The National Confectioners Association reports that six hundred million pounds of candy are sold annually during the Halloween season. Ninety million pounds of that total are chocolate varieties.
According to the National Retail Federation a grand total of $3 billion will be spent on Halloween candy.
The most popular well-known slogan of Halloween is “trick or treat”. The tradition of trick or treating became during the Middle Ages when children went door to door promising to pray for their neighbors deceased loved ones in return for food. The custom is still done today with candy, but with the original meaning forgotten.
Candy corn is one of the oldest Halloween candies still eaten today, dating back to the 1880s.
At that time, over half the population were farmers. The candy was called “chicken feed” because it resembled corn that was fed to chickens, according to National Geographic. The box that the candy corn was sold in had a rooster on the front.
Today, Snickers, Milky Way, Skittles, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are the top sellers.
The bright red strawberry Twizzlers are another favorite but black licorice is the least favorite of all.
Today, many different types of gummies, witches hats, mummies, ghosts, and eyeball lollipops, among many others, are gaining in popularity.
For more information on Halloween read:
How Adults Celebrate Halloween
Halloween Goes to the Dogs
Click here for a great assortment of halloween candy bowls at Amazon
Author Marilyn Pokorney
Copyright Marilyn Pokorney 2022