Halloween: the perfect holiday for adults to relive their childhoods, waxing nostalgic about their own trick-or-treating experiences while they decorate their home fronts with skeletons and spider webs, carve ominous looking jack-o’-lanterns, and prepare for the onslaught of costumed, treat-seeking kiddies headed their way that evening. But the candy you savored when you went masquerading as Zorro or a princess years (decades?) ago may not necessarily be what the kids in your ’hood want to find when they dump their loot onto their kitchen tables at the end of the night.
Fear not! We asked second and third grade students who attended the Waccabuc Day Camp at the Waccabuc Country Club in (where else?) Waccabuc to tell us the treats that they most and least wanted to receive when they ring your doorbell October 31. The results may surprise you—chocolate, apparently, is out, while sour and fruity candies are in. (But, if you already happened to buy any of the chocolates currently out of favor, don’t worry—you’re welcome to drop them off at our office. We promise they won’t go to waste.)
Most Wanted
 |
#6. Jolly Ranchers. Who’d-a thunk one of the most popular treats for kids today would be these über-sour hard candies created back in 1949? (Just don’t tell them the candies are as old as their grandparents.) |
|
#5. Charms Blow Pops. Another retro candy, and you get to enjoy two treats for the price of one: first a lollipop, and then a ball of bubblegum waiting to be chomped on inside. Maybe the economy has taught kids the lesson of getting the biggest bang for your, uh, pop. |
 |
 |
#4. Sour Patch Kids. Originally dismissed as a fad, this popular movie-theater candy has grown into a perennial favorite. (Don’t ask us why.) |
|
#3. Starbursts. These chewy, fruity squares won’t create a gooey mess if they get warm—and germophobic moms will appreciate their individual wrappers. |
 |
 |
#2. Skittles. These hard-shell candies with soft interiors are just like fruity M&Ms. Too bad for M&Ms… |
|
#1. Nerds. Hailed as the “Candy of the Year” in 1985 by the National Candy Wholesalers Association, these small, rock-candy-like bits in various colors and flavors are, far and away, this group’s favorite—so if you want to be considered the hippest trick-or-treat stop on your block, you’d better stock up now. |
 |
Most Hated
 |
#6. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Hands down the biggest shocker of the survey; this iconic chocolate candy has seemingly fallen out of favor with this generation. (Was this survey conducted in Florida or Westchester? We demand a recount.) |
|
#5. Werther’s Original. Don’t let their saccharine advertisements fool you: The kid in the commercial may seem to be jumping for joy after his grandpa hands him a couple of these, but you better believe he would have much preferred a pair of greenbacks than these stodgy hard caramels. You don’t wanna be grandpa on Halloween. |
 |
 |
#4. Candy Corn. It may look colorful and pretty sitting in that bowl, but, take it from these kids, nobody wants to eat it. Candy corn is to Halloween what cranberry sauce is to Thanksgiving. |
|
#3. Apples. An apple a day may not keep the doctor away, but it sure as heck will keep the trick-or-treaters at bay. If you want to inform your hood’s youth to not bother you next October 31, just toss a McIntosh or two into their bags and smile widely as you wave goodbye. |
 |
 |
#2. Butterfingers. Westchester’s youth must have had some collective traumatic experience with this low-profile, innocuous, peanut-buttery chocolate that we don’t know about, judging by how many Xes it got on our survey. (Really, people, what’s with all the peanut-butter haters?) |
|
#1. Raisins. If this really surprises you, then you need to go buy Halloween for Dummies—did you actually think that the “dessert” moms love to toss in their kids’ school lunches would be something any child wants to get again on Halloween? Your house and car deserve to be toilet-papered and egged next Mischief Night just for thinking of them. |
 |
