Princess-themed celebrations sit at the intersection of dress-up play, dolls, decorations, and party shopping. The clearest available measures come from U.S. Halloween surveys, company filings, retail disclosures, and consumer-safety warnings. Together, they show how large the surrounding market is, how consistently princess costumes appear in children’s choices, and where practical risks deserve attention.
Contents
- Princess costume demand
- Halloween spending and celebration plans
- When and where shoppers buy
- Party retail and licensed products
- Dolls, princess brands, and sales
- Safety statistics for costumes and decorations
Princess costume demand
The National Retail Federation’s 2025 consumer survey counted 1.9 million children who planned to dress as a princess. That placed princess behind Spider-Man, at 2.3 million, but ahead of a witch at 1.7 million, a ghost at 1.6 million, and a favorite superhero at 1.5 million. These are planned costumes for the 2025 Halloween season, not a census of every child attending a princess party.
The 2024 comparison was slightly lower: 1.7 million children planned to dress as a princess, according to the NRF report Nearly Half of Halloween Shoppers to Start Purchasing Items Before October. In that same 2024 list, Spider-Man reached 2.6 million, ghosts 1.8 million, witches 1.6 million, and favorite superheroes 1.5 million. The year-to-year figures indicate that princess remained a major children’s costume choice even as the ranking around it changed.
| Planned children’s costume | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Spider-Man | 2.6 million | 2.3 million |
| Princess | 1.7 million | 1.9 million |
| Witch | 1.6 million | 1.7 million |
| Ghost | 1.8 million | 1.6 million |
| Favorite superhero | 1.5 million | 1.5 million |
Longer-term data from the NRF’s Minions, Star Wars Characters Costumes Abound for Adults, Children and Pets This Halloween release shows how durable princess demand can be. In 2015, 3.2 million children planned to dress as princesses, described by the NRF as an 11-year reign at the top of the children’s costume list. The same 2015 list included 2 million Frozen characters, 1.8 million Star Wars characters, and 1 million Minions. The 2015 figure is a historical survey result and should not be treated as a current estimate.
Halloween spending and celebration plans
The NRF’s 2025 survey expected total U.S. Halloween spending to reach a record $13.1 billion. It also found that 73% of consumers planned to celebrate Halloween. Within the broader celebration, 32% planned to throw or attend a party, 51% planned to dress in costume, and 51% planned to decorate a home or yard. Those participation measures help place princess-party activity in context: costume and decoration purchases are part of a large seasonal market, while party participation represents a smaller but still substantial share of consumers.
The survey expected consumers to spend $4.3 billion on costumes and $4.2 billion on decorations in 2025. It also projected $3.9 billion for candy and $0.7 billion for greeting cards. Purchase intent was 71% for costumes, 78% for decorations, and 38% for greeting cards. These figures are category-wide U.S. estimates, not a separate princess-party total.
Other planned activities included handing out candy, reported by 66% of consumers, carving a pumpkin, reported by 46%, visiting a haunted house, reported by 24%, and dressing up pets, reported by 23%. For a family planning a princess celebration, these figures describe the seasonal environment in which themed apparel, tableware, décor, and favors compete for attention.
Price sensitivity is also part of the 2025 picture. The NRF reported that 79% of Halloween shoppers expected prices to be higher that year specifically because of tariffs. That finding comes from consumer expectations, so it does not establish the price of any particular princess dress, decoration, or party package.
The 2024 NRF trends report recorded average Halloween spending of $103.63 per person and expected total spending of $11.6 billion. It also reported that total Halloween spending rose 32% from 2019 to 2024, while decoration spending rose 42%, from $2.6 billion in 2019 to $3.8 billion in 2024. These historical figures show stronger growth in decorations than in the overall market during that period.
When and where shoppers buy
Halloween shopping has moved earlier over time. In the NRF’s 2024 consumer-trends report, 47% of consumers said they planned to start shopping before October. That share was 37% five years earlier, in 2019, and 32% in 2014. The figures are useful for planning a princess party because they measure when seasonal shoppers say they will begin, rather than when a specific product sells.
The 2024 report said 72% of consumers planned to celebrate Halloween. That result is close to the 73% planned celebration rate in the 2025 NRF survey, although the measurements belong to different survey years and should not be read as a single continuous forecast.
For 2025, discount stores were the top Halloween destination for 42% of shoppers. Specialty Halloween and costume stores were named by 31%, and online channels were also named by 31%. The destination figures overlap because shoppers may use more than one channel. For princess-party planning, the pattern points to a mixed route: families may compare online costume and décor options while also using discount or specialty stores for last-minute supplies.
Party retail and licensed products
Party City reported in its 2021 Form 10-K that it operated approximately 830 specialty retail party-supply stores in North America. The company said 81.5% of its 2021 total revenue came from its retail segment and 18.5% came from its wholesale segment. Its wholesale segment products included more than 45,000 SKUs in retail outlets worldwide in 2021.
In the same filing, Party City said it was the largest retailer of decorated party supplies in the United States and Canada and believed it had the only national store footprint among party-supply retailers at that time. Those are company statements from a 2021 filing, not independent rankings or current store-count estimates.
A PCHI investor-presentation excerpt reported that the company had grown to approximately $2.35 billion in revenue by 2019. The available figure is a historical company-reported revenue milestone; it does not isolate princess products or party supplies.
Licensed entertainment brands provide another measure of the category around princess parties. Mattel’s 2024 Annual Report says its Dolls category includes Disney Princess and Disney Frozen brands, and says Barbie has been empowering girls since 1959. The inclusion of Disney Princess and Disney Frozen in the Dolls category means that reported category results combine several brands rather than reporting princess sales alone.
Dolls, princess brands, and sales
Mattel reported Dolls gross billings of $763 million in 2023, up 29% as reported and 27% in constant currency. The company said the increase was driven by Barbie, Disney Princess and Disney Frozen, and Monster High. Its 2023 Annual Report said 11% of the dolls increase came from higher billings of Disney Princess and Disney Frozen products.
The quarterly and annual figures then moved lower in 2024. Mattel reported Dolls gross billings of $2,200 million for 2024, down 8% both as reported and in constant currency. Fourth-quarter 2024 Dolls gross billings were $735 million, down 4% as reported and 3% in constant currency. Second-quarter 2024 billings were $414 million, down 6% as reported and 5% in constant currency.
The subsequent figures were mixed. Mattel reported first-quarter 2025 Dolls gross billings of $297 million, up 1% as reported and 2% in constant currency, with growth driven by Disney Princess and Wicked. Fourth-quarter 2025 Dolls gross billings were $750.3 million, up 2% as reported and flat in constant currency. These are gross-billings measures for the Dolls category, not a direct measure of princess-party spending.
Mattel’s 2025 Form 10-K also reported that its three largest customers accounted for approximately 42% of worldwide consolidated net sales in 2025. Within those three customers, Walmart accounted for $1.08 billion, Target for $0.63 billion, and Amazon for $0.52 billion of Mattel’s 2025 sales. The filing also reported royalty expense of $264.6 million in 2025, compared with $244.1 million in 2024 and $249.8 million in 2023. These distribution and licensing figures help explain the commercial infrastructure around recognizable character products, but they do not identify the share attributable to princess merchandise.
Safety statistics for costumes and decorations
The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimated an annual average of 3,600 Halloween-related injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments over the prior three years, according to its Halloween Safety guidance. Of those injuries, 48% were related to pumpkin carving, 27% were due to falls while putting up or taking down decorations, tripping on costumes, or walking while trick-or-treating, and 25% involved lacerations, ingestions, other costume, pumpkin, or decoration injuries, or allergic reactions and rashes.
The CPSC said 56% of the injured people were adults aged 18 and over and 44% were under 18. About 6% of all injuries were to children aged two or younger. These figures cover Halloween-related injuries broadly, so they should not be interpreted as a princess-party injury rate.
Product-specific warnings matter for dress-up celebrations. In a CPSC warning, Popsunny Princess Dress Up Costume Sets were reported as having sold online at Amazon.com from November 2024 through January 2025 for about $22. The sets came in three models and included two LED string lights with preinstalled lithium coin batteries. They were sold with pink, purple, or multicolor tiaras, gloves, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and rings.
The CPSC said the sets violated the mandatory federal battery-operated toy requirement. It warned that a child swallowing a button cell or coin battery could suffer serious injuries, internal chemical burns, or death. For princess parties, that warning makes battery compartments, light-up accessories, and small jewelry components important checks before children receive or play with costume sets.