Spirit-Halloween costumes cost more every year: still worth dressing up?
As Spirit Halloween costumes hit $40–$60 this year, are shoppers finding creative workarounds worth the effort, or is dressing up becoming a luxury they'll skip?
A radio-style debate on a real news story, written for A2 learners of English (elementary): simple sentences about familiar topics: prices, travel, work, food, plans.
Hear the whole debate in the app Free every day: today's episode at your level, with a synced transcript and the key vocabulary.
Get it on Google Play iPhone: join the waitlistThe debate in brief
Halloween costumes now cost forty to sixty dollars. The debate concerns whether tariffs on imports, cheap retail rents, or market consolidation after competitor closures drive these prices—or whether people will simply turn to thrifting and DIY alternatives instead.
Key vocabulary
| English | Meaning and example from the episode |
|---|---|
| costumes | clothing worn to look like someone else“Halloween costumes cost forty to sixty dollars now.” |
| retail | selling goods to customers in shops“Marcus knows retail.” |
| shopper | person who buys things from shops“Party City closed, so the costume shopper has no other place.” |
| tariff | tax on goods imported from other countries“The tariff on Chinese-made goods does.” |
| thrift | buy secondhand or used items cheaply“They thrift.” |
| licensed | officially approved or authorized to sell“The licensed costume is fifty-nine ninety-nine.” |
| retailer | shop or business that sells goods to customers“A retailer opens stores to sell a lot, cheap.” |
| resale | selling something secondhand that was bought before“The resale costume pays no tariff.” |
| spending | amount of money used to buy things“National spending will hit thirteen point five billion.” |
Who's talking
- Host
- Marcus Webb
Retail analyst and former costume-shop
Spirit's aggressive store expansion into closed competitors' locations lets them hold prices high; tariffs affect all retailers equally, so Spirit's sixty-dollar costumes reflect market power, not tariff costs. - Yuki Tanaka
Social media strategist and costume DIY
The price argument misses the point: shoppers see high retail prices and choose thrifting or making costumes themselves for a fraction of the cost, with better results. - Robert Finch
Economist focused on tariff policy and
Tariffs on Chinese imports raise the base cost for every costume retailer; the high prices stick because retailers absorbed that cost at the port, making sixty dollars the new floor nationwide.
The panelists are fictional characters, and their voices are generated with AI.
What they debate
- Can $40–$60 costumes still fit a $115 Halloween budget, or are families choosing fewer pieces?
- How much of Spirit's price jump comes from tariffs versus retailer profit margins?
- What makes a thrifted or DIY costume feel as good as a $60 licensed one?
- If tariffs stay high, do consumers anchor to new prices or drift toward homemade alternatives?
Transcript (beginning)
Hello and welcome. Halloween costumes cost forty to sixty dollars now. Can people find cheaper ways? Or will they stop dressing up? Marcus knows retail. Yuki makes costumes. Robert studies prices. Let's talk.
Marcus, Spirit opened fifteen hundred stores this year. Why?
Because the shops are cheap. That is the real reason. Spirit rents old shops for a short time. Party City closed, so the costume shopper has no other place. More stores, higher prices, same people.
Robert, Marcus says cheap rents keep prices high. Is that really how it works?
No, that argument works against him. Cheap short rent is a low cost. Low costs do not push a costume to sixty dollars. The tariff on Chinese-made goods does.
Yuki, people pay sixty dollars for one costume. What do your followers do instead?
They thrift. Last week a woman made Jessie from Toy Story for eleven dollars. Old red top, old trousers, a hat. The licensed costume is fifty-nine ninety-nine. Hers looked better.
No, wait — tariffs hit everyone, but only Spirit raised prices.
Oh, come on. Candy is up eight point one percent in one year. That is the BLS number. So no, Spirit is not alone. Costs rose across the whole season.
That is food, not a costume. Different story. A twenty dollar costume now costs forty. That is the jump. And it is Spirit's jump, because nobody sells against them.
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