Martinex1: What's in your basket this Halloween? What treat do you give at your house? What sticks to your teeth? What candy do you love? And what sugary confection do you despise? What candy did you only see at Halloween time back in the Bronze Age? And what candy don't you see any more? What was the weirdest treat you ever received while "Trick or Treating"? Did anybody ever give you a full size candy bar or were they all "fun" sized? What did you trade for and what was quick to go? How about money - any pennies in your sack? Or for that matter, did anybody ever trick you?
Slo Pokes, Pixie Stix, Mary Janes, Bit of Honey, Hubba Bubba, Charms Pops, Tootsie Rolls, Candy Corn, Circus Peanuts, and Popcorn Balls are all part of the conversation today! We are having a BitBA Halloween feast today... so discuss all things Halloween candy related! Whether you drooled over it or it made you gag, share your sweet tooth preferences as we get ready for the 31st! For those of you who did not partake in the candy grabbing madness, share what your favorite treats are anyway - maybe it is something we are unfamiliar with! Cheers!
12 comments:
For Halloween I've bought myself:
A little chocolate "jack o' lantern" containing some Smarties (Smarties are small disc-shaped chocolates covered in a candy shell of varying colors).
A Milky Bar (white chocolate) ghost.
A Halloween version of a Creme Egg - Cadbury's Creme Eggs are sold in the UK between January and Easter and they are small chocolate eggs with a fondant "white and yolk" filling. The Halloween version is a recent innovation and was amusingly called a "Screme Egg" but this year's incarnation is called a "Ghooost Egg" for some reason.
Nothing to do with chocolate but I've also bought a bottle of 'Hobgoblin' beer which declares itself "The Unofficial Beer Of Halloween" on the bottle :)
Ohhh myyyy (sorry George Takei..), it's taken my new diet for the last year to totally refuse any candy nowadays (although a rare Reeses peanut butter cup or Twix, is always contemplated..).
I recall the first year my wife and I were in our new house (2yrs ago..), we just moved in and thought there was trick-or-treating on our block. We then heard there wasn't because of busy traffic on our street, so alas we had this HUGE treat bowl full of candy (that I kept fillin'....), hence my diet nowadays.
Not to be a buzz-killer, Smarties are fantastic, as are the Crème Eggs.., very hard to resist even for me. This time of year actually marks the time I get out my double-boiler and start making the homemade Christmas chocolate-covered peanut butter balls. I typically made about 400-500 each year, but with some family squabbles and such, I may redirect my holiday giving of 'balls' to other worthy folk (or I just freeze 'em for later consumption..).
Smarties rule, but anything chocolate and Jolly Ranchers worked, too. A Starburst was better than a Now and Later. Sweetarts were also at the top of my list. I'm sure there was more complexity to the hierarchy, but that's all I can recall at the moment.
Nowadays, I give out chocolate (usually Hershey, I think) and anything and everything Wonka.
But I do remember on the low end there were Bit 'o' Honey (not even close to as good as advertised) and Tootsie Rolls. And may Hell take for its own those closed, black-hearted souls who gave out apples, pennies or, yes, toothbrushes.
Seriously, toothbrushes?!
We have Smarties (in boxes, not tubes) and crème eggs here in Canada too. For Halloween, we usually just get a big box of mini-treats (Crispy Crunch, Smarties, Wunderbar, etc.)
When I was a kid, people still gave out full-sized chocolate bars. Of course, there was always one person who gave out apples (which we usually threw away because of the urban legend about razor blades). In Canada, we used to get these weird carmel/toffee things that tasted just horrible. Any fellow Canucks will know exactly what I'm talking about.
Halloween Candy Time!!!
I think here in America, the US of, we took a hard turn somewhere. Smarties here are sugar candy in different colors. They look just like the picture in the post.
We have a huge 190 piece bag of non-chocolates, Life Savers Gummies, Starbursts, Skittles and whatnots, all the little fun size. Then to mix in with those, we have three of the smaller bags of chocolates, also fun sized and maybe forty pieces per bag. One that's Snickers, one Twix and one Milky Way. We mix them all together so kids can get an assortment.
When are kids were younger, we would often go up to our church for the big Fall Festival. We could get dinner and there were small carnival type rides and booths. Since we weren't home to pass out candy, we wouldn't buy candy to pass out. I know! Right? A few times, I got caught waiting for the wife and kids to come home and neighborhood kids coming to the door. One year, I was throwing mixed baseball card singles from a box of commons, another year I was putting in single pieces of gum. One little boy, around 8 or so, looks in his bag, looks at me and says, "Gum? You're giving out GUM???" His little sister, around 4, looks in her bag and runs down our sidewalks and yells to her Mom, "I GOT GUM!!!"
Good times... ain't we lucky we got 'em, good times.
(Stormy and windy night
remind me of you tonight
wild and fragile
you know the city where I come from
(the city where I come from)
the secrets I'm never telling anyone
machinery, don't fail me
I'm fixing these things
as we're falling apart
she's drawing x and o's
into her pantyhose
you know the city where I come from
(the city where I come from)
the secrets I'm never telling anyone
machinery, don't fail me
I'm fixing these things
as we're falling apart
we were walking to the corner store
when she'd cry and start to hide
we were talking about the dinosaurs
and how they died, and how they died
machinery, don't fail me
I'm fixing these things
as we're falling apart
machinery, don't fail me
I'm fixing these things
as we're falling apart).
Halloween candy from my childhood;
Candy Corn- yuck!
Mary Jane's- too hard
Squirrels- seemed to be the same as MJ's
Smarties
Sweet Tarts
Bottle Caps
Jolly Rancher- the flat sticks. Loved peach, can no longer get 'em!
Ribbon candy- Those circle candies stuck on a piece of white paper, often paper w/.
Goetze- Chewy caramel with crème middle. Yum!
Those chewy candies wrapped in orange or black wax paper.
Bazooka gum
Candy cigarettes
Wax Lips
much more,
Ah yessss….. Halloween Candy…. I loved anything small enough and quiet enough to smuggle into school and religious ed classes that could be covertly consumed!!! Mounds and Snickers may have been the “go to.”
7th and 8th grade I sold much of my Halloween Candy in school. (I would charge a dime for a bite-size milky way.) I’m sure it funded my comic reading, lol!
Fast forward to my kids and Halloween. At the end of each Halloween I would strip out all candy containing Partially Hydrogenated Oil since it raises bad cholesterol and lowers good cholesterol. No Milky Ways, Starburst, Mounds, etc. Just plain chocolate and/or flavored sugar (or corn syrup – not that fanatical, lol).
Never ever developed a taste for those candy corns, though. I guess they are in the same category as Western and Horror comics for me. I would try them sometimes and be OK, other times not.
At the plum age of 56, though, I have developed a taste for strong black licorice. But still no desire for candy corns (and limited for Horror and Western comics).
Oh boy, Halloween candy!
As a youth, I'd look into my bag and jump for joy if I saw: Reeses'cups, Hershey bars, Smarties (Prowl- you're right about our version of Smarties). Also loved Life Savers, candy cigarettes, Brach's Royals (caramels of various flavors in a bright gold wrapper), gum, pixie stix. Not big on anything with nuts( I love nuts, just don't like them in my candy). But at least I never got a rock in my trick or treat bag...
For Halloween in the present day: our kids are grown and gone, but my wife and I always have a bowl of treats ready- still love to see the kids and costumes. Unfortunately our neighborhood doesn't have too many kids, so we usually have plenty left over. So we make sure to get candy we both like- Hersheys, Snickers, Mounds, M&M's. Oh, and Smarties- I still like them. But I'm particular about enjoying them: I eat them three at a time. No more, no less.
Charlie- interesting you'd mention black licorice. I used to vehemently hate licorice, but as an adult I've come to like it. Odd how our tastes change over time.
Hiya,
Years ago my mom was puzzling over the Halloween 'tricks' pulled on her house my the neighborhood kids. My response was;
"Mom, you hand out lemon suckers. That's like wearing a red shirt on Star Trek."
She did not get the reference, but did hand over the duties of passing out the loot to me since I was the morbid child who enjoyed that holiday more than the rest.
This year I'm going with Frito products, Hostess cakes and such, lip whistles, my sister who works for Mattel has provided a bucket full of Hot Wheel cars, and, from mycomicshop.com, some eighty humor orientated comic books that will be passed out with the rest.
If someone asks why the comics I plan to state that I'm not stopping with the kids teeth, I'm gonna rot their brains as well.
Seeya,
pfgavigan
Red - I'm in the same boat. I never liked Licorice (Good and Plenty basically and one other brand) as a kid. Then one day a year or two ago...
Pfg- wow, you folks don't fool around! Can I come trick or treating at your house?
Hiya,
Hey Redartz . . .
My mom's place is now considered the coolest house in town.
But where am I going to put the giant T-Rex skeleton when I take it down??
pfg
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