When Halloween comes around, what will you be stealing from your trick-or-treat bowl? Will it be something traditional, like Snickers, Nestle's Crunch, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup? Or will it be one of 2016's newest treats, like M&M's White Boo-tterscotch, Skittles Cauldron, or Reese's Peanut Butter Ghosts?
How are these new candies... Can they be better than the classics? (Spoiler alert: Get me a bag of the original M&M's, stat!) Read on and find out the haunted details. Then, enter for the chance to win a selection of candy mentioned in this post, plus a $75 Visa gift card to buy whatever else you crave this season!
We gathered together friends and family, adults and children, for expert opinions on the good, the bad and the ugly about 2016's new Halloween candy. We asked everyone to grade it on a scale of 1-5. They are listed below from worst to best:
Twizzlers Filled Twists: Caramel Apple, Trick-or-Treat score: 1 = I won't let that in my house.
Major disappointment. We love Twizzlers around here. But there is no reason they need to be filled. Someone actually spit this one out.
Peeps Maple Brown Sugar, Trick-or-Treat score: 1 = I won't let that in my house.
The kids were especially bothered by this one. They didn't like the maple flavoring at all. And many adults thought it was just too strong.
M&M's White Candy Corn, Trick-or-Treat score: 2 = Edible, but trick-or-treaters will not be happy.
Yes, it tasted like candy corn. But candy corn is good on its own. We don't need our M&Ms to taste that way.
M&M's White Boo-tterscotch, Trick-or-Treat score: 3 = Better than others, but not as good as the classics.
Only slightly better than the candy corn flavor. The crunch was nice, but we like our M&Ms to be chocolately and this was definitely not.
Kit Kat Triple Chocolate, Trick-or-Treat score: 3 = Better than others, but not as good as the classics.
This was our most controversial item. Some hated it, while others loved it. But we all agreed that it wasn't as sweet as as we expected. And it's hard to beat the original.
Brach's Brunch Favorites Candy Corn, Trick-or-Treat score: 3 = Better than others, but not as good as the classics.
These were interesting. We couldn't identify the french toast,waffle or pancakes flavor, and we had to wonder why candy corn needs to taste like breakfast.
Jolly Rancher Halloween Spooky Shapes Gummies, Trick-or-Treat score: 4 = Pretty good, let's hand this out.
There was some disagreement on these gummies, especially the different flavors. But there was no denying that they tasted like chewy bit of Jolly Ranchers, in cute little ghost and pumpkin shapes.
Justin's Halloween Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, Trick-or-Treat score: 4 = Pretty good, let's hand this out.
These weren't too different than other peanut butter cups except that they were dark chocolate, which was a delicious change of pace, especially for the adult taste-testers.
Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cup Skulls, Trick-or-Treat score: 4 = Pretty good, let's hand this out.
Butterfinger wins for the coolest-shaped candy. The skulls were a fun treat. We thought the flavor was good, but craved the crunch of the original.
Skittles Cauldron, Trick-or-Treat score: 4 = Pretty good, let's hand this out.
If you are a fan of skittles, you will like these. With five different flavors, we had different favorites, but overall the Bogey Berry and Lurking Lemon were enjoyed while the Petrified Pear was not. The little kids especially loved the silly flavor names.
Dove Dark Chocolate Pumpkins, Trick-or-Treat score: 5 = Trick-or-treaters will keep coming back for more!
If you love dark chocolate, this is the treat to eat. As one taster said, "It's perfection in a cute wrapper." Exactly.
Reese's Peanut Butter Ghosts, Trick-or-Treat score: 5 = Trick-or-treaters will keep coming back for more!
Our unanimous favorite. We had doubts about the white chocolate but blending with the Reese's peanut butter, it was delicious. Enjoyed by kids young and old.
We learned some valuable lessons from our taste-test.
1. Open up some candy and the neighborhood kids will come running.
2. Eating all of these candies in one sitting is not the best idea.
3. Like a movie remake, it's hard to improve on the original.
What Halloween candies do you like to give out (and eat!)? Tell us and you could win a selection of candy mentioned in this post, plus a $75 Visa gift card to buy whatever else you crave this season.
There are two ways to enter:
Simply comment below and tell us your favorite Halloween candy.
AND/OR
Tweet about the giveaway!
Click here to Tweet: "I entered the @SheSpeaksUp #HalloweenCandy giveaway to win candy and a $75 gift card! bit.ly/2dWi5fX"
*One lucky commenter or Tweeter will be chosen at random to receive a selection of the candy mentioned in this post (valued at approximately $25) and a $75 gift card. Giveaway is open through October 31, 2016 to U.S. residents at least 18 years of age. Entrants must be a member of SheSpeaks. If you are not a member, click here to join. Winner will be notified by email.
Update: Thanks to all for entering! Congratulations to our winner: SheSpeaks member caribe7.
take 5
I tried those skittles and I love them! My fav candy is definitely mini reeses peanut butter cups.
Snickers, crunch and kitkat
We like to have an assortment, usually consisting of our personal favorites, this way we can eat a few when passing them out and enjoy the left overs!! My son's favorite are anything Reese's, York or Sour Patch Kids. My favorite are Tootsie Pops, Gummie LifeSavers and Tootsie Rolls. My husbands favorite are Hot Tamales, Good N Plenty and Snickers. So we usually have an eclectic mix for all to enjoy!!
We give out the originals - Snickers, Twix, Milky Way, M&M's and Three Musketeers. Can't go wrong with these. The hardest part is not opening the bag before trick or treat!
I like to hand out twix
Favorite would be any of the reese's cups (milk, dark, white, inside out, peanut butter, or crunchy cookie) Second would go to Kit Kats, Snickers & M&M's
I am so in LOVE with Reese's Peanut-butter cups!!
I love me some tootsie rolls or the fruity tootsie rolls.
My favorite Halloween candy is Clark Bar!
I always have chocolate & non-chocolate treats to hand out. Surprisingly, the non-chocolate treats are more popular. My favorite, the Dove dark chocolate pumpkins!!
Almond Joy!
Reese's for sure! We don't have any kids in our building but we may sit out on the front steps and hand out candy this year.
Favorite Halloween candy is butterfingers. I do not eat them at all, but i crave them at Halloween time. My son always hands them over to me!
My favorite Halloween candy is Reese's peanut butter cups.