Safety, Neighbors Make Great Halloween Neighborhoods!

Nextdoor, the free and private social network for the neighborhood, released today the findings of a survey conducted online on their behalf by Harris Interactive among over 2,400 U.S. adults that examines Halloween habits this year. When determining what makes a good neighborhood for Halloween, safety (95 percent) and good neighbors (92 percent) were top responses reported as being very important or important. Surprisingly, Halloween candy was only reported to be very important or important by 73 percent of Americans. Decorations and parties fell even further down the list, with 54 percent and 32 percent reported respectively.

This latest survey from Nextdoor about Halloween is part of a series chronicling, "The State of The American Neighborhood." According to the study, one in four parents who take their children age 17 and younger trick-or-treating (25 percent) have met new neighbors for the first time on Halloween; nearly one-third (32 percent) of Americans socialize with neighbors on this holiday; and 29 percent of parents who take their children trick-or-treating feel safe allowing their neighbors to take their children trick-or-treating.

Interestingly, while safety topped the list of priorities as to what makes a neighborhood "good" for Halloween, only half (50 percent) of parents of children age 17 and younger typically talk to their children about safety while trick-or-treating. Half (50 percent) of parents are also willing to venture out to other neighborhoods to take their children trick-or-treating.

"We believe Halloween is all about neighbors and your neighborhood and this is reinforced by the findings of this survey. Thousands of neighborhoods use Nextdoor around Halloween to plan pumpkin carving parties, block parties, costume parades and much more," said Nirav Tolia, Co-Founder and CEO of Nextdoor.

The survey also found that parents truly do go all out for Halloween. 60 percent take their children trick-or-treating, 60 percent give out candy and over half (53 percent) decorate their home for this holiday. Also of note, the average American who will spend money on Halloween will spend $85 this year, on candy, costumes, decorations, etc. Surprisingly, men aged 18-34 who will spend any money on Halloween are the ones that anticipate spending the most, on average $200, significantly higher than any age group.

Other fun Halloween facts from the survey include:

• Not just for kids: Nearly one in three (30 percent) parents dress up in costume for Halloween and one in four (24 percent) people believe you are never too old for trick-or-treating.
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• Creativity reigns: Nearly one in three parents (32 percent) have dressed their child(ren) in homemade costumes.
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• Age appropriate: 13 was the magic age when the most respondents believed that a child becomes too old to trick-or-treat (19 percent say this). The average age when parents believed it was most appropriate to begin taking a child trick-or-treating was around three years old. A mere 5 percent of Americans believe it's never appropriate to let a child partake in this most neighborly of holiday traditions.
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• Lower incomes spend the most: Americans with a household income of less than $35,000 who will spend any amount this Halloween said they plan to spend on average $112, which was the highest reported of all income groups. This is more than twice as much as people with a household income between $50,000-$75,000 who plan on spending about $52.

"Nextdoor has been instrumental in drawing our neighborhood closer together and improving the way we look out for one another. Last year, with the help of Nextdoor, the community came together for our first annual neighborhood pumpkin-carving contest. This simply would not have happened without Nextdoor," said, Adam Tratt, member of Nextdoor Sand Point in Seattle, Wash.

Survey MethodologyThis survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of Nextdoor from September 11-13, 2012 among 2,454 adults ages 18 and older, among which 677 are parents of children age 17 and under. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Dabney Lawless at 415-399-7997.

PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1p4Yl)