Your Whole Year Happens in About Six Weeks
A plumber gets a bad week and makes it up next month. You don't get a next month. If the line forms at somebody else's barn on the third Saturday in October, that night is gone, and so is the money.
That changes how you market. A year-round business can afford to be found slowly. A Halloween business has to be found the week people are deciding, and that week starts earlier than most owners think.
Here is what the numbers say for 2026, who is doing it right, what to fix this week, and what to set up so next season sells before you spend a dollar on ads.
The 2026 Numbers, and the One That Matters to You
The National Retail Federation surveyed 7,889 people in early September. Americans expect to spend $13.5 billion on Halloween this year, up from a record $13.1 billion in 2025. That is about $115 a person. 74% plan to celebrate.
The number that matters to you is smaller. 13% plan to buy from local and small businesses. That sounds low until you see where it came from. In 2016 it was 7%. It almost doubled in ten years.
And 49% start shopping in September or earlier, up from 34% in 2016. Half your customers are deciding before you open.
Six Independents Doing It Right
The best marketers in Halloween are not the chains. They are owner-run places that have been at it for decades. Here are six we love, and the one thing to steal from each.
The Darkness, St. Louis, Missouri. A haunted attraction in its 33rd year. Every season they publish a page on exactly what is new, down to the rooms they tore out and the ones they built. Steal this: give returning guests a reason to come back, in writing, on your site.
Field of Screams, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Opened its 34th season on September 11, on the family farm where it started. Steal this: open in September. Half your customers are already shopping.
Netherworld, outside Atlanta, Georgia. Thirty seasons in, and tickets are sold by time slot, so guests buy a time and skip the long line. Steal this: timed tickets. People who buy before they drive actually show up.
Distortions Unlimited, Greeley, Colorado. Started making masks in a spare bedroom in 1978. Ed and Marsha Edmunds now build props and animatronics for haunts around the country, and sell them all year. Steal this: a Halloween business does not have to be a six-week business.
Treworgy Family Orchards, Levant, Maine. USA Today readers voted it the best pumpkin patch and the best corn maze in America this year. It also runs the longest continually running corn maze in Maine. Steal this: enter the awards and tell people when you win. Somebody has to.
Halloween Town, Burbank, California. Grew from a seasonal costume shop into a year-round destination with two big stores six doors apart on Magnolia Boulevard. Steal this: if people love you in October, give them a reason to visit in April.
What They Have in Common: They Don't Wait for October
None of those six starts marketing on October 1. They open in September, they announce what is new before the season, and they sell tickets ahead. By the time the casual crowd starts searching, they are already the obvious pick.
That is the whole game. Be the answer before the question gets asked.
Win the "Near Me" Search
When someone types haunted house near me or pumpkin patch near me, Google shows a map with three businesses on it. That map is where most of your season is decided.
The demand is real and it spikes hard. When Google looked at Maps searches in September and October, haunted house searches rose more than 500% and pumpkin patch searches nearly 470% (Google, 2021). If your profile, your hours and your website aren't ready for that wave, the line forms at somebody else's door.
Six Things to Do This Week
1. Put every open night into your Google Business Profile as special hours. The worst thing a searcher can see is "Closed" on a night you are open. Add each date by hand, including Halloween night.
2. Sell timed tickets online. People who buy before they drive show up. It also gives you their email or phone number, which is next year's presale.
3. Give every event its own page, with dates and prices Google can read. One page for the haunt, one for the lights-on kids' day, one for the corn maze. Mark them up with Event schema so the dates can show right in search.
4. Ask for a review on the way out, while the screams are fresh. A sign at the exit with a QR code to your review link. Your season is six weeks. Fresh reviews in week three help you in week four.
5. Post short videos of what's new this year. A twenty-second clip of a new room, a scare, a kid in the pumpkin field. Reels, Shorts and TikTok. Your season makes the content for you.
6. Collect phone numbers for next year. One line on the ticket page and one sign at the exit: "Get next year's dates first." That list is your opening weekend.
A Season Plan, Month by Month
Most of what wins October happens before October. Here is the calendar we would hand any haunt, patch or costume shop.
What Your Website Needs
Your website does one job in October. It turns a "near me" search into a ticket. Everything on it should push toward that. Here is a sample we built for a haunted farm, so you can see what that looks like.
A ticket button above the fold. Not buried on a "Tickets" page three clicks in.
Every night, with how full it is. "Going fast" and "Sold out" sell the nights that are left.
A sign-up for next year's dates. Name and mobile number. That is your presale list.
The questions people ask at the gate. Is it too scary for kids? Where do we park? What if it rains? Answer them on the page and your phone rings less.
Fast on a phone. Almost every "near me" search happens on one. A slow page loses the ticket in the parking lot of the place down the road.
Fully Built and Done for You in a Day or Two
It's mid-October. Most of the season is still ahead, and you don't have time to learn a website builder. So don't. We build it for you.
Day one, we take your name, your photos, your colors and your open nights, and we build the site. Day two, you look it over, we make your changes, and it goes live. Fast on a phone, set up for Google, with your ticket link front and center.
You don't pay for anything until you've seen it. Ask for your free demo, or call us at (562) 568-8305. You can also look through our website designs or read how we handle web design.
Halloween Marketing Questions
When should a haunted attraction start marketing?
By August. NRF says 49% of shoppers start in September or earlier, so your presale, your Google hours and your event pages need to be live before September 1.
How much will people spend on Halloween in 2026?
The NRF expects $13.5 billion, about $115 a person, with 74% of Americans planning to celebrate.
Can I still get a website up in time for this season?
Yes. We can have a fully built site live in a day or two, and you see it before you pay anything.
What should a pumpkin patch or haunt website include?
A ticket button at the top, every open night with how full it is, directions and parking, the questions people ask at the gate, and a sign-up for next year's dates.