Americans Will Spend $310 Million This Year on Halloween Pet Costumes

According to the National Retail Federation, Americans are expected to spend $6.68 billion on Halloween this year. Included in that sum is an astounding $310 million spent on costumes for people's pets. Give Americans credit: We can suffer through a recession, gross economic turmoil, a foreclosure epidemic, and a tepid stock market, but we sure as shit aren't skimping on the dog costumes.

The NRF's survey found Americans also plan to spend an estimated $1.2 billion and $1 billion on adult and children's costumes this Halloween, respectively. That may seem like a lot of money to throw away on something that is only worn once, but if you take a close look at the stitching on this Sexy Mafia Girl costume, you'll realize that it's all worth it.

If we're spending $310 million on pet costumes, what are we getting for our money? The NRF published the following list of the top-selling animal costumes:

1. Pumpkin
2. Devil
3. Hot dog
4. Bee
5. Cat
6. Witch
7. Bowties/fancy collars/bandanas
8. Pirate
9. Dog
10. Ghost

We're consulting our research to find out how long it took the Roman Empire to fall after people started dressing their dogs as cats and their cats as dogs. We'll get back to you.

Zombie, Vampire, Princess Costumes Top Consumers' Halloween Favorites, According to NRF [NRF via The Atlantic]

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