Everyone has a favourite part of Halloween – some love the costumes, others the decorations, and others live for their annual scary movie marathons!
These people are all wrong, of course. Their actual favourite part of Halloween is the candy!
The world of candy is as changing as it is constant. Some candies have been around for over a hundred years, while others fizzled out as quick as they came.
This means that putting together a list of the most popular candies from different decades can be a little tricky. Exact sales data is hard to come by, so most rankings listicles are vibes-based.
This is a level of unscientific bloggery that our Candyologists will not stand for!
Through a thorough study of cultural trends and small scale surveys (n=31), we have accurately ranked the top 2 Halloween candies for each decade. We also make (data-based) predictions about what new-fangled candy will be able to stand the test of time!
So without further ado, we now present to you our list of the Top Halloween Candies By Decade!
80s - Fun Dip
An all-time classic!
Originally called Lik-M-Aid, these little pouches of fruity fun have been keeping kids sugared-up since the 1940s!
In the beginning, there was no ‘right’ way to enjoy the candy. The most popular was licking your finger and dipping it into the pouch (and who among us hasn’t), but other ideas were printed right on the package! It could give a kick to your corn flakes, flavour a snow cone, dust your cookies, or be stirred into a glass of water like a drink mix!
But all that changed in 1973 with the addition of the famous Lik-A-Stix! Lik-M-Aid changed its name to Fun Dip, and the rest is history!
Fun Dip continued to grow year after year. A few new flavours and choice packaging redesigns in the 80s are what really brought this simple classic candy into the limelight! As more flavours were added to the Fun Dip family, its status as a candy icon was cemented!
It's fun, it’s hip, it’s Fun Dip!
80s - Reese’s Pieces
Yes, it’s because of E.T.
Reese’s Pieces have been around since 1978, but a little movie about a little alien made them an icon!
Hershey’s began making panned (candy-coated) chocolates in the 1950s called Hershey-ets. The sales for these new candies were poor, and what’s worse was they had a difficult time explaining what they were without name-dropping their competition. After a few middling years, they were discontinued, only coming out for the holidays.
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups on the other hand were a booming success! Wanting to create a spin-off candy to keep the excitement going, the Hershey R&D team dusted off the panning machine and got to work!
Their first idea was to simply put a candy shell on peanut butter, but the oil seeped into the shell too quickly and made the candy soft. Then they tried to do the same with the Reese’s filling, but ran into the same problem.
After some time and tinkering, their team came up with a peanut-flavoured penuche (soft fudge) that worked perfectly! They dialed in the shell’s thickness for optimal crunch, and Reese’s Pieces were born!
Contrary to popular belief, despite their chocolate and peanut butter inspirations, Reese’s Pieces don’t have any chocolate in them (not even the brown ones)!
Sales for the newest member of the Reese’s family were meeting expectations for the first few years, but a meeting with Universal Studios is where their success was truly secured!
Originally, E.T. was meant to feature the competitor to Hershey-ets... M&M’s! Mars, Inc was approached first to be featured, but they rejected the offer. The vice president of Universal Studios, trying to think of an alternative, asked his son what he would use. The son simply said, “Reese’s Pieces.”
And so, in an ironic twist of fate, the new candy on the block was given the space to skyrocket in popularity! The success of E.T. has cemented both the film and Reese’s Pieces as pop-culture icons for generations!
90s - Nerds
Can you hear the rattle?
Nerds have been shaking up the candy game since 1983! Two fun flavours in every box lets you eat your favourites one at a time or mix them together for a double dose of flavour!
These crunchy tangy candies were always a welcome reprieve from the glut of gummies you would receive each year. Gummies are great of course, but there was always something so exciting about spotting the iconic box of these unique candies among the sea of liquorice and gum drops.
Nowadays, it’s all about Nerds Gummy Clusters! I'm sure you already know all about these Nerds-coated gummies, so I won't go into any more detail here. Mini treat-size bags were introduced recently, so you might be lucky enough to get one in your bag this year!
90s - Coffee Crisp
It really is a nice light snack!
Sweet, crunchy, and satisfyingly sturdy, Coffee Crisp has been a Canadian classic since 1938!
Their unmistakable shape and bright yellow colour made finding these in your candy bag a cinch! And more importantly, it made them easy to spot in the bags of others!
I never found them to have a strong coffee taste – just enough to set it apart from KitKats or other wafer candies. Luckily for me, other kids didn’t share that sentiment. Whether they were over-tasting it, or just going by the name on the wrapper, tons of kids I knew didn’t want anything to do with them or their coffee flavour. So, they were VERY easy to trade for! For weeks after Halloween, I could reliably trade for a handful of Coffee Crisp every lunch!
To this day, Coffee Crisp is one of the most common and popular Halloween candies in Canada!
00s - Oh Henry!
What could be better than peanuts, caramel, and fudge smothered in chocolate?!
Another favourite in a yellow wrapper! These chocolate bars have everything you could ask for in a satisfying snack! Just one from your stash was enough to get you up and going again (not that you’d only eat ONE, of course)!
In the second grade, our teacher told us that Oh Henry! was her favourite chocolate bar. But more importantly, she said that she wouldn’t be going out Trick or Treating that year! Instead, she’d be handing out candy and grading papers!
We couldn’t believe it! Missing Halloween for schoolwork?! We were horrified!
The day after Halloween, unprompted and without planning, every single kid in the class brought their Oh Henry! bars for her! She was so overjoyed we got to spend the afternoon watching a movie and free-playing!
Any time I see an Oh Henry! I remember that day, and the collective conviction of children to amend an injustice that had been done to our teacher.
This year, ask your teacher what their favourite candy is. You’ll make their day, and maybe make a memory!
00s - Starburst
Everyone thinks their favourite flavour is the best. Only the people who pick pink are right!
Originally named Opal Fruits, these sweets were invented in England in 1959. Eight years later in 1967, they were introduced to America as "M&M's Fruit Chewies." Within the year they were renamed to Starburst to avoid confusion with M&M's chocolate.
Today, they're available in a wide range of flavours, styles, and sizes. But on Halloween, it's all about the fun-sized 2-packs!
Opening the little halloween 2-packs was high-stakes back in the day. You could bust and get two yellows, or hit the jackpot with two pinks! Chewy, soft, and bursting with juicy fruity flavour, it didn’t really matter what flavours you got because they were all so delicious!
Just don’t keep them in your pockets or the waxed wrapper will stick to the candy!
10s - Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
An unmistakable favourite in an unmistakable wrapper!
Invented in 1928 by H.B. Reese, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups have been a chocolate lover’s favourite for almost 100 years!
Every kid in Canada knows their colour. When you spot that flash of orange in your pile of candy, you know exactly what you’ve found! And once you have it in your hands, the ritual begins. Opening the wrapper, sliding it off of the paperboard tray, caaarefully peeling the liner away so as little chocolate as possible is stuck to it, then in it goes – all in one bite!
Just the one cup in the halloween-sized pack is all it takes to get you digging for more!
There have been dozens of variations and spin-offs of Reese’s over the years, but the humble Peanut Butter Cup remains king. Is it any wonder it’s shaped like a crown?
10s - Sour Skittles
Petite Packets of Puckersome Perfection!
Sour Skittles are your favourite sour candy’s favourite sour candy.
The crispy shell, the chewy fruity centre, and the tongue-shredding coarse coating of super sour sugar makes Sour Skittles an unforgettable favourite!
Whether you’re a candy casual or connoisseur, when you see that iconic bright lime green wrapper, you know you’re about to get into the best Skittles ever made!
Predictions for the 20s
New candies and snacks are added to Candy Funhouse almost every day! And when new things come, old things go. Some new candies make a big splash and stick around, others belly flop and sink into obscurity.
We’ve made two predictions about which Halloween candies the 20s will be nostalgically remembered for. One we think is a safe bet, and the other is one we’re reeeeally hoping catches on and sticks around for many Halloweens to come!
Hi-Chew
This incredible chewy candy from Japan has been taking the candy world by storm!
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that these are the best chewy candies on the market. Super satisfying, ridiculously juicy, and packed with unparalleled fruity flavours, Hi-Chews deserve every drop of hype they get!
Hi-Chew was exclusively sold in Japan for most of its life, only recently becoming available in Canada through specialty retailers like Candy Funhouse. As its popularity has grown over the last ten or so years, it's made its way into the candy aisles of regular grocery stores across the country.
We predict Hi-Chew will be a top nostalgic Halloween candy because it’s individually wrapped for trick-or-treaters, widely available, and HUGELY popular. If they ever come out with a Halloween edition, no one else stands a chance!
KitKat Ghost Toast
Speaking of Halloween editions, KitKat Ghost Toast swaps out its milk chocolate for a delicious cinnamon toast flavoured creme!
These snack-sized bars are primed to be a nostalgic classic to a whole new generation!
Between its similarity to a certain cinnamon toast cereal that no Saturday morning would be complete without, the rare novelty of a character on vertical packaging (lowkey smartphone-coded), and the fact that it’s just really REALLY good; KitKat Ghost Toast is our second prediction for the “Top Nostalgic Halloween Candies of the 20s” lists of the future!
That concludes our list of the Top Halloween Candies By Decade! Do you agree with our list? What decade were you trick or treating in? What were your favourite halloween candies as a kid? Let us know down below!
If you're looking for some more Halloween treats, check out our Halloween Candy Collection!
Until next time! Stay Fun!
