Annual Ferrero® Halloween Survey Finds More Than Half of American Adults Say Halloween Should Be a National Holiday

'Adultoween' goes global — adults in Canada, the UK and Australia are also claiming Halloween

 And the hottest plan for the night isn't a party, it's candy and a binge-watch at home

PARSIPPANY, N.J., Oct. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Ferrero Group today released its third annual Halloween Report, with a study of Americans, which shows the popularity of Halloween in the United States. Seven in 10 adults (70%) say Halloween is just as much for adults as it is for children. Among parents, that figure reaches 81%, up from 71%.

For the first time, a majority of American adults (53%) name Halloween as a favorite holiday. And when asked where they want to spend it, 62% said a perfect Halloween night is staying in, not going out.

From Trend to Tradition, By the Numbers
Across the United States, adults love Halloween — and for the first time, a majority want it made official: a national holiday, recognized on their own terms.

• 70% of Americans believe Halloween is as much for adults as it is for children, up from 62% in 2025
• 81% of US parents agree Halloween belongs to grown-ups too, up from 71%
• 62% believe they deserve their own adult Halloween night, up from 54%
• 53% name Halloween as a favorite holiday — the first time this figure has crossed the majority mark, up from 47% in 2025
• 58% think Halloween should be a national holiday

"Last year we called Adultoween a cultural movement, and now Americans are ready to make it official," said Chad Stubbs, Chief Marketing Officer, Ferrero North America. "Adults aren't just embracing Halloween as their own holiday anymore – they're saying it deserves a permanent place on the calendar. From reclaiming the candy aisle to redefining what the perfect Halloween night looks like, adults have made clear this isn't a passing trend, it's a holiday worth recognizing."

The Biggest Night in Halloween Is a Night In
Adults have claimed the holiday. Now they're redesigning it. The perfect Halloween night, according to 62% of adults, is no longer a night out. And the most popular trend adults plan to try in 2026 is exactly that: a cozy night in with candy and a binge-watch (37%), far ahead of an adults-only party (23%).

• 62% say a perfect Halloween night is staying in, not going out
• 40% celebrate by watching horror movies or shows, second only to decorating the house (43%)
• 29% rewatch nostalgic Halloween episodes of a favorite series with treats in hand
• Horror tops adults' Halloween watchlist (53%), followed by family-friendly favorites (44%)

Gen Z Wants It Made Official

• 68% call Halloween a favorite holiday, 15 points above the national figure
• 78% think it should be a national holiday
• 69% treat Halloween as a multi-day celebration
• 1 in 3 have called in sick to work the day after
• 34% have ended, or would end, a relationship over someone not matching their Halloween energy

Adults Have Rewritten the Rules of Candy

• 75% say Halloween is an opportunity to enjoy candy without guilt
• 73% buy candy even if they don't expect trick-or-treaters
• 70% believe in the "Halloween parent tax" — the right to at least some of their kids' candy
• 69% would rather run into a haunted house than run into their ex
• 62% say there should be no age limit for trick-or-treating
• 57% would rather run into an actual ghost than get ghosted by a crush

At its heart, Adultoween still runs on nostalgia — 69% of Americans say Halloween makes them feel nostalgic, climbing to 77% among Millennials and 80% among parents, the generations now setting the tone for how the holiday gets celebrated.

Ferrero Survey Goes Global
For the first time, Ferrero fielded its Halloween survey beyond the US, polling an additional 1,000 adults each in three new markets: Canada, the UK and Australia. The finding: Adultoween isn't uniquely American — it's just further along here. Canada tracks closest to the US: 65% of Canadian adults say Halloween is as much for adults as it is for children, and 61% want an adult Halloween night of their own. The holiday just carries less weight there — 43% call it a favorite, against 53% of Americans, and only half (49%) would make it a national holiday. A majority of adults in the UK and Australia agree Halloween belongs to adults as much as kids (57% in the UK, 51% in Australia), and the night-in instinct crosses borders too — roughly 3 in 10 adults in the UK (31%) and Australia (28%) say they would have a cozy night in with chocolate and a binge-watch this year, echoing the same trend leading among U.S. adults.

The three markets diverge on how far the holiday has traveled, though. In Canada, adults have nearly caught up to their American counterparts: 65% say Halloween is as much for adults as it is for children (just behind the US's 70%), and 61% believe they deserve their own adult Halloween night — with 43% calling it a favorite holiday overall. In the UK, it's closer to home: 36% call Halloween a favorite holiday, rising to 55% of Gen Z and 56% of Millennials. In Australia, adoption is more selective — just 31% name it a favorite, and 36% say they don't celebrate at all — but its youngest adults are driving a resurgence: 52% of Australian Gen Z call it a top holiday, nearly double the national average, and 90% celebrate.

This Year's Lineup
Ferrero's Halloween collection is available nationwide now, featuring the new Kinder Joy® x Stranger Things™ Eggs, Kinder Bueno® Halloween Lay Down Bags, Butterfinger® Skull, Keebler® Spookie Fudge Stripes, Mother's® Eerie Critters, and Kinder Joy® Glow in the Dark Halloween Eggs, and more.

Survey Methodology:
These findings are from a nationwide study conducted on behalf of Ferrero by Golin Ketchum in partnership with Savanta among 1,000 nationally representative adults in the United States aged 18 and older surveyed online from August 11-21, 2026. The margin of error (at the 95% confidence level) is +/- 3%. An additional 1,000 representative adults each in Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia were surveyed online during the same period.

CONTACT: Christina Panta, [email protected]

SOURCE Ferrero North America