• Over 17,000 CandyStore.com customers surveyed
• Data compiled and combined from outside sources as well
Candystore.com is your one-stop for America’s top candy and has its annual list of worst Halloween candy.
It was the best of candy, it was the worst of candy. A typical trick-or-treating run will net a child a wide range of confections in their pumpkin-shaped bucket. Don’t be the house that gives the wrong candy. To help guide you, here are the WORST Halloween candies for 2021, as well as a list of the Best Halloween candy, as voted on by consumers.
10. Black Licorice – no movement, #10 last year
Here we’re talking black licorice, and this does not include Twizzlers, and if you read the outside lists we included in our evaluation, you’ll see they also allude to, if not outright say black licorice. So it’s maybe more understandable that way. Twizzlers are mostly fruity flavored, chewy sugar candies. Traditional black licorice has a savory side that perhaps isn’t associated with the sugar highs of Halloween.
9. Good & Plenty – No movement, #9 last year too
Since Good & Plenty are pretty much licorice, it follows that they would come right after Licorice on the list. I never minded getting a box here and a box there on a Halloween excursion. But they were never my favorites — which meant I ate them first, to get them out of the way. Which is kid logic for ya. Never throw away candy.
8. Tootsie Rolls – Down one spot from #7 last year
Your kids will get a lot of these. They’re the easy way out for people who don’t want to spend much money handing out candy to kids. You can throw a handful into each kid’s bag and it won’t set you back much. But apparently, kids tend not to like them very much for Halloween. Note that this is a combination of regular Tootsie Rolls and flavored Tootsie Rolls, which may be more or less appealing(?). We combined a few items on the lists to make it cleaner.
7. Mary Janes – Up one spot from #8 last year
Mary Janes are no longer in limbo following the shuttering of NECCO a few years back. They’re back on online shelves in a slightly different shaped piece of candy than before. They are great sellers and have a huge following, but I guess not with the Halloween crowd. Perhaps expectations for the spookiest night of the year are different than the space Mary Janes occupy in our minds. Halloween candy may be less about nostalgia and more about maximizing pleasure receptors in the brain… I am not a doctor.
6. Wax Coke Bottles – Down 2 spots from #4 last year
Wax coke bottles are holding down that number 6 spot. The novelty factor of these is great. The first time you get one. When you’re five years old. Then the realization sets in you’re biting through the wax to get not even a mouthful of sugar water. By age eight you toss them in the trash without even bothering.
5. Necco Wafers – Up one spot from #6 last year
They were off the market for a while, but are back now. You may recall the Great Necco Wafer Panic of 2018. It’s weird because clearly some people absolutely love Necco Wafers. But these took the top spot on one list, and I’m personally surprised they weren’t on every list. When I started this project, I was sure that they’d be the hands-down worst candy. But then again, since they’ve had a few rough years, maybe people aren’t as likely to kick a candy when it’s down. Complaints about these are that they’re dry and chalky.
4. Smarties – Up one spots from #5 last year
Another one is accused of being dry and chalky. Your kids will get plenty of these on Halloween. It’s inevitable. At first, they’re not so bad. But the human tongue can take only so many vaguely sweet, chalky hard candy.
3. Peanut Butter Kisses – Up one spot from #3 last year.
Falling to #3 this year from the #2 spot last year, these are the generic-looking candies with a plain orange or black wrapper. If you’ve never actually opened the wrapper to try them (understandably), their peanut butter-flavored chewy candies. Despite the name, they are neither Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups nor Hershey’s Kisses -level Halloween candy. I’ve seen them referred to as Mary Janes, which makes enough sense. You know these because Necco made a Mary Janes’s version of these for a while. Which explains a lot. My advice is to leave them in that wrapper and move on to the next candy.
2. Circus Peanuts – Up one spot from #3 last year.
Personally, I’m shocked that these aren’t #1. They were the #1 worst Halloween candy 3 years ago and fell back, but seriously, why? People, there is no way to describe the vileness that is Circus Peanuts. How could there possibly be a worse Halloween Candy?
I have to believe that they weren’t rated as the #1 worst on everyone’s list because they blocked these inedible monstrosities from their memories. Or maybe they haven’t gotten them for Halloween because everyone knows not to give them out. Thus they are not “Halloween candies” in their minds. That must be it. Still at #2 though.
1. Candy Corn, Strong Repeat Winner (Loser?) Now
Candy corn slid up into the #1 spot 2 years ago when it knocked circus peanuts off the throne. Which is really saying something. Man. Hang in there, candy corn. A lot of haters out there.
I was actually shocked, I love the stuff. Look, if you don’t like candy corn, you can just give it to me. Yes, it’s pretty much just sugar. Isn’t that the point? Candy corn is nothing special. There are absolutely better candies out there. But if you can’t enjoy stuffing handfuls of candy corn into your pie hole, well, I don’t even know what to tell you. But clearly, I’m in the minority.
Ok yeah, the texture could be better.