Halloween memes are great. There’s the meme that shows the Dole ‘fun-size’ mini salad, the Grim Reaper who decides not to take someone’s soul because she handed-out full-size Snickers, and the perennial Halloween Group Therapy session.
We love them all.
But is Halloween even going to happen in the year of the Coronavirus?
It is. In fact, the decline in trick-or-treating and handing out candy is projected to be quite small.
Halloween candy sales are expected to reach $2.4 billion this year, down only slightly from $2.6 billion last year. (Yes, $200 million is a lot of money but the U.S. national debt is $27 trillion so nothing really matters).
The National Retail Federation estimates that 20% fewer trick-or-treaters will to venture out this year compared to last and only 11% fewer people are planning to hand out candy.
All of which, naturally, leads us to wonder: What is Wyoming’s most popular type of Halloween candy?
We found one survey that we’re throwing in the trash. A site called Zippia says Wyoming’s favorite is Hershey’s Kisses, those ubiquitous drops of chocolate wrapped in bright foil.
But Zippia’s methodology is suspect, with the site saying its analysts use Google Trends, but failing to explain how those analytics are used.
The survey that makes sense to us is from CandyStore.com.
Its methodology makes a lot more sense. It’s based on actual sales.
“For over 13 years, we’ve been delivering bulk candy around the country. As bulk candy retailers and distributors, we’ve got a lot of candy sales data to comb through,” the company said.
What did the company come up with for Wyoming? Salt water taffy.
This doesn’t particularly make sense to us. How does CandyStore.com know people are buying the taffy to hand out on Halloween?
The company said it analyzed its sales data from 2007 to 2019 with an emphasis on the moths leading up to Halloween. The site has also developed relationships with major candy manufacturers and distributors who contributed to the survey, the site said.
Bottom line: 25,864 pounds of salt water taffy was purchased in Wyoming last year during “Halloween season.” Close behind was Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups at 24,790 pounds. So it’s a close call.
Land-locked Wyoming is the only state where the sticky confection associated with the seashore is No. 1.
Looking at the handy-dandy CandyStore map identifying the top candies of all the states, you see a lot of Skittles, candy corn, and Reese’s.
The national top ten candies are:
- Skittles
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
- Starburst
- M&M’s
- Hot Tamales
- Candy Corn
- Snickers
- Sour Patch Kids
- Hersey Kisses
- Jolly Ranchers
