attention: glow-in-the-dark
wrappers. The packaging starts
showing up on M&M’s, Kit Kats
and Hershey’s bars.1942
Modern
trick-or-treating
begins to take shape,
but because of wartime
sugar rationing, kids are
more likely to get coins,
nuts, toys or fruit
than sweets.1950 s
With the sugar rationing
of the 1940s over,
trick-or-treating
takes off and candy
companies start cashing
in: Mars and Curtiss print
Halloween ads promoting
bulk sales of candy bars,
and Brach’s begins selling
trick-or-treat packs
of candy corn and
jelly beans.Public health professor
Donna Arnett makes
headlines for estimatinggo over too well!)Americans spend billions on candy in the
weeks leading up to October 31, but
Halloween wasn’t always so sweet.1916
1968
and soon other candies like Mars
bar, M&M’s and Baby Ruth get
the fun-size treatment.1980 s
2019
Americans spend a
whopping $2.6 billion
on Halloween candy.
The top seller:
individually wrapped
Reese’s Peanut
Butter Cups.1939
Halloween pranks like window-soaping
become increasingly common, and
The American Home magazine
recommends making peace with
potential troublemakers by serving
them doughnuts and cider. The
story is one of the first printed
mentions of the term “trick-or-treat.”a brief history of
PUMPKIN BASKET: RYAN DAUSCH. REESE’S PIECES: ALAMY. CANDY CORN AND SNICKERS: JEFF HARRIS. DOUGHNUTS, PISTACHIOS AND SPIDER RINGS: GETTY IMAGES. FUN DIP AND SKELETON CANDY: JASON LIEBIG. RUNTS: BEN GOLDSTEIN. REESE’S PEANUT BUTTER CUP: CHARLES MASTERS.100 FOOD NETWORK MAGAZINE ●OCTOBER 2020
1916
Halloween isn't a
candy holiday yet:1942
Confectioners are
so desperate to boost
sales during the
fall t hat they invent
a holiday called
Candy Day, celebrated
on the second
Saturday in October.1939
1990s~
Pumpkin-shaped
Reese's Peanut Butter
Cups arrive, adding to a
slew of t hemed treats:
Kids can build candy
skeletons, stain their
tongue with blood-red
gumballs and slurp
edible slime.
that kids collect an average
of 3,500 to 7,000 calories'
worth of Halloween candy.
She suggests handing out
items like plastic rings
instead. (Her idea doesn't1980 s~
~co late bars face
_. co~~;tition in the form of
new fruity candies
like Skittles, Runts
and Nerds, which
become Halloween
favorites. Airheads and
Sour Patch Kids also
make their debut.Candy execs come up with a clever
way to catch trick-or-treaters'1950 s
-~ 1968 ~
Mars debuts the phrase
"fun size" on miniature Snickers.
The snack is a Halloween hit,