HALLOWEEN SECTOR GUIDE
Halloween 2022 has a tough act to follow. 2021’s celebrations were an enormous success as consumers clambered to get the party started again after the Covid restrictions were finally lifted. PPE chatted to key suppliers in the sector to find out if this year is set to follow suit.
L
ast year, Halloween season met the perfect combination of conditions to create, in many cases, a sellout event. Consumers were looking for reasons to get together and celebrate with friends and family, having been restricted for so long, while the day itself fell on a Sunday, giving the ideal opportunity to organise parties and celebrations, and get dressed up over the weekend. It doesn’t seem as though spooky celebrations reached their peak in 2021, however, as the industry is confident that this year is going to be even better. Elliott Peckett, director of Smiffys, explains: “Here at Smiffys we are expecting an incredibly busy Halloween season. Our Halloween pre-orders are up an incredible 500% on record-breaking 2019 levels. There is an exceptional demand for product this year, and we have brought in a phenomenal amount of stock to meet these orders.” Jelle van der Zwet, co-founder of Opposuits adds: “After a big 2021, we expect Halloween 2022 to be another big one with most of Europe hopefully restriction free.” Scott Pickworth, independent account manager, Rubies, agrees: “As 2021 saw Halloween reach new heights after challenging previous years, we expect this year’s celebrations to be even bigger and better. We have already seen a strong growth in sales and interest from retailers and this will only continue to grow in the lead up.” Julie Dommett, head of marketing at Pioneer Europe, furthers: “As we revert to pre-pandemic levels of socialising and travel, hopes are high for a very 26
engaged Halloween this year.” This year, 31 October falls on a Monday, but expectations are that this won’t lessen excitement for the event. Lisa Morris, commercial director at Amscan International, says: “2021 was an extremely successful Halloween season and we are expecting that to continue through 2022. Despite Halloween falling on a Monday, we still see uplift with this being linked
Left: Rubies’ new costume from the record-breaking superhero film, The Batman, is a great way to embrace your inner hero. Below left: The Stand-Up Zombie from Grabo is sure to scare any party guests.
on to a weekend and again the school half term holidays, which always allow for various celebrations and markings of the event throughout the week.” “The event falling on a Monday won’t dampen any enthusiasm for the season,” Elliott predicts. “This simply opens up the opportunity for a full weekend of celebrations, as well as trick-or-treating on the day itself.” In terms of trends, some are seeing a move to less scary designs. Gloria Veta, brand and sales director at Gemar, says: “Halloween brings out all of the usual spooky motifs in both monochrome and the traditional orange, green and
International sales The US is arguably the biggest supporter of Halloween, and has driven some suppliers to expand their offerings for the season. Opposuits’ Jelle explains: “With the US being our biggest market, our product development team has spent a lot of time on increasing our Halloween assortment, especially in our lower priced Suitmeister brand. We have a large assortment of character-based licensed suits and outfits, with Joker, Riddler, Beetlejuice and Harry Potter suits as Right: Dress like the classic Beetlejuice from the US horror comedy movies with this suit from the Suitmeister range from Opposuits
the key licensed items.” Meanwhile, some territories are only just beginning to celebrate Halloween, as Damian Skurczyńzski, deputy commercial director of GoDan tells us: “The Halloween season 2021 was quite good. In Poland, this holiday is slowly recovering despite criticism from officials. In 2022, GoDan is acting in two ways. Firstly by supplying standard Halloween items like fake blood, vampire teeth, costumes, etc. Secondly we created our own brand Halloween collection of tableware, decorations, balloons and more, called BOO! Treat or….”
OCTOBER 2022 PROGRESSIVE PARTY EUROPE
26-27_29_31_33_35_Halloween.indd 26
30/09/2022 17:16