Trick or Treat: Give Me Sweets

What’s Chesapeake Country’s favorite Halloween candy?

By Kathy Knotts

For all its spooky, scary and terrifying tales, Halloween is actually quite sweet. Of course we are talking about the obscene amounts of candy American children (and adults) will rake in over the course of what is now a multi-day occasion.

According to the National Retail Federation, Halloween candy spending should hit a whopping $3 billion this year—a 20 percent increase over last year and 10 percent over the previous all-time high.

Overall Halloween spending is predicted to be over $10 billion. That’s up 26 percent over last year.

For the past few years, we have turned to our friends at CandyStore.com for the annual ranking of the most popular Halloween candy state-by-state, based on 14 years of candy sales data.

As a nation, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups jumped to beat Skittles as the new #1 overall. Sour Patch Kids and Hot Tamales are closing in on M&M’s, which ranks #3. And the-ever controversial candy corn takes its place at #10.

In Maryland we have a sweet tooth for Hershey Kisses, which ranks #1, followed by (no surprise) Reese’s Cups and Hershey’s Mini Bars. Perhaps it’s our proximity to Hershey that inspires such devotion?

CBM Bay Weekly posed the question to Chesapeake Country on social media: what do you hope to find in your trick-or-treat bag? You told us that Reese’s are the best Halloween treat, followed by M&M’s (peanut butter is a favorite), Twix and Snickers.

Around the office it’s a close contest between Twix lovers and Reese’s fans. Moviegoer Diana Beechener had a surprising choice: “My favorite Halloween treats are mellowcreme pumpkins (yes, they’re different than candy corn, I don’t care what everyone says) and Reese’s pumpkins (I like a theme).”

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know on Facebook and Instagram @BayWeekly.

Check out the CandyStore.com U.S. map:     

candystore.com/blog/facts-trivia/halloween-candy-map-popular/?y=2021