Look past the Halloween candy and you’ll see it, the Christmas trees and holiday lights.

If you think you’re getting bombarded early, well, you are. Over the past couple of holiday shopping seasons, retailers learned that door-buster deals and midnight sales bring out shoppers long before Black Friday.

Actually, NPD Group has determined that fewer people have already stashed presents in the closet this year, but more of us will start shopping before Thanksgiving than last year.

Outlooks for the season are modest but positive.

A National Retail Federation survey release this morning shows consumers will spend an average of $749.51 on gifts and holiday goodies. We spent $740.57 per person last year, the group says. All in all, the federation is predicting a $586.1 billion haul from the holidays.

• $421.82 on children, parents and relatives
• $75.13 on friends
• $23.48 on co-workers
• $28.13 on others, including pets
• $100.76 on food and candy
• $28.66 greeting cards
• $19.55 on flowers
• $51.99 on decorations

* Yes, rounding on the cents clearly gave an extra penny to the total when broken down by category.

“We’ve seen this pattern of cautious optimism all year and despite the challenges that still exist in our economy, it looks as if consumers are eager to celebrate with friends and family,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said in the news release.

Another group that surveys shoppers also found a positive trend.

PriceGrabber.com’s first survey of the holiday season showed 54% of consumers plan to spend $500 or more this holiday season.

Where will they spend it?

• 75 percent will shop at online retailers.
• 74 percent will shop at discount stores.
• 60 percent of us will use credit cards to pay for it.