It’s Halloween season and the average household wants to know how many candies to stock up for trick or treaters. Too little, and you have your Halloween visitors going empty-handed; too much, and you have bags upon bags of excess candies.
Fortunately for you, there is a formula that can help you get through this headache.
It is basically a calculator that was designed by Shipt and Mars Wrigley, candy companies based in Alabama.
The chiefs of these respective companies have assured the public of the efficacy of their formula in ensuring that you have enough candies to go round, both for your household and trick-or-treaters.
The formula is quite a simple one. It is divided into three parts.
The first part calculates the total number of candies you will need for the trick-or-treaters. To get that, you multiply the number of hours that your lights will be on by the number of kids and by the number of candies you are giving out.
The second part of the formula deals with the extra candies that you will need for your household. To get this, you multiply the number of days you purchased the candy before Halloween by your household size and then by your own sneakiness level (the estimated number of candies you will be “stealing”).
The third part, which gives the result, is a summation of the two other parts.
To better put this in perspective, let’s look at an illustration.
Let’s say that you like to buy candies with about 50 pieces per bag and that you will be handing out about 3 pieces to every kid that comes knocking. Your neighborhood’s trick or treating has a three-hour duration, and you are expecting about 50 kids per hour.
Also, you have a family size of 5 yourself included. Let’s say you are going shopping five days before Halloween, and you expect that each person will sneak out two candies per day. This formula comes in handy.
To calculate the first part
Time = 3 hours
Kids = 50
Generosity levels = 3
Total: 3 × 50 × 3 = 450 pieces of candy.
The second part (Extra Candy)
Days before Halloween = 5
Family size = 5
Sneakiness = 2
Total: 5 × 5 × 2 = 50 pieces of candy.
Adding these two values together gives you the total number of candies you should buy.
450 + 50 = 500 pieces.
To know the number of bags:
500 pieces of candy/50 pieces per bag = 10 bags.
How much candy should kids get for Halloween?
The Halloween season is one for candies, and candies mean sugar. As a parent, you must take care to know how much sugar your kids will be consuming during that period.
Most of the sugar that comes inside of these candies comes with low calories and little nutrients. This can be an issue for your kids, as excess sugar intake has been linked with a lot of health issues. Four packets of mini M&M’s yield the equivalent of eight teaspoons of sugar. This is way more than the recommended daily intake of sugar for your kids.
The World Health Organization has released guidelines on the amount of free sugar that kids should be ingesting. Their guidelines stipulate that kids’ intake of free sugars should not surpass 10% of their calorie intake per day.
This means that for a kid who needs about 1500 calories daily, he/she shouldn’t consume more than 19g of free sugar.
Another set of guidelines released by the American Health Association (AHA) stipulated that kids should not consume more than 25 grams of added sugar per day.
With the amount of sugar contained in Halloween candies, getting to these limits isn’t difficult.
A 15 g pack of Skittles contains 11 g of sugar, while a 13 g bar of Mars yields 8 g of sugar. So you can decide to give the kids 2 packs of Skittles or 4 packs of Kit Kat, which each yield about 6 g of sugar.
How much Halloween candy is too much?
As stated above, ingesting more than 19 g of free sugar and 25 g of added sugar isn’t healthy. Excess sugar intake has been linked with dental caries, obesity, high levels of cholesterol, and an increased risk of diabetes.
As a result of this, you must be careful about the amount of candies that both you and your kids are ingesting.
It will depend on the variety of candies to know what is excess. So you would do well to check the calorie value and nutritional facts on the candy packet. Do your calculations and ensure that what you are consuming doesn’t exceed those values of 19 g and 25 g of sugar.
What is the #1 Halloween candy sold?
In 2021, Reese’s Cups were the most popular Halloween candy in America, according to sales data gathered by Candystore.com, a candy store that has been fulfilling America’s sweet cravings since 2007. The remaining spots on the list are occupied by Skittles, M&Ms, Starburst, and Hot Tamales. For this study, Candy Store compared the total pounds of each candy sold over a 14-year period.
Even though Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups were voted the best candy in the United States as a whole, they did not win in the majority of states. In six different states, the most popular candies were Starbursts and Sour Patch Kids.
The states with the highest consumption rates of Starburst were Idaho, Alabama, Michigan, South Dakota, Indiana, and Texas. Whereas, the states with the highest consumption rates of Sour Patch Kids were Alaska, Maine, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nebraska, and New York.
Tootsie Pops were the most popular candy in four states, following Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and M&M’s, which each came in first place in five different states.
How do you give out candy for Halloween?
- Make sure your lights are on throughout Halloween so that trick-or-treaters will know you’re home. The vast majority of trick-or-treaters will not approach your home unless they believe someone is already there to receive them.
- Do it in style and wear your own costume. Even if they aren’t accompanying a bunch of trick-or-treaters, some people still enjoy dressing up and handing out treats. This is a great way to get pumped for the holiday, and the trick or treaters who are younger will appreciate the fact that you are getting into the Halloween mood.
- Please smile and open the door while getting the candies ready. You may get into the Halloween mood by putting on a spooky movie or even some great Halloween music as you wait for trick-or-treaters to arrive at your door to collect candy. If you open your door to a bunch of trick-or-treaters, they will exclaim, “Trick or treat!” while holding out their candy baskets. You could greet people with something along the lines of “Happy Halloween!”
- Give children permission to reach into the bowl and choose the treats that they like best. Trick or treaters are always on the lookout for their favorite candies, so you can make it easier for them to find them by extending your bowl and allowing them to choose whatever they like.
- To ensure that each person receives only one or two pieces of candy, you should hand it to them directly. If you are getting low on candy or you simply want to ensure that your supply will last throughout the night, you should hand out the candy yourself. Take one or two pieces from your dish and put them in the bag of each person who is trick-or-treating.
- Send your best Halloween wishes their way before they move on to the next residence. It’s likely that the trick-or-treaters will offer their gratitude as they head out the door. You can say anything like, “Thank you very much!” “Best wishes for Halloween!” or you might simply wish them a good night.
Do you have to give out candy on Halloween?
There is no law that states that you must hand out candy during the Halloween festive period. However, it’s part of the culture and traditions to do so. So don’t think you will have a pair of constables knocking on your door to arrest you just because you didn’t give a treat to trick-or-treaters.
Giving out candies during this period is done in the spirit of the celebrations. In addition, everyone, especially the kids just wants to have a good time. So nothing stops you from whipping out that bowl of candies and screaming “trick or treat!”
How much does the average person spend on candy?
The National Retail Federation, in a released report, said that about 3 billion dollars was spent in the year 2021 on candy alone during the Halloween period. This gives a value of $30.40 per person.
How much does the average family spend on Halloween?
The year 2021 was one that broke records with regards to how much was spent on Halloween. The records put it at a little over 10 billion dollars.
When this value was shared out among individuals, it came to $102.74 per person.
This means that an average family of four will be spending around $400 per Halloween.
How much should a Halloween costume cost?
If you are looking to be your best—or should I say your worst—during this Halloween (the scarier the better), then a budget of $50 should be able to cover it.
On an average, Halloween costumes cost $45 with about two-thirds of Halloween costumes going for between $20 and $50.