One in five Australians will celebrate Halloween this year, spending big in categories such as trick or treating and Halloween costumes as annual festivities continue to rise in popularity.

However, Australian Retailers Association (ARA) chief industry affairs officer Fleur Brown said spending predictions were "down a little this year".

"Which is understandable because we are in very tough times, and we haven't had any relief on the interest rates front," she said.

"But overall if you look at the last five years, certainly Halloween continues to grow and in some categories this year retailers are reporting quite significantly."

One area in which sales have really gone up is pumpkins, with Aussies keen to carry out the tradition of pumpkin carving as part of their celebrations.

Ms Brown described the one-day holiday as a "sugar hit, both figuratively and literally", meaning there was not a lot of build-up spend.

She said while it was not the biggest holiday in terms of spending, it still provided a huge boost for retailers just before the Christmas holiday period began.

"We're seeing a steady increase of Halloween celebrations over recent years," Ms Brown said.

"Australians will spend on average around $93 per person this year and overall about $450 million will come from Halloween spending across multiple categories."

Bringing people together

Deakin University marketing and consumer behaviour senior lecturer Paul Harrison said it was unsurprising that Australia's interest in celebrating Halloween had only grown in the past few years.

He said it was especially thriving in small communities.

"We're human beings," Dr Harrison said.

"We like to belong and a lot of the Halloween kind of activities are built around social interaction.

He said it was not just families getting in on the action, and figures from the ARA supported this.

Figures from the ARA show Australians aged 35–59 are the most likely to celebrate Halloween, making up 34 per cent of the market followed closely by under 35s who make up 25 per cent.

Not all of them are parents.

Small-town celebration

With a population of just over 700 people, Snake Valley is one of the small regional towns in Australia that will participate in Halloween this year.

Snake Valley father Adam Mackacek said his family would meet up with others from the neighbourhood to go trick or treating.

"The kids love dressing up," Mr Mackacek said. 

"I love dressing up to be quite honest.

"It's really exciting around here, a real buzz."

He moved to the small town from a larger city five years ago.

"A lot of people sit out the front of their houses and there's a couple ladies that have little tables out," he said.

"I think the parents enjoy it as much as the children."

Mr Mackacek said everyone made the effort to get to know each other in a small community.

"It's a much safer environment as well … you feel safe walking around and the kids feel safe," he said.