-By Mike Beirne

Holidays seem to start earlier every year and Halloween is no exception. Marketers are already trotting out the jack-o-lanterns and spooky skeletons nearly three months before Halloween.

Kohl's, Mars, Lillian Vernon and Ballard Designs are among the companies looking for an early boost from this profitable holiday. Halloween generated an estimated $5.07 billion in sales last year, per the National Retail Federation, Washington.

Home furnishings and accessories retailer Ballard, for one, decided to start early based on last year's trends. A post-Halloween analysis of search behavior at BallardDesigns.com showed that people were browsing for Halloween merchandise as early as July. They bought elsewhere after not finding much of a selection at Ballard. "We missed the boat," said a rep for Ballard, Atlanta.

The company started its Halloween planning in January. It created a holiday cause marketing promotion with Ronald McDonald House Charities, and launched its online catalog of Halloween-themed party décor, lighting and pumpkins earlier this month.

Ballard is not alone on the retail front. Lillian Vernon's Web site sports outdoor Halloween décor, Menards rolled out store sections stocked with home decorations and costumes and Kohl's is already displaying pumpkin centerpieces.

In the candy aisle, Mars jumped ahead of rival Hershey and soon-to-be subsidiary Wm. Wrigley Jr. by launching HalloweenMillion.com last week. The Web site, created by G2, New York, features an instant-win sweepstakes with chances to win $1 million and Visa gift cards.

Despite the economy, the National Confectioners Assn. projects Halloween candy sales will increase by 2.8% to $2.265 billion this year.

Other categories may suffer however.  Consumers will still host parties, but they're likely to make party trays from scratch rather than purchase ready-made morsels. Sales of "add-ons" like ceramic haunted houses may also decline.

"Shoppers are already paying more for gas, food and their net worth is taking a hit from the mortgage crisis," said Thom Blischok, president of innovation and consulting at IRI, Chicago. "The shopper has an uneasy anticipation about the future. They're not sure when things will change."

Launching campaigns early does succeed in reminding shoppers to get ready for Halloween, said Blischok, "but it also can have an irritating effect and turn shoppers already stressed out financially into skipping that holiday and moving on to the next one."