# Tricks, Treats and Trends - **Show:** The Daily - **Published:** 25 Oct 2026 - **Source:** https://www.nytimes.com/the-daily - **Transcript:** https://podcasts.opennash.com/shows/the-daily/tricks-treats-and-trends-ad33d2/ - **Provider:** OpenNash Podcasts (machine-generated) ## In brief Halloween has lasted in America because it keeps changing, and this episode checks in on three parts of it in 2026: candy, costumes and decorations. Each guest shows that the holiday follows the culture around it, from sour and crunchy candy trends to costumes drawn from the year's news to a 12-foot skeleton that began as a pandemic joke. The tension is between playful novelty and rising cost. Candy is getting pricier because of cocoa supply problems, so trick-or-treaters may get smaller handfuls. Meanwhile, Halloween spending is projected at a record $13.5 billion, helped by a holiday with little political or religious baggage. People are paying more for a holiday that gives them room to be creative. ## Key insights 1. **Non-chocolate candy is overtaking chocolate favorites** Severson says Gen Z prefers sour, fruity and mashed-up flavors, so M&Ms and Sour Patch Kids top one retailer's list. New forms such as popped and freeze-dried candies are how brands keep selling sugar year after year. 2. **Cocoa problems are pushing candy prices up** Severson says candy prices are rising faster than inflation, driven by chocolate. Heat waves and crop diseases in West Africa, where about 60 percent of cacao is grown, have hurt yields. She predicts houses may hand out one piece per child. 3. **Halloween costumes work as a meme time capsule** Lucero says Halloween makes everyone an amateur cultural anthropologist who recaps the year. His 2026 examples include Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, Nathan Fielder and Elizabeth Holmes, and Erling Haaland with his taxidermy raccoon. 4. **Skelly succeeded as a flexible joke format** Holtermann says the 12-foot skeleton arrived in 2020 and became a blank canvas for memes, such as growing one like a plant. Because people could add their own punchline, it spread well beyond ordinary yard decor. 5. **Halloween spending keeps climbing despite its simplicity** Holtermann cites National Retail Federation figures of $10.6 billion in 2022 and a projected $13.5 billion now. She says the holiday avoids politics, religion, family arguments and travel, which makes it easy for retailers to market. ## Questions this episode answers ### Why is Halloween candy more expensive this year? Kim Severson says candy prices are rising faster than general inflation, mainly because chocolate costs are up. Bad weather and crop diseases in West Africa, where about 60 percent of the world's cacao is grown, have cut supply. ### What kinds of candy are popular with young people right now? Severson says Gen Z likes sour, fruity and mixed-flavor candies, and non-chocolate sweets are gaining on chocolate. Examples include Sour Patch Kids, Skittles, the Nerds Gummy Cluster and extra-sour bubblegum. ### How much are Americans expected to spend on Halloween? Callie Holtermann says the National Retail Federation projects a record $13.5 billion this year. That is up from $10.6 billion in 2022. ### What is Skelly, and why do people care about it? Skelly is a roughly 12-foot plastic skeleton sold by Home Depot since 2020. It became a viral meme because people could use it for jokes, and it often sold out at $299. ### What new features does Home Depot's Skelly have this year? Holtermann says this year's version works with a Bluetooth app. Owners can change its lights, movement and eye effects, play recorded messages or speak through it live. ## Facts - **Rachel Abrams** [0:01:00]: "Back in the 19th century, when Halloween first caught on in America, it was popular to celebrate with a bonfire." - **Kim Severson** [0:03:26]: "a company called The Candy Store, which ships bulk candy all around the country, and they've been for 19 years crunching their data" - **Kim Severson** [0:03:52]: "they have MMs as their number one Halloween candy this year, and fascinating Sour Patch Kids coming in at number two." - **Kim Severson** [0:04:58]: "the food marketers have deemed them the swangy and suvery generations" - **Kim Severson** [0:05:29]: "something called sour tape, which is like a long piece of a candy tape that is like a Sour Patch Kid" - **Kim Severson** [0:06:07]: "It just had a viral growth on TikTok. Kylie Jenner in 2021 posted about this candy and it just" - **Kim Severson** [0:08:34]: "Every, uh, every candy brand is looking at a way to do a popped or a freeze-dried version. This is a Mars Wriggly product." - **Kim Severson** [0:09:34]: "Crybaby was a big brand in the 90s. It's owned by the Tootsie Roll Industries." - **Kim Severson** [0:11:44]: "the year over year right now is it's gone up roughly eight" - **Kim Severson** [0:12:11]: "there have been a bunch of crop diseases in West Africa, where about 60 of the world's cacao is harvested" - **Louis Lucero II** [0:22:18]: "I think he stopped by some sort of Western-themed store. There was a taxidermy raccoon," - **Louis Lucero II** [0:27:52]: "It was sort of a gigantic plastic visual bit that you could project whatever you wanted to on it." - **Callie Holtermann** [0:29:21]: "I sort of just camped out at a Home Depot in Brick, New Jersey, New Jersey Shore." - **Callie Holtermann** [0:29:43]: "she'd visited 15 Home Depots or so and had called about 50" - **Callie Holtermann** [0:29:43]: "Consumer spending on Halloween that year was 10.6 billion. It's continued going up. This year, it's projected to be 13.5 billion," - **Callie Holtermann** [0:30:05]: "It's not a blue state or a red state thing. It is not celebrated as a religious holiday. It is not known for people getting into arguments like Thanksgiving." - **Callie Holtermann** [0:31:14]: "Aubrey Horowitz, who's the merchant of decorative holiday at Home Depot" - **Callie Holtermann** [0:31:27]: "we call him Servo Skelly a few years ago, and he had a servo motor in his head that allowed him to move." - **Callie Holtermann** [0:31:27]: "our new app Skelly is Bluetooth enabled. Where customers can update his lighting, his movement, they can change his different eye functionality" ## Transcript **[0:00:00] Ad read:** Your financial life rarely fits between nine, zero and five, zero, and the questions shaping your future don't follow a schedule. That's why Citi created Citi Sky, a secure AI member of your Citi Wealth team, built with the Gemini platform on Google Cloud. Whether expanding your portfolio or planning your future, you'll be able to access tailored wealth guidance on your time. Start building with Gemini at cloud dot google dot com. AI. Citi Wealth investment products and services are provided by Citigroup Global Markets Inc. **[0:00:29] Ad read:** Member FINRA and SIPC. **[0:00:31] Ad read:** With no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the Capital One Bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums, he'd also talk about how Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends. It's pretty much all he talks about, in a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capital one dot com slash bank guy. **[0:00:57] Ad read:** Capital One. NA. Member FDIC. **[0:01:00] Rachel Abrams:** Hello everyone, it's Rachel. If you're not yet a Times subscriber, we have some news for you. You can enjoy full access to The Times without a paywall for 30 days. All you have to do is download the app to get your first month completely free. And if you're already a Times subscriber, thank you. Okay, here's today's show. From the New York Times, I'm Rachel Abrams, and this is The Daily on Sunday. Back in the 19th century, when Halloween first caught on in America, it was popular to celebrate with a bonfire. **[0:01:48] Rachel Abrams:** People met for seances and used various methods to try to predict the future. Kids would play pranks like tipping over outhouses or throwing bricks through windows. That real vandalism eventually evolved into trick or treating. Seances gave way to scary movie marathons, and ghosts in witch costumes became blow up dinosaurs and Pikachus. Halloween is proven to be a remarkably sturdy American tradition, in part because it changes over time. And so today, we're checking in on the state of Halloween in 2026. **[0:02:19] Rachel Abrams:** First, the Times's food writer, Kim Severson, will lead me on a culinary journey through the latest and greatest in the world of candy. Then Louis Lucero II, an editor on our styles desk, will give us a rundown of the most distinctly 2026 costumes to look for on Halloween night. And finally, our reporter, Callie Holtermann and I will talk about Halloween decorations and why Americans spend billions of dollars on them. It's Sunday, October, I mean, October 25th. **[0:02:55] Rachel Abrams:** Kim Severson, what a pleasure to have you back on the show here on the Sunday Daily. **[0:03:00] Kim Severson:** Thanks so much, Rachel. It's great to talk with you again. **[0:03:03] Rachel Abrams:** So Kim, you cover all things food for The Times, which today we are going to take to mean candy. **[0:03:09] Kim Severson:** Yeah, so we are gonna go deep on Halloween candy, which I'm I'm a big fan of and very excited about. And I've been spending a lot of time kind of researching what's up with the candy this Halloween. Did you did you trick or treat as a child, Rachel? **[0:03:24] Rachel Abrams:** And as an adult, yeah, no, I, uh, I **[0:03:26] Kim Severson:** and so what did you love to get? And when you at the end of the night, when you went home and dumped out your candy, butterfinger, definitely uh, okay, butterfinger. well, the um, on one of the lists of popular candies this year, the butterfinger comes in number ten, just below the Hershey's minibar. There's a company called The Candy Store, which ships bulk candy all around the country, and they've been for 19 years crunching their data. And this year they have **[0:03:51] Rachel Abrams:** No pun intended. **[0:03:52] Kim Severson:** MMs as the oh, there Hey, you go. Yeah, two shows a night. Um, they have MMs as their number one Halloween candy this year, and fascinating Sour Patch Kids coming in at number two. So you're seeing the rise of Skittles, Sour Patch Kids, Hot Tamales, those kind of candies in in your Halloween candy bowl. **[0:04:13] Rachel Abrams:** we're doing a lot of talking about candy, but I wish to do more eating of candy. So Kim, you're not in the same room as I am. You're in Atlanta, I'm in New York, but you have very kindly curated a little spooky Halloween candy tasting for me. So I've got a few little bowls in front of me of candy. Tell me, what am I looking at and why am I about to eat them? **[0:04:31] Kim Severson:** Yes, I picked four candies that people who study the food markets say are the real up-and-comers or have hit some level of popularity that has surprised or shocked the candy industry. So these are kind of the Cinderella stories, the big stars, things that represent new flavor and texture profiles that the kids are loving. Wonderful. So the candy you're tasting, they are not chocolate Halloween candy. And That's right, there's no although, **[0:04:57] Rachel Abrams:** chocolate in here. **[0:04:58] Kim Severson:** right, so, you know, forever and ever, the mini Snickers and the mini Milky Way bars were the top selling candies. But increasingly, non-chocolate candies are are rising up, and particularly among Gen Zers who have really specific candy tastes. And it's much more about acid, sweet, sour, bitter, like these mashups of flavors. The the food marketers have deemed them the swangy and suvery generations, **[0:05:27] Rachel Abrams:** swangy and suvery. **[0:05:29] Kim Severson:** so swangy, you know, sweet and tangy, and suvery, sweet and savory. So I don't make those up, I'm just reporting. But, uh, because I think those are are horrendous descriptors. However, this idea of a mashup of flavors is really big, also a lot of fruit flavors and sour. The internet is rife with people having sour candy contests, and there's, uh, something called sour tape, which is like a long piece of a candy tape that is like a Sour Patch Kid. **[0:05:58] Kim Severson:** And they see how fast people can eat it, that's the the Sour Tape Challenge. **[0:06:03] Rachel Abrams:** Well, I don't know if I'm ready for the Sour Tape Challenge, but I definitely wanna eat some of this candy. **[0:06:07] Kim Severson:** This is good for I really appreciate you expanding, you know, your food horizon, because, you know, candy is fun, it's delicious, and I find it kind of fascinating. So we're gonna, I think we'll start out with the candy that has been like the Cinderella story of candy recently. It just had a viral growth on TikTok. Kylie Jenner in 2021 posted about this candy and it just **[0:06:32] Rachel Abrams:** say no more. **[0:06:33] Kim Severson:** shot to the top, and it's called the Nerds Gummy Cluster. **[0:06:38] Ad read:** The union of fruity, sweet, gummy and tangy, crunchy nerds. **[0:06:43] Rachel Abrams:** Should I describe this thing? It's a cluster. It it's like a squishy cluster covered in different color tiny nerds. So I see like yellow, green, orange. **[0:06:52] Kim Severson:** So, nerds, for your listeners who aren't familiar, are a bit like a sweet tart. It's kind of that crunchy, can be slightly sour, but it's got that kind of a fruity, crunchy vibe going to it. So they're little tiny nerd pieces all over, What's what's the thing and you'll be **[0:07:08] Rachel Abrams:** inside of it? She asks **[0:07:09] Kim Severson:** like a squish it a little. cluelessly. It's no, you'll be fine. Uh, real trust me, I'm a professional, you'll be okay. Uh, it's a gummy inside there. So I want you to just keep an open mind, pop one of these in your mouth, let's see what you think. Enjoy the chew. enjoy. And you notice you get that sour, crunchy little nerd bit, and then it gives way to that fruity, gummy, sweeter interior. It's that contrast, that sweet and sour, soft and crunchy, right? **[0:07:40] Kim Severson:** So, yeah, does it make you wanna have another one? Okay, well, **[0:07:47] Rachel Abrams:** it's, it's not. I like nerds. I think I wanna either have the nerd or have the gummy. I don't think I want these two things smushed together with some sort of it. I don't even know what the adhesive is, probably another type of sugar. **[0:07:57] Kim Severson:** hm, so Rachel, you're a purist, is what you're telling **[0:07:59] Rachel Abrams:** I'm a purist. **[0:08:00] Kim Severson:** me? **[0:08:00] Rachel Abrams:** You gummy or die. **[0:08:03] Kim Severson:** All right, well, just let's move on. You wanna move on to another one? I would love to Um, **[0:08:06] Rachel Abrams:** move on. **[0:08:07] Kim Severson:** and this is another, uh, one that I kind of think is fascinating. Hm, hm. The Skittles pop, crunch the rainbow, taste the rainbow. So you see them, they take a skittle and through the magic of food science, pop them, and so you see the little shell of the skittle on the outside, **[0:08:28] Rachel Abrams:** Yeah, it looks like a skittle that sort of exploded in a microwave. Or I'm probably like, Oh my god, **[0:08:34] Kim Severson:** right. I sort of like these, cause you can kind of pop them in your mouth pretty easily and then you get like that satisfying crunch in there. Every, uh, every candy brand is looking at a way to do a popped or a freeze-dried version. This is a Mars Wriggly product. **[0:08:48] Rachel Abrams:** like, what was wrong with the original skittle? **[0:08:51] Kim Severson:** uh, there's nothing, there's room for both, but I the original Skittle is kind is kind of a great, perfect little crunchy, chewy bite. But, you know, innovation, obviously, if you're selling candy year after year, innovation is really what drives the, uh, the industry, right? And so you're selling, you're selling sugar to America, and they wanna do it in different ways each year. I This is for see, **[0:09:12] Rachel Abrams:** the Gen Z. Lexi. I feel like I'm a thousand years old. I just can't. I don't understand **[0:09:15] Kim Severson:** it's okay. anything. Okay, granny, just take another Skittles pop, you'll be fine. **[0:09:19] Rachel Abrams:** I just wanna make it clear to our audience. I love candy, but I don't. I do not understand this. **[0:09:23] Kim Severson:** You're n- you're not meant to understand it. **[0:09:25] Rachel Abrams:** I love, uh, I, you know, I, I used to. I was big on warheads when I was a kid, the really super, super sour candy. I love any kind of chocolate, peanut butter candy. Um, **[0:09:34] Kim Severson:** okay. Well, uh, I don't know in the 90s if you remember this brand called Crybaby, which was like one of the first crazy sour brands. And so a lot of the millennials who are now having kids are having these nostalgia moments for their candy. Because, you know, suddenly they're adulting and it's scary and they wanna go back to childhood, so they go back to their childhood candy. And Crybaby was a big brand in the 90s. It's owned by the Tootsie Roll Industries. **[0:10:01] Kim Severson:** Very tart, lots of citric and tartaric acid. And there's also some, um, uh, academics who will argue that a lot of the Gen Zers love sour flavors because it helps with their anxiety. That idea that it kind of shocks gives you something you. to focus on, bes- right, besides your anxiety. **[0:10:19] Rachel Abrams:** hm, that's so interesting. **[0:10:21] Kim Severson:** So anyway, but this is a bubblegum, because bubblegum's also kind of having a little bit of a moment, so I have Crybaby bubblegum. **[0:10:27] Speaker 7:** We're gonna be doing the **[0:10:28] Louis Lucero II:** Bravo, baby challenge. **[0:10:33] Rachel Abrams:** So I have, uh, these individually wrapped balls, different colors. I'm gonna choose a blue one. gumballs, okay, I'm gonna choose a Trisha and and I hope Payton. **[0:10:40] Kim Severson:** Rachel, I'm no mathematician, but I hope I can make you cry with how solid these are. Um, well, um, I, okay, **[0:10:48] Rachel Abrams:** uh, let's see. Okay, so this okay, so so is okay. **[0:10:49] Kim Severson:** let's just go for it. Crybaby extra sour **[0:10:52] Rachel Abrams:** Oh my god. bubblegum. Oh, really sour. Oh, not real Oh my, bad. oh, I can't. ah, Hm. I kinda like them. No, it's good. No, I'm good. I don't think this is sour enough to get me out of a panic attack. **[0:11:05] Kim Severson:** wow, that was a lot for you. You just did that. I'm You just **[0:11:09] Rachel Abrams:** built like, uh, cause they named a tank after me, Kim. **[0:11:11] Kim Severson:** wow, I can't believe you just raw dogged that. Wow, that's intense. **[0:11:17] Rachel Abrams:** Okay, not to be a bit of a buzzkill here, but let's talk about the cost of all of this for a second. Because I was just in a Duane Reade the other day and I was amazed at how much a bag of, like, mixed chocolate and other sort of candies were it. I think it was something like 16, and it just struck me as, like, much more expensive than that amount of candy has been in recent years. **[0:11:36] Rachel Abrams:** So everything that I just ate, Kim, how much would all of that cost me? Tell me a little bit about the economics of the candy business right now. **[0:11:44] Kim Severson:** Sure, um, and of course, like everything, the cost has gone up, although candy has gone up at a rate greater than inflation. I think, um, the year over year right now is it's gone up roughly eight. Uh, so it's like, what's that? More than twice the price of inflation? Um, so you're really seeing a big increase. And the thing driving all of this is the chocolate sector, right? So chocolate prices have been up 15, 20, depending on who you talk to. **[0:12:11] Kim Severson:** But bad weather is a big issue, heat waves, and there have been a bunch of crop diseases in West Africa, where about 60 of the world's cacao is harvested. So that's really damaged yields. The chocolate companies are scrambling to get the supply up, but that's gonna take a long time, right? So used to be you might hold the bowl out and let the child grab a couple of whatever they wanted, Yeah, and some children you know, **[0:12:35] Rachel Abrams:** are gonna grab a fistful, of course. **[0:12:37] Kim Severson:** right? And you're like, Oh, that's cute, ha ha. This year, I think people are gonna be maybe more carefully putting one piece of candy in each bag, so the little fistful of candy moment may be over. In this economy, I don't know, I'm just predicting it. **[0:12:51] Rachel Abrams:** Well, Kim Severson, you're never wrong. That's why we have you on the show. Ugh, Thank you so much for your time. **[0:12:57] Kim Severson:** Oh, thanks, Rachel. This is great. And listen, I want you to stay open, stay open to the candy, Here, okay? **[0:13:01] Rachel Abrams:** huh? hm. delicious. thank you. When we come back, we're talking costumes with my colleague from the styles desk after the break. **[0:13:26] Ad read:** This podcast is supported by Netflix, presenting the epic new film La Bole Negra. Awards Watch proclaims it's the best film of the year, winner of the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival and Best Director winner at the Can Film Festival. La Bole Negra has been hailed as the great sweeping romance of the year, starring breakout actors Guitarica De La Fuente, Carlos Gonzalez and Miguel Bernardo, with Penelope Cruz and Glenn Close. IndieWire raves, It's an impossible love story for the ages. **[0:13:56] Ad read:** La Bole Negra, now playing in select theaters. Get tickets now. This podcast is supported by Chevron. We rely on energy every day, but have you ever wondered what it takes to make sure it's there when we need it? I'm Tanner Faust, and the Energy Tailgate is back with straight talk about the energy our world depends on. This podcast is supported by pharma. Large nonprofit hospitals are winning the medicine markup game. 340B markups generate $142 billion in profits for big hospital systems and their for-profit partners. **[0:14:31] Ad read:** But there's little oversight or guardrails on how program profits are used, and no clear evidence that patients benefit while hospitals win big, patients lose. It's time for Washington to hold hospitals and clinics accountable and fix 340B. Visit phrma.org/340B markup to learn more. **[0:14:53] Rachel Abrams:** Louis Lucero, welcome to the Daily, the Sunday Daily. We're so happy to have you here. You are an editor on the styles desk. I am so excited to talk to you about my favorite type of fashion, which is Halloween fashion, Fashion for everybody fashion for everybody. Are you? Are you a costume guy? **[0:15:11] Louis Lucero II:** I am. I. I like a sort of creative, crafty thing, um, that speaks to a certain amount of cleverness, a certain amount of, like, cultural awareness. Um, I would say, like, my favorite costumes, though, the primary medium is always gonna be drugstore poster board. It's not gonna run me more than ten. **[0:15:30] Rachel Abrams:** Okay, so just a white p white poster board that you draw something I've I've on. **[0:15:33] Louis Lucero II:** turned it into so many things. One time I was an iPod mini, which was a big iPod, but I had mini ears, my mini at mouse ears. That get a lot of a lot more wear out of them than you would think for a You do man of 30. have to think about Yeah, **[0:15:44] Rachel Abrams:** that for a moment. **[0:15:46] Louis Lucero II:** iPod mini. I was a Tamagotchi. I free-handed the little screen. Basically, I'm just drawing on different colored cardboard. **[0:15:52] Rachel Abrams:** You wanna know what I am for Halloween? What are you gonna Like every **[0:15:54] Louis Lucero II:** be? **[0:15:55] Rachel Abrams:** well, okay. The last couple years, I have worn an inflatable Mr. Peanut costume, and I love it because the reactions I get just from walking around the city wearing this thing are just so. People are just so delighted. ugh, It's just so fun to walk around, cause it's just so unexpected. I've, they're I've never s **[0:16:13] Louis Lucero II:** starstruck for starters. They only know him from these canisters of work. It's very, very impressive. It has a monocle and everything. **[0:16:23] Rachel Abrams:** yeah, it has a monocle. **[0:16:23] Louis Lucero II:** Oh, wow, and inflatable. Inflatable, yeah, I think there's a confidence in picking your uniform, just kind of a declaration of who you are. That's one definition of an icon is you can see them in your mind's eye so clearly. Frida Kahlo with her unibrow, you can imagine Ariana Grande's ponytail. There's just so many people who are their one look, and that's fine. It's flattening, but it also it's immortal, you know? And that is Rachel Abrams **[0:16:51] Rachel Abrams:** what? **[0:16:51] Louis Lucero II:** as Mr. Peanut. **[0:16:52] Rachel Abrams:** oh my god, I wait. Okay, so I'm so I feel. First of all, I feel extremely validated, so thank you so much, Louis. You. We can just end this interview now. But um, but no, I have more to ask you about, including what are you expecting people to be dressed as this year? **[0:17:05] Louis Lucero II:** the fun thing about Halloween is it sort of deputizes everyone as this sort of amateur cultural anthropologist. Everyone gets to look back at the year that was and say what mattered. What do I think people will remember from February, from mid-March or something? A reference that can spark joy, that can trigger a a bit of a glimmer of recognition. So, in a way, it's like a first draft of meme history. You really have to think what will still make sense in late October. **[0:17:37] Louis Lucero II:** Um, I think we're going to be drowning in heated rivalry. Boys, that feels like a given. **[0:17:45] Ad read:** Great pass, great goal. **[0:17:49] Rachel Abrams:** How? How would you imagine people to dress as the heated rivalry boys in a way that anybody would recognize? **[0:17:56] Louis Lucero II:** I think if you see two men in hockey jerseys holding hands, making out, these are three incredibly good signs. I would say you could put some money on that one **[0:18:07] Rachel Abrams:** Okay, I don't know why I asked that question. Next, **[0:18:09] Louis Lucero II:** next. Um, so I was thinking we could try a little game here. I'm going to describe a costume to you, as if you were just seeing the person or people who are wearing this costume. Some of them are gonna be group costumes. All of these are what I would call a very 2026 costume, and I want you to tell me what the costume is. Does that sound good? **[0:18:27] Rachel Abrams:** Oh my god, I'm gonna embarrass myself. Yes, go for it. I'm, I'm, I'm thrilled. **[0:18:31] Louis Lucero II:** We'll war, we will warm up with an easy one. **[0:18:33] Rachel Abrams:** Okay, oh, good. **[0:18:33] Louis Lucero II:** Um, this is a couple's costume. One partner is wearing a blonde wig and a little black dress, Blonde. Wait, wait, and **[0:18:39] Rachel Abrams:** wait. So one partner is in a blonde wig and a little black dress. **[0:18:42] Louis Lucero II:** the biggest diamond ring you've ever seen. The other partner, second half of this couple's costume, is wearing a Kansas City Chiefs jersey. **[0:18:49] Rachel Abrams:** Okay, okay, t Taylor Swift, Yes, correct, Taylor Swift and one of correct, the Kelchies. I can't remember which **[0:18:53] Callie Holtermann:** I looked at it. I one. was like, Wee, that's what this dude is, **[0:18:55] Speaker 7:** the that's what it does when you're on the stage and you perform in Arrowhead, that's what it did. **[0:18:58] Callie Holtermann:** this dude didn't get a meet and greet. He's making it everyone's problem. That's what I thought very when I read this. good. **[0:19:04] Rachel Abrams:** Oh my god, okay, good, good, Taylor Swift and okay, Travis Kelce. Um, nailed it. **[0:19:08] Louis Lucero II:** so this person, no. Second person is wearing a long, center-parted wig with blonde streaks. Center-parted They've got **[0:19:15] Rachel Abrams:** wig with blonde. St- streaks. Okay, **[0:19:17] Louis Lucero II:** They got aviator glasses on, a mini skirt with sort of chunky, hip-slung belt. **[0:19:24] Rachel Abrams:** Gloria Steinem. Gloria Steinem. Yes, Ah, **[0:19:26] Louis Lucero II:** things are all equal, and we can dispense with the labels of gender and class and race and begin to realize our unique individuality. Uh, And so I think post feminism. Halloween Halloween is also a good opportunity to pay tribute to those we've lost. This has been a year heavy with losses, and disproportionately, they are pretty iconic, many of them. So I think we're gonna see a few ghosts trick or treating this year. **[0:19:51] Rachel Abrams:** I have a feeling I know what's coming. Go on, **[0:19:54] Louis Lucero II:** this is another couple's costume. One partner is wearing a salt and pepper wig and has a pair of headphones around his neck. The other partner has a blonde wig and piercing blue contact lenses and is carrying a baby. And when you ask what their costume is, they get their faces really close together and peer into each other's eyes uncomfortably. **[0:20:15] Rachel Abrams:** Give me a hint. I'm stumped. **[0:20:17] Louis Lucero II:** Okay, it's for a long time. All we had to go off was a movie trailer, and there was an indelible image of two people **[0:20:25] Rachel Abrams:** Oh my god, I know. **[0:20:25] Louis Lucero II:** uncomfortably close. **[0:20:26] Rachel Abrams:** Oh my god. Okay, so this is Nathan Fielder and Elizabeth Holmes. **[0:20:30] Louis Lucero II:** perfect, nailed it. **[0:20:31] Callie Holtermann:** why would I deceive you? There's no there's no reason for me to do that. Okay, **[0:20:43] Rachel Abrams:** All right, what else? What else is on this quiz? **[0:20:45] Louis Lucero II:** So, um, okay. So this person shows up to a Halloween party without a costume. They go around taking parts of other people's costumes and making it their own. They also consume a tremendous amount of water. AI? Wow, Yes, **[0:21:01] Rachel Abrams:** that is, that's a real a conceptual heady. one. Yes, that's Wow, **[0:21:05] Louis Lucero II:** one where there's always a way to talk your way out of having expended no effort at all. You just say, Oh, I'm a reluctant party guest, you know, that'll that'll do it. Technically, here's another person you might encounter on the street. This person has a blonde wig tied back in a ponytail. They are wearing a black tracksuit. Over one shoulder is the biggest tote bag you've ever seen in your life, and in the opposite hand, a stuffed raccoon. **[0:21:32] Rachel Abrams:** What could this be? Can you give me another hint? **[0:21:36] Louis Lucero II:** The summer was an exciting time for this person visiting the United States for what you could describe as a work obligation. **[0:21:44] Rachel Abrams:** What you could describe? Okay, so the could here makes me think that there was something scandalous about this person's visit. **[0:21:50] Louis Lucero II:** Uh, this work obligation was the World Cup. **[0:21:55] Rachel Abrams:** The World Cup. Okay, okay. One more hint, and then I give up. **[0:22:00] Louis Lucero II:** Um, I'll give you a hint. The person's first name is Erling, and the person's last name is Haaland. Norwegian soccer player Erling Haaland is showing fans that some keepsakes can be just as eye-catching as the FIFA World Cup trophy. **[0:22:16] Rachel Abrams:** Wait, what was the raccoon The thing? I missed this? **[0:22:18] Louis Lucero II:** raccoon, I believe it was when his team was playing in Texas. I think he stopped by some sort of Western-themed store. There was a taxidermy raccoon, **[0:22:27] Callie Holtermann:** Holland returned home with his own trophy of sorts. What's he that? bought it, I do remember **[0:22:34] Louis Lucero II:** and there was a really this. indelible image of him leaving his airplane with his taxidermy raccoon. **[0:22:39] Callie Holtermann:** Posted his own picture on social media with the caption It followed me home. **[0:22:45] Louis Lucero II:** And so this final, this final costume, this is a person wearing an enormous blonde wig. **[0:22:50] Rachel Abrams:** Dolly Parton. Well, Louis, this has been a lot of fun. Uh, I really appreciate you being here. I feel like if I wasn't gonna go as Mr. Peanut, I would have a lot of other ideas. **[0:23:09] Louis Lucero II:** But you are locked in, and that's the way it should be. Thank you so much for having Thank me. **[0:23:13] Rachel Abrams:** you. We'll be right back. **[0:23:17] Ad read:** This podcast is supported by Chevron. We rely We rely on energy on energy every every day, day, whether but have you it's the first cup ever wondered of coffee in the what it takes morning, a flight to make sure home to family, it's there when we or the lights need it? **[0:23:35] Louis Lucero II:** that come on when you flip I'm Tanner a switch. But Faust, and the have you ever wondered energy tailgate is what it takes to make back with sure it's there straight talk about when we need it? the energy our I'm Tanner Faust, and the **[0:23:42] Ad read:** world depends on. **[0:23:42] Louis Lucero II:** energy tailgate is back with straight talk about the energy our lives and world depend on. No boardrooms, no jargon, just real conversations. This is the energy tailgate. New episodes available on Spotify and YouTube. **[0:23:58] Ad read:** This podcast is supported by Edison Electric Institute. As a new season starts, the air begins to chill, and we set our sights on holiday preparations. Once again, America's electric companies are working safely and responsibly behind the scenes to provide our communities with reliable energy that will keep us all safe, warm and ready for the moments that matter most. America's electric companies powering the energy of every day. **[0:24:30] Louis Lucero II:** Ah, sleep, your day is done. Unfortunately, your to-do list isn't. **[0:24:39] Ad read:** Wait, did I schedule that meeting? I forgot I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. It's three zero am. Has my pillow always been this loud? **[0:24:50] Speaker 7:** Hit your booking point time to enter airplane mode and start planning your next vacation with Southwest. Take the burnout quiz and get your personalized burnout score at airplane mode dot southwest dot com. **[0:25:15] Rachel Abrams:** When it comes to decorating for Halloween, you have a lot of options. **[0:25:18] Ad read:** That, um, Pirate tip is super cool, and a mermaid. Oh, there is the clown over there that's eating a baby in an ice cream cone. That is in- Oh, Beetlejuice and all the slime coming out of his head. Yeah, **[0:25:30] Callie Holtermann:** There's also a sign that says, Born in Children left on your own will be sold into servitude. **[0:25:37] Rachel Abrams:** But if you're looking for the Halloween decoration, the King of the Hill, the cream of the crop, you are looking for one very specific thing. **[0:25:44] Callie Holtermann:** My favorite are the skeletons. my favorite My favorite one is a skeleton. And I'm not I afraid of do. the skeletons. **[0:25:58] Rachel Abrams:** A few years ago, my colleague Callie Holtermann did what turned out to be some genre-defining reporting on one particular Halloween decoration. And I have asked her to come here and update us, you, the listener, on the latest Halloween decoration news. Callie Holtermann, welcome to the Daily. **[0:26:18] Callie Holtermann:** Thank you for having me. Um, I come bearing gifts. **[0:26:21] Rachel Abrams:** You come bearing gifts. Oh my **[0:26:23] Callie Holtermann:** These are for you. **[0:26:24] Rachel Abrams:** god, are these vampire fangs? **[0:26:26] Callie Holtermann:** These are a runner. They're sort of hard to talk with, but **[0:26:29] Rachel Abrams:** Should we do the whole interview wearing these? I think ideally, yeah, This is so great. Thank you so much. This will. Well, I'm so glad you brought a prop because that's actually one of the reasons why you're here, because we wanted to talk to you about Halloween decorations. And a a couple years ago, you wrote a very memorable article about, and I wanna make sure I just get the name of this thing right. The home accents holiday 12 giant skeleton with life eyes, LCD eyes **[0:26:54] Speaker 7:** Go big this year with the 12 giant skeleton with yeah, and I'd life falls love for you **[0:27:00] Rachel Abrams:** off the tongue. **[0:27:00] Callie Holtermann:** to to just use the full name every this time if you can. Um, but colloquially, giant skeleton with his name is Skelly, **[0:27:11] Speaker 7:** life eyes is a showstopper. **[0:27:13] Callie Holtermann:** or you might hear him And called the 12 Skeleton. an Again, I just we care honorable about accuracy here at mention the New York Times. Skelly is 11 foot. **[0:27:22] Speaker 7:** and thanks to its weather-resistant frame, it'll loom over guests for years to come. This And this is 12 **[0:27:29] Louis Lucero II:** a gigantic skeleton decoration that kind of, like, took the world by storm when it was to explain released in 2020. **[0:27:38] Speaker 7:** standing at 12 feet tall, these skeletons are everything this Halloween. Home Depot started carrying them in August. They are long gone now, **[0:27:48] Rachel Abrams:** What do you think it **[0:27:49] Speaker 7:** sold out for months. **[0:27:49] Rachel Abrams:** was about Skelly that made Skelly such a viral hit? **[0:27:52] Louis Lucero II:** Skelly was this really potent meme format, if that makes sense. It was sort of a gigantic plastic visual bit that you could project whatever you wanted to on it. **[0:28:04] Ad read:** Uh, this is me turning a 12 Home Depot skeleton into a giant puppet. **[0:28:09] Louis Lucero II:** Today starts my journey to grow a 12 skeleton. Sheep. The interest, I'm making oh, **[0:28:15] Ad read:** a giant puking skeleton. He's huge, but he still looks unfinished. Let's give him a pirate upgrade. It's lightweight, so it just needs **[0:28:21] Louis Lucero II:** like, there was just this idea that Skelly was sort of the setup of a joke and that you could use it to pull off whatever punchline that you wanted. **[0:28:30] Ad read:** growing a 12 skeleton from seed. Today on Gardener's World, Skelly It was **[0:28:36] Louis Lucero II:** came out in 2020 when the world kinda needed jokes, perhaps, and this was one that you could make at a distance. **[0:28:44] Callie Holtermann:** it was like the ultimate social distancing Halloween **[0:28:47] Louis Lucero II:** Once you've planted your baby decoration. You know, skull, water you can be and tend the so, so weeds around it, and far away, in no time, and you could have you'll have a **[0:28:57] Callie Holtermann:** COVID and be coughing up a showstopper of storm, but you could **[0:28:59] Louis Lucero II:** an autumn display. **[0:28:59] Callie Holtermann:** still enjoy that person's skeleton. Um, Follow along and **[0:29:02] Rachel Abrams:** And how much do these skeletons cost? **[0:29:04] Callie Holtermann:** 299. **[0:29:05] Rachel Abrams:** Oh my god. And do we know how much, how many of them sell every year? Do we have any way way of s quantifying how big this is? **[0:29:12] Callie Holtermann:** I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I've asked Home Depot this question over the course of four years, and they will they're so e- not tell me. **[0:29:19] Rachel Abrams:** Yeah, there's sometimes, imagine there's not eager to tell you that. **[0:29:21] Callie Holtermann:** Um, but I can tell you that they really routinely were selling out. I reported this story in 2022 by I sort of just camped out at a Home Depot in Brick, New Jersey, New Jersey Shore. And I stood there all day and talked to every single person who bought a giant skeleton or was trying to buy a giant skeleton. I was there in September. Some of the people I talked to had been looking, like, since July. **[0:29:43] Callie Holtermann:** One woman that I interviewed who got a skeleton that day, it all worked out. But she said she'd visited 15 Home Depots or so and had called about 50 oh my trying to get her hands on one. god. I wrote the story in 2022. Consumer spending on Halloween that year was 10.6 billion. It's continued going up. This year, it's projected to be 13.5 billion, **[0:30:03] Rachel Abrams:** why do you think that the highest ever is **[0:30:05] Callie Holtermann:** for Americans. Those numbers are from the National Retail Federation. I should say Halloween, I think a lot of retailers has seized on. It's not a blue state or a red state thing. It is not celebrated as a religious holiday. It is not known for people getting into arguments like Thanksgiving. It doesn't involve a bunch of stressful travel, like some of the winter holidays. I think it's seen as this holiday that comes with a lot less baggage, I think, than some others. **[0:30:30] Callie Holtermann:** Retailers have have sort of seized upon that, and it's an opportunity for those retailers to sell things, but it's also an opportunity, I think, for the people who like celebrating it. To use their imaginations a little bit, which other, uh, other holidays don't entirely allow you to do. And I think Skelly has been a little bit of a a canvas for that imagination that people have going on. I'm wondering before So we wrap up, I I **[0:31:00] Rachel Abrams:** am curious, you if there have been any advances in Skelly science since Skelly came out. **[0:31:08] Callie Holtermann:** I've been closely monitoring advancements in skeleton technology since 2022. Um, **[0:31:14] Rachel Abrams:** Very good. **[0:31:14] Callie Holtermann:** last week, I I chatted with, um, Aubrey Horowitz, who's the merchant of decorative holiday at Home Depot. She's someone who **[0:31:21] Rachel Abrams:** She's the what? **[0:31:22] Callie Holtermann:** the merchant of decorative holiday **[0:31:24] Rachel Abrams:** That's her actual title? **[0:31:25] Callie Holtermann:** that is her job title. **[0:31:25] Rachel Abrams:** Wow, that's a great title. **[0:31:27] Callie Holtermann:** But she said Home Depot has been like, thinking really hard about W- What do you do when you have this thing? That's kind of a viral sensation for a year or two? How do you keep that momentum up? I was really curious about that. Um, we introduced, we call him Servo Skelly a few years ago, and he had a servo motor in his head that allowed him to move. And then this year, our new app Skelly is Bluetooth enabled. **[0:31:52] Callie Holtermann:** Where customers can update his lighting, his movement, they can change his different eye functionality, pre-record messages, or speak into him live. So They've been making it's a really **[0:32:05] Louis Lucero II:** rapid advancements in skeleton technology. Um, this what a year's 12-foot phrase. skeleton. You can live speak through Skelly, so if someone walks up in a pirate costume, you could make a sort of like, Ahoy matey type pirate observation. **[0:32:21] Rachel Abrams:** I mean, I, I guess that could be really cute, but I could also imagine many, many tiny children being totally terrified by this. I'm happy Halloween, like, That's the point, Rachel. **[0:32:31] Speaker 7:** beware, he will spot you the moment you step too close. Behave, my tiny mortals. I'm always watching. **[0:32:44] Rachel Abrams:** I really appreciate knowing so much more about this 12-foot skeleton. I'm sorry, 8 11-foot 8-inch skeleton. Yeah, um, well, Callie Holtermann, I am the merchant of H holiday podcasts, and I wanna thank you for being here with us today. Happy Halloween. This episode was produced by Alex Barron with help from Lena Richards and Alyssa Dudley. It was edited by Wendy Door and contains music from Dan Powell and Alicia Bae Etooke. It had production assistance from Dahlia Hadad and was engineered by Sophia Lanman. **[0:33:24] Rachel Abrams:** That's it for the Sunday Daily. I'm Rachel Abrams. See you tomorrow. **[0:33:27] Ad read:** This podcast is supported by Chevron. We rely on energy every day, but have you ever wondered what it takes to make sure it's there when we need it? I'm Tanner Faust, and the energy tailgate is back with straight talk about the energy our world depends on.