Monthly Archives: October 2019

Holiday, Shopping

Have A Happy Halloween!

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On Thursday we celebrate one of the most fun days of the year – Halloween! How are you going to celebrate? Go trick or treating with your children or grandchildren? Be at home to hand out treats? Let us know in the comments section.

As you know, Halloween is a big holiday for purchasing things. So before we go any further, I just want to remind you to record all of your Halloween purchases such as costumes, decorations, and candy.

OK, now that that’s out of the way, let’s do what we do best! Talk facts ‘n figures!

According to our friends at WalletHub,

  • $8.8 billion: The projected Halloween-related spending in 2019
  • 76% of Americans will spend $50 or less on/for Halloween this year
  • 68% of Americans plan to celebrate Halloween this year
  • 32% of Americans are throwing/attending a party
  • 44% of Americans plan to carve a pumpkin
  • 49% of Americans plan to decorate their home
  • 22% of Americans plan to visit a haunted house
  • 47% of Americans plan to dress in costumes

Speaking of Halloween costumes …

  • $3.2 billion: The amount Americans will spend on Halloween costumes this year
  • 1.3 million children plan to dress as a witch
  • 2.4 million children will dress as their favorite superhero
  • 3.1 million children will dress as their favorite princess
  • 2 million adults will dress as a vampire
  • 5 million adults will dress as a witch
  • 17% of Americans will dress their pets in costumes (most popular Halloween costumes for pets: Pumpkin, hot dog, superhero, bumble bee)

As for trick-or-treaters …

  • More than 41 million: The number of potential trick-or-treaters in 2019 (children age 5 to 14)
  • 69% of Americans plan to give candy to trick-or-treaters
  • $2.6 billion will be spent on Halloween candy this year
  • 29% of Americans plan to take their children trick-or-treating
  • 72% of parents admit to secretly eating their child’s candy
  • 85% of parents have a plan for helping their children enjoy candy in moderation
  • 68% of Americans say chocolate is their favorite Halloween treat

Finally, Candystore.com released its self-compiled rankings of the most popular Halloween candy in every state.

Candystore.com created its rankings based on 12 years of its sales data (from 2007 to 2018) with a focus on the months leading up to Halloween. The online candy seller also collaborated with “major candy manufacturers and distributors” to help determine the most popular candy in each state (and Washington, D.C.), as well as the first and second runners up. (Certain candies are more likely to be sold in bulk and, as a result, may be overrepresented in the lists.)

In addition to the top Halloween candy state rankings, Candystore.com also released a list of the most popular Halloween candy in the U.S. overall.

  1. Skittles
  2. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
  3. M&M’s
  4. Snickers
  5. Starburst
  6. Candy Corn
  7. Hot Tamales
  8. Tootsie Pops
  9. Sour Patch Kids
  10. Hershey’s

Most Popular Halloween Candy By State

Alabama ― Hershey’s Mini Bars
Alaska ― Twix
Arizona ― Skittles
Arkansas ― Hot Tamales
California ― Skittles
Colorado ― Twix
Connecticut ― Milky Way
Delaware ― Skittles
District of Columbia ― Tootsie Pops
Florida ― Skittles
Georgia ― Jolly Ranchers
Hawaii ― Skittles
Idaho ― Candy Corn
Illinois ― Kit Kat
Indiana ― Hot Tamales
Iowa ― Candy Corn
Kansas ― Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
Kentucky ― Swedish Fish
Louisiana ― Lemonheads
Maine ― Sour Patch Kids
Maryland ― Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
Massachusetts ― Butterfinger
Michigan ― Starburst
Minnesota ― Skittles
Mississippi ― Snickers
Missouri ― Milky Way
Montana ― Dubble Bubble
Nebraska ― Salt Water Taffy
Nevada ― Candy Corn
New Hampshire ― Starburst
New Jersey ― Tootsie Pops
New Mexico ― Candy Corn
New York ― Hot Tamales
North Carolina ― Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
North Dakota ― Candy Corn
Ohio ― M&M’s
Oklahoma ― Dubble Bubble
Oregon ― Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
Pennsylvania ― Hershey’s Mini Bars
Rhode Island ― Twix
South Carolina ― Skittles
South Dakota ― Starburst
Tennessee ― Tootsie Pops
Texas ― Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
Utah ― Jolly Ranchers
Vermont ― M&M’s
Virginia ― Hot Tamales
Washington ― salt water taffy
West Virginia ― Blow Pops
Wisconsin ― Starburst
Wyoming ― Salt water taffy

For more details, see https://www.candystore.com/blog/facts-trivia/halloween-candy-map-popular/

Let us know all about your favorite treats in the comments section.

Wishing you all a safe and happy Halloween!

Best Regards,
Taylor

Scavenger Hunt

Fall Scavenger Hunt Sweepstakes Results

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Happy Friday everyone! Our most recent Scavenger Hunt has ended; so my question to you is, did you find all six fall-related images?

Just to recap: Six fall-related images (graphics) were hidden in past blog posts from this year. Once found, participants entered the title of the particular blog post in a specially created survey.

Out of the thousands of correct entries, we then randomly selected five winners.

So let’s hear it for the five Fall Scavenger Hunt Sweepstakes winners who will each receive a $50 Amazon Gift Card claim code.

  • Becky G. / ldar …
  • Christina B. / ms.rizk …
  • Jennifer H. / jlynj …
  • Raya M. / rayaf …
  • Samantha J. / Zebra …

Note: For privacy, we only used their first names and the first initial of their last name, as well as the first few letters of their email addresses. (Winners will be contacted shortly.)

Here are the blog postings where the six images were located:

Do You Know Your Stores? (Posted on February 22, 2019) Acorn
How ‘Bout A S’more! (Posted on August 9, 2019) Bucket of Apples
Got A Question? Go To The Video (Posted on June 7, 2019) Football
Millennials And Online Shopping (Posted on February 8, 2019) Pie
Spotlight On Sustainability (Posted on May 17, 2019) Pumpkin
A Brief History Of Coupons (Posted on March 22, 2019) leaf

I hope you enjoyed participating in this Scavenger Hunt!

Have a great weekend.

Best Regards,
Taylor

Security

Keeping Cyber Secure

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It’s National Cyber Security Awareness Month. (The National Cyber Security Awareness Month was created by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance.)

With most people doing virtually everything online nowadays, it is crucial that you protect yourself from “bad actors” trying to get your personal information.

So here are some useful tips from cso.com to help you stay cyber secure:

1. Always keep your privacy settings on: Most social networking websites, including Facebook, Instagram, etc., allow users to tweak or update their privacy settings easily. You can take advantage of these features and keep your online privacy intact on social media. Also, and this is pretty much common sense, don’t tell the world your business! Don’t post personal details that might come back to haunt you.

2. Choose strong passwords: Although it might be difficult for you to remember, the trickier the password, the better! There are multiple tools available on the internet that can help you create the strongest passwords. Also, don’t forget to change your passwords every couple of months.

3. Keep your antivirus program updated: Always make sure to stay current with your Operating System’s updates and the applications that you use. They provide a vital layer of security for your system and your devices.

4. Make sure your Internet connection is secured: Try avoiding a public Wi-Fi network completely, unless you can use a VPN (virtual private network) app installed on your device.

Hopefully these tips will keep you from having any problems in the future.

And don’t forget our Fall Scavenger Hunt Sweepstakes, which ends on Monday, October 14.

To enter, go to

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NCPBlog_FallSweeps

Here are some important details:

  • We’ve hidden images in past blog posts for you to find. It’s up to you to go through all of my blog postings from 2019 and look for the six fall-related images (graphics).
  • To be eligible, you must provide the exact title of the blog posting. (You may find it easier to copy and paste the exact title into the response field.) You do not need to include the date of the posting.
  • From all of the correct entries, five (5) winners will then be selected in a random drawing. Each winner will receive a $50 Amazon Gift Card claim code! (Please make sure to give us your contact information.)

Have a great weekend!

Best Regards,
Taylor

Scavenger Hunt

Fall Scavenger Hunt Sweepstakes

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Since it’s now officially fall, let’s celebrate the season with a Fall Scavenger Hunt Sweepstakes!

As we’ve done in the past, we’ve hidden images in past blog posts for you to find.

It’s up to you to go through all of my blog postings from 2019 and look for the six fall-related images (graphics).

Shhh… here’s a hint, you’ll be looking for graphics that depict: an acorn, a bucket of apples, a football, a leaf, a pie, and a pumpkin.

When you find any of the images listed, make a note of the blog post title where you found the image. After you have found all of the images, go to the link below and follow the instructions. 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NCPBlog_FallSweeps

Here are some other important details:

  • To be eligible, you must provide the exact title of the blog posting. (You may find it easier to copy and paste the exact title into the response field.) You do not need to include the date of the posting.
  • From all of the correct entries, five (5) winners will then be selected in a random drawing. Each winner will receive a $50 Amazon Gift Card claim code! (Please make sure to give us your contact information.)
  • The contest ends on Monday, October 14.

Please check out the rules:

http://www.ncponline.com/wbcnt/NCPBlog/Fall2019Sweepstakes.pdf

Good luck!

Best Regards,
Taylor

Amazon.com is not a sponsor of this promotion. Except as required by law, Amazon.com Gift Cards (“GCs”) cannot be transferred for value or redeemed for cash. GCs may be used only for purchases of eligible goods at Amazon.com or certain of its affiliated websites. For complete terms and conditions, see www.amazon.com/gc-legal. GCs are issued by ACI Gift Cards, Inc., a Washington corporation. All Amazon ®, ™ & © are IP of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. No expiration date or service fees.