Halloween is considered to be one of the most commercial holidays of the year, perhaps only behind Easter and Christmas.

The intrinsic value of Halloween which was once so important to the Europeans has been lost on us Americans. In fact, 90 percent of those who celebrate this holiday have no idea why they do it.

Unfortunately, like many other holidays celebrated, it is an excuse to have a fun time rather than an actual celebration. Despite this fact, Halloween remains one of the most fun holidays to celebrate.

The thrills, candy, and Halloween costumes are what make it interesting for us all. Costumes are probably the only thing that we are anxious about as Halloween approaches each year.

The first known evidence of Halloween costumes was that they were worn by the Celts back when they celebrated Samhain on November 1, when spirits were supposed to walk the Earth. In order to confuse the spirits and avoid being possessed, the Celts wore costumes that were made from animal skins.

They also blacken their faces to emulate their dead ancestors. While there are evidences of costumes after that, the real first hit of mainstream Halloween costumes in America happened in the 1930s, when some costumes were put on the market. Since 1930s, Halloween costumes have been the most inherent part of the modern Halloween celebration.

Few years ago, the U.S. National Retail Federation conducted a poll according to which the U.S. Halloween spending reached about 5.7 million dollars. An average person spends about $24.17 each Halloween. Classic Halloween costumes still held the reins, with about 14 percent of 52 million adults planning to wear witch and warlock outfits.

10 percent of kids were going to wear princess dresses, and in fact, the two of the five most popular costumes were pop culture references, with 3.7 percent of kids going to dress up as Hannah Montana and 3.5 percent looking for Spiderman costumes to put on for Halloween.

The amount of time that is spent to find the right Halloween costume each year is probably the most time spent on the holiday. Hopefully, you have gained an appreciation for the tradition of Halloween costumes, so maybe this holiday would have a little bit of purpose behind it instead of just being celebrated for no reason.

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