interactive Story Buddy™. This book includes a detective hat for the Scooby-Doo plush.
- Hallmark Gold Crown stores also offer one-stop shopping for Halloween needs with items such as unique candy presenters, room decorations, invitations, Moveable Decorations, gift and treat bags, paper party supplies, and stickers.
- Hallmark.com also provides a selection of invitations that may be personalized and mailed directly to the recipient.
Holiday History
Halloween is a secular celebration based on ancient Druid customs, dating back to 700 B.C. The Druids, a Celtic religious order in ancient Britain, Ireland and France, believed that the souls of the dead returned to mingle with the living on "hallowed eve." People dressed in costumes to disguise themselves from these spirits.
Halloween first was celebrated in the United States in the 1840s, when Irish Catholics, fleeing from the potato famine, brought Halloween customs with them to America. The tradition of carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns originated with Irish children who carved out the centers of rutabagas, turnips and potatoes and placed candles inside.
The first Halloween cards in the U.S. were produced in 1908. Hallmark produced its first Halloween cards in the 1920s along with a limited line of Halloween party accessories, such as nut cups and bridge tallies. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Hallmark began producing Halloween centerpieces, masks, children’s things, and paper partyware items.
In Stores
Available at Hallmark Gold Crown® stores nationwide and wherever Hallmark products are sold. Use the store locator on Hallmark.com to find the nearest Hallmark Gold Crown store.