Over half of Canadians bailing on Halloween plans due to pandemic: Finder

CALGARY – New numbers from a global comparison site indicate well over half of Canadians plan on skipping Halloween celebrations this year.

Finder.com usually asks Canadians how much they plan to spend on Halloween around this time of year. But with the pandemic hindering a lot of plans, the site asked if Canadians would be celebrating at all.

Sixty-two per cent of those who responded said they would not be celebrating this year.

“There’s about 16 per cent fewer people [than normal] in the current situation we’re in, with the pandemic, are just saying they’re not going to do anything relating to Halloween,” said Nicole McKnight with Finder.

On top of that, the survey found nine out of 10 people said they won’t be trick-or-treating.

“The Prairie provinces were the most likely to say they were trick-or-treating this year at 13 per cent. So, a little more than the national average,” said McKnight.

“It was much lower in Ontario, B.C., and Quebec.”

Quebec and Ontario have seen massive jumps in infection rates over the last month or so. Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan have also seen an increase in COVID-19 cases, but not as dramatically as Quebec and Ontario.

Of those people who said they would be celebrating spooky season this year, most are choosing safer Halloween activities, like watching scary movies, carving pumpkins, and decorating their houses.

RELATED: COVID-19 won’t spook away trick-or-treating if safety rules followed: health officers

The research also found while overall, most people were planning to cancel parties, younger people were seemingly ready to party.

“We found that one in 20 people were planning to host or attend a party. But when you drilled it down to the 18-24-year-olds, it was more like one in 10.”

In general, the survey found that those in their late teens and early 20s were the most excited and most likely to celebrate Halloween.

Some 46 per cent of people aged 18-24 said they’d be celebrating, either at a party or doing a safer activity like carve pumpkins.

The next two age groups–25-34 and 35-44–are only slightly less likely to celebrate Halloween with about 45 per cent of people saying they’ll celebrate.

And with those age groups having more young kids at home, they’re the most likely to be going trick-or-treating.

-with files from Cindy White