How Has Halloween Candy Changed in Price Since 2014?

Photo credit: Sean Freese, CC BY 2.0.

In 2014, I tallied up a bunch of popular Halloween candy “assortments” (aka “giant bags of mixed candy”) and ranked them by cost per candy and cost per ounce.

When I pulled that post out of the archives for last week’s Throwback Thursday, it made me want to know how candy prices had changed in the past four years.

So I did some research (aka “internet clicking”). I know that online pricing is often highly variable, and can depend on what the algorithm thinks you’ll be willing to pay, but since I did online searches in 2014 I might as well compare candy apples to candy apples.

Here we go.

In 2014, Walmart’s Tootsie Child’s Play Candy Assortment was $8.98 for an unstated number of candies, or 15 cents per ounce. Today, that same bag costs $7.09, though the website makes it clear that this is on sale from the usual retail price of $8.48 and that the assortment is currently out of stock. If you were able to buy it, you’d be paying 12 cents per ounce.

Walmart’s Hershey Halloween Snack Size Assortment is no longer available. Neither is its Mars Halloween Trick Or Treat Candy Variety Pack, its Life Savers Fun Size Spooky Shapes Gummies Candy, or Target’s Lindt Hello My Name Is Caramel Brownie Candy.

Target’s Wonka Mixups Assorted Candy, a 3 lb bag of sugar and preservatives in various colors and consistencies, was originally $9.79 for an unstated number of candies, or 20 cents per ounce. Now it’s $9.02 on sale (regular price $9.49), which comes to 19 cents per ounce.

So far, it looks like candy is less expensive than it was four years ago. Even when it isn’t on sale.

Target’s Nestle Assorted Miniature Chocolate Bars originally sold for $10.79 for an unstated number of candies, or 27 cents per ounce. Now, the bag’s regular price is $10.39 but it’s on sale for $9.88, so… 25 cents per ounce.

Huh. I was expecting candy to be more expensive than it was in 2014, especially because those fun-size bars seem extra tiny this year. (A fun-size Snickers is so small that they could only fit one letter on the packaging, and yes I immediately did a bunch of anagrams in my head to see if kids could use fun-size Snickers to spell naughty words. I guess they could write “Nick kisses Rick’s knickers,” if they really wanted to. They could also tell people to “kick Renesmee,” if they hated Twilight and were willing to turn a capital E on its side.)

We’ll finish out with the “things that aren’t candy but are handed out on Halloween anyway” category:

Walmart’s Goldfish Halloween Cheddar Baked Snack Crackers were $4.96 for 25 packs in 2014, which comes out to 20 cents per pack/50 cents per ounce. They are still $4.96 for 25 packs four years later. They are also out of stock. (Sorry, trick-or-treaters who were hoping for actual candy.)

Lastly, Target’s Sun-Maid Vanilla Yogurt Raisins Halloween Mini-Snacks used to cost $3.19 for 10 boxes, or 32 cents per box, or 64 cents per ounce. This is the only Halloween product on my original list that increased in price since 2014; now it costs $3.49 for 10 boxes or 80 cents per ounce. Luckily, the raisins are currently on sale for $2.99.


Support The Billfold

The Billfold continues to exist thanks to support from our readers. Help us continue to do our work by making a monthly pledge on Patreon or a one-time-only contribution through PayPal.

Comments