Will Trick or Treating Survive?

The number of trick or treaters dropped by almost 300,000 from 2004 to 2005. Could a trend be forming? What will happen in '06?

After all, the holiday demands more than a billion pounds of pumpkins, and that's serious business.

Here's some more silly halloween stats.

Halloween can be traced back to Celtic traditions thousands of years old. It was first officially celebrated in Anoka, Minnesota 85 years ago, in 1921. More than 36 million 5 to 13 year-old trick or treaters canvas 108 million households for handouts.

Unquestionably the best day on the calendar for candy.

Speaking of, Americans each eat about 26 pounds of candy every year. How much of that gets chewed up on Halloween? What about if you're 10 years old?

Dr. Dentist, here we come!

Word is that we'll spend $5 billion on costumes.

Question: how many will be worn in private during the cold months of winter? (Think for her: French Maid uniform. Think for him: Gladiator getup. See where we're going with this?)

And everybody's onto the slutty-costume trend. Everyone. Really, everyone. Listen, we're not joking. Even the Times Style page is on it.

Who needs the trick or treating, anyway?

Check the hard stats at the U.S. Census.

("Trick or Treat?" from solea on flickr. And a side note, not a half-bad costume for the cold winter months.)