Halloween is almost upon us and that means trick-or-treating and Halloween Candy! If you’re a kid, this is an exciting time to walk the neighborhood (or the mall or a church parking lot trunk-or-treat event) and fill up your bag with candy.  If you’re a grown-up, it means time to head to the grocery store and stock up on candy to give out.  Either way, we’re talking candy.  

But, make no mistake, not all Halloween candy is created equal. Both as a kid and adult, I (and just about everyone) have our preferences.  So, as you gear up to buy candy for your house or dream of what candy will end up in your trick-or-treat bag, let’s look at some of the best and worst Halloween candy. 

Best Halloween Candy

These are the candies that every kid wants to find in their bag at the end of a hard day’s work trick-or-treating.

Full Candy Bars

While your choice of candy bar may vary, it is unanimous that just about the best candy you could get as a kid was a full-sized candy bar. None of these little bite, snack, or mini-sized candy bars.  Those are all fine but come one.  They basically just give you a tiny taste of that Butterfinger or Snickers bar.  It’s almost mean-spirited!

But, when you see a full-size candy bar drop into that trick-or-treat bag, you know you scored big. As a kid, I remember that word would spread through the trick-or-treaters if a house was giving out something great and suddenly everyone would make a bee-line for that house. 

Want to be super popular with the kids in your neighborhood?  Be the house that gives out full candy bars.  

M&Ms

I’m not going to get into which type of M&Ms here. There are now so many options I can’t keep track of them all. When I was a kid, there were chocolate and peanut M&Ms and let’s face it, chocolate was the hands-down winner. But, today you can get peanut butter, mint chocolate, mocha, raspberry almond, triple chocolate, almond, fudge brownie, and pretzel, among other special holiday flavors. 

M&Ms are crowd-pleasers with the whole ‘melt in your mouth, not in your hand’ tagline. Your kids don’t end up with chocolate smeared all over their hands and face with M&Ms, which every parent appreciates. Basically, M&Ms are hard to beat.  

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

OK, this one isn’t for everyone, but I’m a big peanut butter fan. Basically in this world, we have people who love peanut butter and those who don’t.  And neither side understand the other.  It’s a bit like politics. But, as a strong peanut butter supporter, I love Peanut Butter Cups. I have no particular preference on the shape (pumpkins are nice for Halloween) and I also like the dark and white chocolate varieties. But, just the good old milk chocolate Reeses Peanut Butter Cup is always going to be a winner in my book.

Worst Halloween Candy

But, not every candy is welcome in the bag. Some are downright unappreciated.  

Candy Corn

Seriously.  Wax corn. Now, I know that a lot of people seem to love this stuff, but seriously.  I like candy and I like corn, but the two do not go together. Also, corn doesn’t even look like that!  Nope, candy corn is not going to make any list of welcome or desirable Halloween candy. 

Mary Janes

So, I mentioned I love peanut butter. However, I have to draw the line at these old-fashioned black and orange wrapped peanut butter taffy concoctions. Disclaimer: my wife loves these things, so I have to go hunting for them every year. But, I could never in good conscience give them out to trick-or-treaters.  That’s cruel and unusual punishment for the poor kids. 

Hard Candies (aka Grandma Candies)

Where do they even sell these? Is there a store where only grandparents shop? I’m not a grandparent yet, so it’s possible I haven’t been let in on this exclusive club. Look, I know it’s the thought that counts, but hard candies are just sad. I’m pretty sure they are cheap and also could be more than a decade old by the time they end up in a trick-or-treat bag (based on my own experience with hard candies from my grandma).