Frightening times.......halloween around the corner

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So - it's Halloween on Sunday. Have you noticed that in the UK, the hype around it is getting bigger and bigger every year!  And the retail sector are certainly helping to drive and benefit from this. Have you seen the isles in the supermarkets? Rows and rows of costumes, toys, tricks and games! I'm sure our local Asda has almost a third of their store dedicated to this now!

While I was furiously looking for ideas for a place to take the the kids - (to avoid knocking door to door, trick and treating and annoying some of our neighbours!) I got to think - why is this day becoming such a big thing?

According to the BBC - The growth of Halloween in the UK means that it is now worth £235M to the retail sector - third to Christmas and Easter! Maybe its the fact that it is a 'home' and community' celebration? Are we moving to times where family celebrations at home and streets are becoming popular again? Has the recession had an impact - making us feel 'home is where the heart is'.

But it's not just the retail giants who are capitalising upon driving the popularity of the 31 October up! Upon my quest I found tens if not hundreds of ideas to take the kids in the North East of the UK - ranging from softplay to museums hosting parties. But the one which caught my eye - and the one which we will be attending - is the community celebration held at our local park which I found via a friend of a friend on twitter! The event will have competitions, bbq, games and so on - outdoors in a play park central to the community.

Maybe our behaviour and this re-found community spirit is a direct outcome to 'social media'? Word of mouth promotions are enabling these smaller entities to become extremely successful. Another reason why businesses simply cannot ignore social media. 

I can't wait for our halloween in the park and neither can the kids. Now where's that witches hat?..............