10 Most Popular Halloween Candies in the US
Halloween, a special time of year, is one of the biggest symbols of Fall and is celebrated among many. In the United States, it is estimated that Americans annually spend $3.1 Billion on Halloween candy alone. Here is a list of the Top Ten most popular Halloween candies, including some spooky fun facts about them.
1. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
Reese’s has been around since 1928 and was made by H. B. Reese. The original name was “Penny Cups” because they only cost one cent in the 1930’s. In 2010, Hershey’s sponsored an online petition to make May 18 “I Love Reese’s Day” and over 40,000 people signed it.
2. Peanut M&Ms
Obviously, we all know about M&M’s but it is shocking to see the peanut version ranking higher first before the regular M&M’s. Peanut M&M’s were first made in 1954 and some of the first ones were written in black ink instead of white.
3. Classic Chocolate M&M’s
Did you know that the M’s in M&M’s actually stand for Mars and Murrie? Mars is the original creator of the idea of M&M’s and Murrie was the son of Hershey’s Bar President at the time. Although M&M’s was first created in 1941, M&M’s did not have the iconic M symbol on the chocolate shell until 1950.
4. Tootsie Pops
Tootsie Pops were first sold in 1931. It was the first candy ever to include a surprise in the middle. The creator, Leo Hirshfield, named the candy Tootsie Pops after his daughter, whom he used to call “Tootsie.” Some of the first flavors were grape, chocolate, orange, and cherry.
5. Twizzler’s
Twizzler’s holds the Guinness World Record for the longest piece of licorice candy made on July 19, 1998. Around 200 tons of Twizzlers are made every day to keep up with demand. The most popular flavor of Twizzlers is strawberry; which accounts for around 70% of the Twizzlers made Twizzler production is strawberry.
6. Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar
The first Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bar was sold in 1900 although the company started in 1894. The Creator of Hershey’s, Milton Hershey, actually had tickets to board the Titanic but was lucky enough to decide to skip out on it. The movie Titanic references this fact.
7. Sour Patch Kids
Sour Patch Kids tries to release a new flavor every year, this year they released Apple Harvest in honor of Fall. The original flavors were lemon, lime, orange, and cherry; in 2014 they added blue raspberry as an original flavor.
8. Candy Corn
Candy Corn is such a classic Halloween candy! In fact, there is a National Candy Corn Day on October 30th, the day before Halloween. Did you know that candy corn is a low-calorie candy? It only contains 7 calories per piece!
9. Kit Kat
Kit Kats were launched on August 29, 1935 in London. They used to be called Kit Kat Chocolate Crisp until 1949 when Nestle dropped the Chocolate Crisp from the name and shortened the name to make the name the classic Kit Kat. There are over 300 flavors of Kit Kats, including wasabi, apple vinegar, and soy sauce just to name a few.
10. Starbursts
Starbursts were created in 1971 in the United Kingdom. Before Starbursts used to be called, the name was Opal Fruits and the original flavors were lemon, orange, lime, and strawberry. Now the flavors are strawberry, cherry, orange, and lemon. Starbursts are also gluten-free and vegetarian, but they are not vegan because they contain gelatin and beeswax.
I hope you learned something new about the most popular American Halloween Candies! Which is your favorite? Do you disagree with the candies that made it onto this list?