It's expected that $2.7 billion will be spent on trick-or-treat candy this year.
Yes, that billion with a B!
A couple of weeks ago, an email from Candystore.com showed up in my inbox. (It was fortuitous timing: I needed to come up with a PEO program for October.)
They had evaluated sales data from all 50 states and put together an interactive map featuring favorite Halloween candies by state.
Kansas' most popular Halloween candy has changed since last year. Reece's Peanut Butter Cups have edged out M&Ms, which dropped to second place. Candystore.com says that 231,476 pounds of peanut butter cups were sold in Kansas, compared to 230,082 pounds of M&Ms.
You'd think with all the corn grown in Kansas, candy corn would be the obvious choice. However, our third-place winner was Dubble Bubble Gum at 159,092 pounds. (I find it hard to believe, but that's what the website says.)
Now that our neighborhood children have all grown up, we don't have trick or treaters on the County Line anyway. Actually, we never have had many small visitors on October 31.
I grew up trick or treating in the country, but most of Stafford's rural kids just went to town for the holiday. I was so disappointed the first year we were married. I had my bowl of treats and my porch light was on. I waited. And waited. And waited. No one ever came.
(Photo taken June 26, 2011, at the closing of Byers UMC)Some of us would stay in Byers and go door-to-door. I always wanted to go on the northwesterly country route by car so I could put one of my Grandma Neelly's homemade popcorn balls in my goody sack.
I learned a lot about myself at Halloween. As a chubby princess, I declared I would never wear high heels again. My Dad proclaimed that he wanted a recording of that bold statement. But as it has turned out, I do prefer flats.
Another year, I learned that a computer made from a large box is tough to cram into the back seat of a car, especially when you're wearing it. (I wish I had a photo of it.) I was apparently ahead of my time. I didn't really work on a computer until journalism classes at K-State. But they were evidently in the news, since I decided to craft my own from a cardboard box that year. In hindsight, it would have been a better costume for walking the streets of Byers. But then I wouldn't have had the tale to tell, I suppose ... or Grandma's popcorn ball!
I think they missed their calling. They should have been actors. (These photos probably aren't politically correct anymore. But they make me smile, and they were done in good fun back before I even thought about such things.)The Halloween candies are already being edged out in the big box stores as the merchandisers make way for Christmas goodies. Sometimes, you can find seasonal candy on sale the day after the holiday. Candy prices seem to be high to me this year, so if you can score a bag of discount candy, you could make one of these tried-and-true treats, tested on The County Line. (Does anyone else find it depressing that all prices seem to go up ... except farm commodities?)
Happy Halloween!
I would come trick or treating at your house if you gave out treats like those you pictured! :) We don't get any here, either! I think it would be fun, but I guess most kids want to go in neighborhoods where they can just go door to door and get a stash!
ReplyDeleteYes. We trick or treated with our granddaughters in their neighborhood last night. But once they were done, they had fun handing out candy, too!
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