It’s Halloween, All Hallow’s Eve, and in the United States, at least, that means it’s time for a strange custom that children throughout the country look forward to with great delight: Trick or Treat. For no obvious good reason, kids dress up in costumes either whimsical or scary — depending on their age — and canvass the neighborhood, knocking on doors and seeking the best and tastiest candy, sweets and treats.
Actually, the origin of trick or treating is quite fascinating and probably comes from English celebrations of Guy Fawkes Day in the 1900s and earlier. By the 1920s, pranks and mischief became the more common outcome of Halloween, and the Great Depression made it worse: people couldn’t afford to give candy to children so the trouble just increased. It wasn’t until after WWII (and the end of sugar rationing) that the modern form of trick or treat candy quests began. Nowadays, it’s big business, with over $6 billion expected to be spent on candy, costumes and decorations this year.
Everyone has their favorite candy bar, sweet or treat (and mine is Butterfingers, in case you’re curious!) but what are the most popular? We already know that apples, raisins, and other “healthy” alternatives might make the adults feel good but are a tremendous disappointment to most kids and, in fact, typically ends up in the trash can.
Based on online surveys, here are some of the most popular: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups; Hershey’s Chocolate Bars; Milky Way; Kit Kat; Snickers; Twix; Skittles; M&Ms; Nerds; Twizzlers; Tootsie Rolls and Candy Corn.
Those are likely what parents and adults like to purchase so that they can “sample” the candy as it otherwise walks out the door to a random assortment of ghouls, goblins, princesses and witches.
What do kids actually like, though? Turns out that Candy Corn is #1, though the majority of Americans actually plan on giving out chocolate, according to the National Confectioners Association. The group says:
“The majority of Americans (52 percent) report that they will be handing out chocolate on October 31. Joining chocolate in the top five treats to be found in trick-or-treaters’ loot this year, adults say they plan to also give hard candy and lollipops (30 percent), chewy or gummi candy (19 percent), chewing or bubble gum (16 percent) and caramel treats (14 percent).”
The History of Candy Corn
Candy Corn was invented by George Renninger of the Wunderlee Candy Company back in 1880. That means that prior to that the poor children just didn’t have that as an option. Sad. But George wanted to mimic the appearance of actual kernels of corn, just bigger. 3x bigger, in fact. But they’re all made of sugar, corn syrup, wax, artificial colors and binders. So no, they’re not really a vegetable or grain. Just a candy.
There’s also something called “Indian corn” which has chocolate brown on the wide end, and orange center, and a white tip, color and flavor variants from normal candy corn. Not enough? Then you should look for blackberry cobbler candy corn, reindeer corn, cupid corn, bunny corn and caramel apple corn too. But good luck, they’re not all available during Halloween.
Best Places to Trick or Treat?
Which leads to the question: where’s the best place to get a good haul? Turns out that there are a lot of economists and other analysts seeking to figure this one out, and the most thoughtful index I could find was the Trick or Treat Index, which is computed from “the following five metrics: the share of children aged 5 to 14; median household income (figuring the haul will be better in more affluent metros), population density, walkability (measured as the percentage of people who walk or bike to work) and creative spirit (which we measured as the percentage of artists, designers, and other cultural creatives).”
The result? Bridgeport, CT ranks #1, and the next nine are: Northern New Jersey, Long Island NY, Naperville IL, Arlington VA, Minneapolis MN, Lancaster PA, Long Beach, CA, Trenton NJ, Quincy MA and Wilmington, PA. My city isn’t on the list, so I’ll have to just tell any kids that knock on the door they’re simply in the wrong city. That won’t end badly, will it?
In any case, Happy Halloween!