Halloween is difficult for parents who have to rush home after work to get their children ready for Trick Or Treating. Children trick or treating for Halloween on a workday are at higher risk from cars rushing to get home from work. A recent petition to change Halloween to the last Saturday of the month seeks to resolve this issue to some extent, but would cause other problems, effectively ending the Halloween sales and tourist industry up to a week early should the 31st fall on a Friday. There are many businesses that depend on a full 4 weeks or more of Halloween sales and rentals (holiday decorations, candy and related items are second only to Christmas in the United States) as well as haunted attractions and events like Universal Halloween Horror Nights. These would suffer a 25% or more loss if the Saturday option is adopted. Making October 31st a Federal holiday would eliminate any need for the Saturday option.

 As of now Halloween is not a federally recognized holiday, which means the legislature can not adopt any legislation related to this day. If Halloween is designated as a Federal holiday, it would allow many people to take the day off, allow the retail and haunted attractions season to run its full course and decrease the conflict between trick or treating children and rush hour traffic.

 In addition, a majority of the members of the Pagan community observe the 31st of October as a religious day of observation. Other religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter are federal holidays already so this would be in line with religious equality.

This petition seeks to get October 31st recognized as a Federal Holiday to maintain the traditional and religious values of this day and allow for a full retail and haunt season.

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