Halloween Candy Prices Soar, Sales Down. How Much Will You Hand Out?

Many people are cutting corners this year. Are you one of them?

Slow Start to Sales

The Associated Press reports Halloween candy sales are off to a slow start amid high chocolate prices and affordability concerns

Halloween candy sales are off to a slow start this year as U.S. consumers grapple with high living costs and eye-popping chocolate prices.

Halloween candy sales fell 6.7% in the month ending Oct. 17 compared to the same period last year, according to NielsenIQ, a market research firm. Nielsen also noted an 11.7% decline in candy sales in mid-September, erasing the preseason gains that Halloween candy enjoyed the previous two years.

Chris Costagli, a vice president and food thought leader at NielsenIQ, said high gas prices have worsened Americans’ concerns about affordability, and that’s dampening demand for Halloween treats. As of Friday, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S. was $4.29, up nearly 40% from the prior year.

“I think what you’re seeing now is a consumer that’s spending so much additional money on fuel and housing and clothing and food,” Costagli said. “Some of the decisions they’re making about Halloween candy, it’s not necessarily because, ‘I notice it’s more expensive than last year,’ it’s, ‘I can’t afford it this year because I’ve paid so much more for so many other things. I just don’t have the financial means to buy it this year.’”

This week, discount grocer Aldi was advertising a 135-piece variety pack of Mars Inc. chocolate bars – including Milky Way, Trix and Snickers – for $19.87. That’s almost the same price consumers paid for a 250-piece variety pack five years ago.

BLS Says Prices up 7.7 Percent

Does 7.7 percent include substituting carob for Snickers or jelly beans for M&Ms?

I don’t buy this 44 percent idea over 5 years either.

The Scariest Part of Halloween This Year

The New York Times reports The Scariest Part of Halloween This Year? The Candy Prices.

The average cost of a 100-piece bag has jumped 71 percent in the last five years. Consumers are thinking twice about what they’ll spend.

One recent analysis of the prices on 17 popular Halloween candy varieties showed a 15 percent jump from last year. The average price of a 100-piece bag is $16.96, up a staggering 71 percent since 2021, according to FinanceBuzz, a digital media company. Google searches for “cheap Halloween candy bulk” and “where to buy cheap Halloween candy” are up more than 5,000 percent year-over-year, said Megan Stoner, a spokeswoman for the company.

“The prices have gotten completely out of hand,” said Renni Turpin, 30. This is her first Halloween in a new neighborhood in Charlotte, N.C., and she wants to make a good impression. “No one wants to be the ‘raisin house,’” she said.

We asked New York Times readers if the price of candy was changing how they would approach trick-or-treating this year. More than 200 people responded, and almost 90 percent of them said they were adjusting their approach because the price of candy was so high. They are buying less, shopping sales and heading to bargain grocery outlets. Candy bowls are being cut with small bags of salty snacks, temporary tattoos, Play-Doh and low-cost trinkets they can buy in bulk.

A bag of Reese’s miniatures that weighed 17.6 ounces last year weighs 15.8 ounces now and costs $1.50 more, according to analysts at the web research company Apify.

Reese’s Miniatures Math

The average price above is $10.44. If it’s up $1.50 from a year ago, it was $8.94 a year ago.

That’s a 16.8 percent increase in just one year.

But that was for 17.6 ounces, not this year’s 15.8 ounce bag.

Shrinkflation is 1.8 ounces out of 17.6 ounces. That’s an additional 10.23 percent hit.

Add it all up and Reese’s are about 27 percent higher than a year ago.

Pro Tip on Hiding Candy

Confession

I was very good at this sort of trick when I was a kid. I would hide candy and ice cream bars that mom bought at the back of the freezer and cover them up with other stuff so they were not easily seen.

I got the lion’s share of Eskimo Pies for myself this way. Same with Ding-Dongs and Ho-Hos which are very good frozen.

Trump on Gasoline Prices

“I don’t give a damn. I’m gonna say it. We’re making a freaking fortune.”

That would make a great Democrat campaign ad in every state.

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