October 2nd...

Greetings readers and lurkers,

So...with Halloween approaching if you're like me you've already bought (and eaten) Halloween candy.  It is that love/hate existence - love candy - hate the fact that after eating a few dozen "fun size" bars I am thinking about the not-so-fun-size I may become.  Good thing I only indulge like this once a year..well...

So what's your favorite kind of candy (Halloween or not)?  My personal favorite is Snickers.  I like to put the "fun size" bars in the freezer.  Man! I love that candy. 

So I was surfing around the internet and found this cool site - http://www.myscienceproject.org - and I read about how much Halloween candy you can get in a pillowcase. It is a fun read (here) and according to their study a full pillowcase weighed in at 47.75 lbs (21.8kg) and contained approximately 1690 pieces of candy. That's A LOT of candy!

From my research is looks like Snickers and single Reese's Cups are the most popular Halloween candies. Americans will spend an average of $66.28 on Halloween, including $23.37 a costume, $20.29 on candy and $18.66 on decorations.

This from Candy USA (here)

Trick-or-Treat Tidbits

Adults
Four-in-ten (41%) adults admit that they sneak sweets from their own candy bowl.

On Halloween night, the majority (52%) of those providing treats to costumed kiddies will be passing out chocolate, while three‐in‐ten will drop hard candy or lollipops into the sacks.

62% of adults will be handing out candy because "it's a personal favorite" or it's a household tradition (55%)

43% of grown-up celebrants cite costumes as one of the most indispensable parts of the holiday.

About 26% of households will include full-size candy (chocolate and non-chocolate) in their Halloween activities.

90% of parents admit to sneaking goodies from their kids' Halloween trick-or-treat bags.

Parents favorite treats to sneak from their kids’ trick-or-treat bags are snack-size chocolate bars (70 percent sneak these), candy-coated chocolate pieces (40 percent), caramels (37 percent) and gum (26 percent).

Parents least favorite goodie to take from their kids’ trick-or-treat bags is licorice (18 percent).

Kids

30% of kids report that they SORT their candy first when returning home with trick-or-treat loot, others:
Savor it (20%)
Share it (16%)
Stash it (14%)

Swap it (7%)

Kids say they prefer homes that give: anything made with chocolate (68%) followed by lollipops (9%), gummy candy (7%) and bubble gum or chewing gum (7%)

More than 93% of children go trick-or-treating each year.

Kids tell us that their favorite treats to receive when trick-or-treating are candy and gum. Eighty-four percent of kids said candy and gum are their favorites over other options like baked goods or small toys.

According to Farley's & Sathers Candy Company, "Halloween is the sweetest holiday of the year, beating out Easter, Valentine's Day, and Christmas in sales of candy, including Brach's Sweet Honey Candy Corn and Caramel Apple Candy Corn."

Candy, Candy, Candy...oh...I feel a song coming on...

Git yerself some CANDY!!!

Mark Harvey