Halloween is the number two holiday, when it comes to money spent. With Halloween, its costumes, decorations, and, of course, candy. For kids, the candy is probably the single most important part of the night. Which candies are good or bad for Halloween is a heated debate. Many of us still carry deeply rooted scars of the candy that we absolutely hate. I wanted to share with you my Top Ten Worst Halloween Candy list.

Candy Corn/Pumpkins

10. Candy Corn and pumpkins. Okay, this one is number ten because I actually do like candy corn and the newer pumpkins. This has legends of being the oldest candy in the United States. My last post (halloween traditions) talk about how this candy yas first made in the 1880s by the Wunderlee Candy Company. It was mass produced with another candy company that purchased it and for over 200 years it has been a staple of trick-or-treat bags everywhere.  By the mid 20th century the newer pumpkin candy started coming out. The texture of these little pumpkins are nothing like their older brother, candy corn. But as long as I’m sharing, I will say that I did enjoy them.

Good & Plenty

9. Good & Plenty. Now, to be fair, Good & Plenty came out in 1890 from the Quaker Chocolate and Confectionery Company. By that, it is the second oldest candy in the United States. My reason for disliking this candy is because it bared a strong resemblance to Mike & Ike’s. There is nothing more horrible for a kid than biting into a candy expecting to taste something like a jelly bean but instead you are subjected to a bad version of candy coated black licorice. It takes like it is over 200 years old, too. And honestly, why would we want to eat it in the first place? It truly bears a striking resemblance to medicine.

Bazooka Bubble Gum

8. Bazooka BubbleGum. I am not much of a fan of bubble gum, I think it stems back to my childhood and had a filling pulled out by a piece of Bubblicious. Be that as it may, this is quite possibly the worst gum to ever be given for Halloween. Sure, you’re going to say it’s endorsed by GI Joe and your parents or grandparents talked about how good it was, but sometimes things from the past really should stay there. The coolest part about this gum was the comics that it came with and the flavor of the gum ran out before you could finish reading the comic. It smelled like a solid form of Pepto Bismol, only coated in powdered sugar. You knew you got it before you even saw it, simply because of the smell. Okay enough of that, having Halloween candy PTSD flashbacks. 

Circus Peanuts

7.Circus Peanuts. This was a favorite candy of my Dad and Grandad. They would eat the hell out of them. This was another like Bazooka that you knew you got, simply because of how they smelt. If you never had not, the texture was a sugary spongy feel. Just not in a good way, well is there a good way to incorporate spongy and sugar other than maybe an Angel Food Cake? They were supposed to resemble peanuts but I can honestly say I have never seen an orange peanut or one that tasted quite the way the memorable confection did. The good thing about them is you could squish all of them together in one big ball before throwing them in the trash. Maybe you had a parent like me who stole them out of my bag, so I didn’t have to throw them away.

Necco Wafers

6. Necco Wafers. If you are a fan of those boxes of candy hearts that are given out on Valentine’s Day, then you probably enjoyed these as well. They were roughly the size of communion wafers (I’m not even catholic, how would I know) and they came in a multi pack to keep that chalky goodness that seemed to make this candy go on forever. To me, they always reminded me of Alka Seltzer with the same gross taste, just no cool bubbly reaction in water. I cannot believe they are still around. They may need to rethink their R&D department then. Oddly though, they were invented in 1847.

Sixlets

5. Sixlets. These small wanna be candy coated chocolates came 12 to a pack. I have had various types of chocolates in my life, but this has to be the single worst tasting chocolate ever passed off as chocolate. The only upside was they were so small that you literally could eat all twelve at once and still barely get a mouthful of flavor. What you did get seemed to last forever.

Pixy Stix/Fun Dip

4. Pixy Stix/Fun Dip.  I am sure there is someone sitting there wondering how dare I put Pixy Stix on this list. Honestly, it is also probably one of the same ones that used to snort them in middle school.  You could not use the straw for much. By the time you wrapped your mouth around it more than once all of the candy would stick to the opening. If you got it all in your mouth, then what? You had a dry, sugar overdosed mouth. And Fun Dip? What exactly was fun about it? That candy stick it came with was the runner of many teeth, I am sure. It was hard as a rock and only good for licking and sticking into the sugary dip. You would finish the dip before you ever managed to eat that granite piece of sugar stick. Lord knows I bought enough of them as a kid, staying with my grandmother.

Butterscotch Candies

3. Butterscotch candies. I bet if you asked your grandmother, at this very moment, if she had candy in her purse she would no doubt pull this dangerous disc of bad butterscotch flavor out. Okay, sure, fine my dislike of this sugary choking hazard is because of just that. Though the story behind it is not tied to Halloween. Needless to say, this candy should be outlawed and deported to some off planet prison for poorly conceived candies. I wonder if they have been choking kids since they were first invented in 1817?

Dum Dum Suckers

2. Dum dum suckers. Every kid hoped to get suckers in their Halloween booty but these were not those sweet dreams. Dont get me wrong, there were some amazing flavors in the Dum dum bags, but it always seemed that the bad flavors out weighed them. Can we talk about the mystery flavor? I cringed every time I pulled that one out of my candy bag. The little voice in the back of my kid brain said “throw it away, you know it will be bad.” No matter, I hoped against hope and unwrapped it and popped it in my mouth. “Belarghhhhhh” and just as quickly it would come back out. Fooled again. If you see them, stay away. It’s better for your mental well being.

Raisins

1.Raisins. I know what you are thinking, this isn’t a candy. That is my point exactly. If it isn’t candy, then why in the actual Hell is it ever put into our trick-or-treat bags? This does not mean i\I dislike raisins, I like them and they definitely have their place. That does not include Halloween. Usually these little boxes of keeping you regular came from our grandparents or other elderly people we visited. I think the only thing that I liked about them where the boxes. Once empty, you could pucker your lips around them, blow out, and they would make this high pitched screech that just set my mother’s ears on edge. Hey, if you’re going to be tortured eating them at Halloween, why not share the pain with a musical salute.

There you have my Top Ten List of the Worse Halloween Candy. If you liked any of these on the list, first I’m sorry and second drop me a note in the comments as to how or why you actually liked them. What other candies do you feel need to make this list? Let me know your thoughts.