Before you fill your trick-or-treat bowl with all the usual goodies, have a look at some of the new finds that have hit the shelves this season
By Megan Seling
No, trick-or-treating is not canceled, but it does work a little differently now. The social-distancing guidelines that came with COVID-19 have inspired Halloween revelers to get creative with how they hand out candy.
Some households have built Halloween candy chutes, ziplines, and drones in an effort to maintain a safe distance from their candy-craving visitors. Others have tied treats to festive balloons, so kids can grab and go without touching anything. One family even made a candy cannon!
However you pass out the goods—be it trunk-or-treating or homemade candy-tossing thingamajigs—here are 10 treats not to miss this year. Some are brand new—like the Starburst Pops, which are delicious—and others have been around, but tend to be overlooked in the storm of seasonal sweets.
1. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
According to 14 years’ worth of sales at Candystore.com, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are the most popular Halloween candy in America (though it comes in third on Instacart’s list of candy sold on their platform by weight.)
Last year Reese’s gave their milk chocolate-covered treats a Halloween makeover and, for the first time ever, introduced color into their peanut butter cups. The Franken-Cup has milk chocolate on top and green crème on the bottom, a festive nod to all the creepy ghouls and monsters that haunt the season.
While Reese’s purists might stick to the cups, I prefer Reese’s Halloween shapes—bats, pumpkins, and ghosts. They have a higher peanut butter-to-chocolate ratio. Mmm, peanut butter.
2. Snickers Peanut Brownie Squares
While Reese’s may rule Halloween candy sales, Snickers are one of the best-selling candy bars in the country overall. In 2019, Eat This, Not That! reported that Snickers sold more than 400 million candy bars per year!
This year, Snickers introduced a new Fun Size candy bar to their Halloween line-up, the Snickers Peanut Brownie Square. A fudgy peanut brownie is topped with a layer of gooey caramel and the whole thing is coated in milk chocolate. It’s a must for anyone who automatically reaches for the chocolate Halloween candy every year.
3. Skittles Shriekers
Skittles has been getting really into the Halloween spirit in recent years. In 2016, they introduced Cauldron Skittles, a mix of seasonally inspired fruit flavors including Petrified Pear, Bogey Berry, and Twisted Tangerine. In 2019, they got a little grosser by introducing Zombie Skittles, where some of the candies “taste delicious but some taste like rotten zombie.” I was too much of a wuss to try them.
This year the candy company continues to taunt anyone willing to risk a trick for their treat with Skittles Shriekers. Some of the candies are sweet and “some are so sour they will make you shriek,” says the packaging. Did I try them? Of course. And while I didn’t scream, there were a few pieces that were so tart I had to run to grab a glass of water for quick relief.
4. Witch’s Brew KitKat
Like the Reese’s Franken-Cups, KitKat Witch’s Brew bars are tinted green for Halloween, and KitKat has thrown in another twist—the crispy wafers are filled with a tasty marshmallow-flavored crème. Plus, the funny little witch on the wrapper—toiling over her bubbling cauldron—makes these treats one of the cutest Halloween candies out there.
5. Pirate’s Booty
Candy, candy, candy! Every list of popular Halloween candy out there will tell you trick-or-treating is all about the sugar. I was surprised to learn from a few parent friends of mine, though, how much their kids love finding the occasional salty snack during their trick-or-treating outings.
Pirate’s Booty is a crunchy, cheesy Cheeto-like crisp that contains no artificial colors or preservatives, if you’re into that sort of thing, and kids love it. (Honestly, I do too.) If you really want to offer the best Halloween treats this season, have both candy and chips on hand and let your little visitors choose.
6. Ant-Lix Suckers
What’s trick-or-treating without the tricks? Surprise those candy-craving ghosts with a lollipop that’s filled with real ants. Hot Lix’s insect suckers may look like an icky prank, but they’re the real deal and available in flavors like apple, banana, blueberry, and watermelon.
In fact, the California-based company has a whole range of buggy confections, including sweet and sour Earthwoormz and chocolate-covered crickets! They’re not cheap—a box of 36 Ant-Lix Suckers is $81 at hotlix.com—but the surprised looks on all those faces might be worth the price.
7. Starburst Pops
Don’t want to pass out a bug-laced lollipop? Understandable. Opt for the brand new Starburst Pops, a fruit-flavored sucker with a chewy Starburst candy center. It’s like two candies in one!
8. Cookies and Screeem M&Ms
A bowl of M&Ms is a must for every Halloween party candy table and the new-this-year Cookies and Screeem M&Ms are the perfect festive addition. The oversized orange, black, and white milk chocolate gems are stuffed with a white chocolate center, giving the candy some tasty cookies-and-cream vibes.
Unfortunately, unlike all the other candy on this list, the Cookies and Screeem M&Ms aren’t sold in trick-or-treat-sized packages, but they’d be a great decoration for a Halloween gingerbread house or you can stir them into a batch of M&M chocolate chip cookies. This recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction is one of my favorites.
9. Nerds Candy Corn
Don’t let the words “candy corn” fool you—the new Nerds Candy Corn candies are nothing like the divisive tri-colored candy that’s unavoidable this time of year. These candy corns are chewy and bursting with flavor.
The outer shell is one flavor while the gummy inside is another—there’s watermelon with cherry-watermelon, raspberry with strawberry-grape inside, blue raspberry with blue raspberry-fruit punch inside, and more—and unlike other hard-as-rocks Nerds candy, these soft sweets won’t threaten to chip a tooth.
10. Haribo Trick-or-Treat Mix
Haribo’s Trick-or-Treat Mix has it all—mini packages of Ghostly Gummies, Sour Vampire Bats, Happy Cola, Twin Snakes, and their original Goldbears—and it’s available in both 80 and 150-count bags. The Ghostly Gummies are fruit flavored and they come in spooky skeleton, jack-o-lantern, skull, and bat shapes; the Sour Bats are smaller than your average gummy bear but they still manage to pack a tart punch. Can’t decide? Go for the Twin Snakes—one side is sweet, the other side is sour, and there’s no way to know which is which without taking a bite.
About the author: Megan Seling is the founder of Snack and Destroy, a weekly newsletter about snacks, candy, and rock and roll. Subscribe at snackanddestroy.substack.com! You can also follow along with her tasty adventures on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Her favorite Halloween candy is the 100 Grand and she prefers Hi-Chews to Starbursts.
Cover photo by Megan Seling
