Why Halloween is becoming so popular in Australia

PUMPKINS and trick-or-treat lollies are flying off supermarket shelves and kids have had their dreadful dress-ups planned for weeks. Halloween has really taken hold of Melbourne.

Halloween is on the rise across Australia. Picture: Adam Head

FROM dreadful dress-ups, to frightful faces and trick-or-treating, Halloween has well and truly taken off in Australia.

Often mistaken for a US creation, the ancient Celtic festival has been steadily embedding itself as a local tradition, with spooky snacks, carving pumpkins and fake blood increasingly common sights on major retailers’ shelves.

“It’s more accepted now and it will continue to be accepted because you’ve got a whole generation of people who don’t have those negative connotations,” Deakin University consumer behaviour expert, Dr Paul Harrison, said.

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Halloween is becoming increasingly popular in Australia. Picture: Adam Head

“The issue is often the resistance that comes from the commercialisation of it … but in reality (families) often create their own version of it.”

Supermarket giant Woolworths expects to sell more than 200,000kg of Halloween pumpkins this year, more than a 20 per cent jump on last year.

The likes of Coles and Kmart also say they are experiencing strong growth in Halloween-related sales.

“We’ve found interest in Halloween is consistent across all states and this year our customers have loved our animatronic and light up decorations that are good for a scare,” a Coles spokesperson said.

Frightful masks, fake blood and crazy costumes are increasingly common on retailers’ shelves. Picture: Christopher Chan

Dr Harrison said Halloween has been taking off in Australia over the past 15-odd years.

“We live in a relatively affluent society and therefore people are looking for things to do with their time and money, and marketers are good at exploiting it.”

But it’s not always fun and games.

Thousands of fake blood, make-up and fake moustache products have been confiscated in Melbourne after Consumer Affairs Victoria found they failed to meet Australian standards.

The products including “Bottle of Blood” and “War Game” failed to list their ingredients.

When asked about whether Halloween could become as big here as it is in the US, Dr Harrison said Australian will “always go with the hardcore Christian holidays for the moment, you know Christmas and Easter, and this’ll be a kids thing”.