Last week I read this Yahoo article about the 10 Least Favorite Types of Halloween Treats. Among the items listed were Smarties, Tootsie Rolls, Dum Dums, apples, toothbrushes, treat-size chocolates, raisins, and candy corn.
I definitely remember hating those little dum dum lollipops as a child, and loving Nestle’s Crunch/Hershey’s Krackle best of all. I didn’t mind the treat-size chocolates, but back then they were much larger than they are now (and they’re still shrinking).
No, I haven’t bought any candy yet. When we lived at our old house, we had lots of kids come by — but now, living at the end of a very long, dark driveway, only the brave few dare approach us. We’ve rewarded these adventurous souls with full-size chocolate bars and Pez. We’ve had as many as 24 kids, and as few as 2 (last year).
I know if I don’t buy any candy, lots of them will come. If I buy a lot of candy, nobody will come. And then we’ll be "stuck" eating all the leftovers!
Oh, the pressure! The angst! Now that I’ve read the undesirables list, I find myself wanting to buy candy that kids actually like (as opposed to stuff we like).
So, what are you giving out this year? What did you like most when you were a kid? What do your kids like most? Do you think kids these days have different preferences from previous generations?
Inquiring (and chocoholic) minds want to know!
Jama's Alphabet Soup 
I’m always conscious of having something non-chocolate on hand, because my son doesn’t eat it, and Halloween was a bust for him. (A boon for my daughter, who got all his rejected chocolate.)
I passed on the dums-dums, but I bought Jolly Rancher Blow-Pops. Those are good, right?
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I always like it when you get CHOCOLATE. Never been a fan of hard candy and wasn’t as a child, but that seems to be really popular at Halloween.
This year, though, I’m *also* giving out extra treat bags from a Halloween party I threw the other night. Score! Re-use!
Jules
7-Imp
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Oh I didn’t read Sara’s comment first. I almost sound rude to her poor non-eating-chocolate son. Bring on the hard candy!
🙂
Jules
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I’ll have to look for those Jolly Rancher Blow-Pops. Hadn’t heard of them. And it’s good to have something non-chocolate on hand — I do remember a couple of kids saying they were allergic.
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Chocolate does seem to be the hands down favorite. Hard candies were actually on the list of “least favorites,” come to think of it. Wonder what non-chocoholics prefer?
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Individual pretzel bags and some fun-size M&Ms. The pretzels are left over from when I had to provide snack for my younger daughter’s Chinese class last weekend, and they assuage my guilt over adding to the sugar storm. The M&Ms are so we don’t appear to be *too* health-obsessed. 😉 Both are things that will be cheerfully eaten by the other three members of our household, should we have any leftovers.
Our house is at the end of our neighborhood, and a giant hedge separates us from the house next door. From the corner, you can’t even SEE our house, so while houses three doors down get a billion kids, we get maybe 20, on average.
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Sounds like a good balance of the salty and the sweet!
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I did like Smarties, but other than Starburst fruit chews, they were just about the only non-chocolate candy I liked. I could pass on the candy corn, licorice, Mary Janes, jawbreakers, and jelly beans.
I’ve always preferred dark chocolate, but when I was a kid, almost all the chocolate candy was milk chocolate. Fortunately now the dark stuff is everywere!
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I hear you on the dark chocolate! I also liked those Starburst fruit chews, but no licorice or jawbreakers for me.
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chocolate, chocolate, chocolate! These days, I only get the candy my son doesn’t like–since we live too far out of town to get any trick-or-treaters. Luckily, he doesn’t do Butterfingers!
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You’re just like my husband. He won’t touch Butterfingers. I remember not minding them at all as a child.
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Kit Kat for me
Smarties for the hubby (which are like M&M’s here in Canada…American style Smarties are called Rockets!)
I eat it all because we don’t get any trick-or-treaters. I buy it anyway, “just in case”!
PS: I found “Truman’s Ant Farm” by Jama Rattigan in the Book Room at school the other day. We are reading it this week. 🙂
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Wow! Hope you like the book. Goes best with some rice pudding on the side :). I remember Smarties in England were like M&M’s. They’re entirely different in the U.S.
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