The Worst Halloween Candy

Twizzlers. I hate twizzlers.

These.

Also candy corn. Whoever invented candy corn needs to die in a grease fire.

Sweet Tarts. Ugh.

I liked candy corn.

Hated Necco wafers, if anyone else is old enough to remember those.

Mary Janes are indeed the worst. I have a friend who loves them. She gave me my first one when we were in college and I almost gagged.

I don’t know if they still make it, but I got sick from eating banana flavored taffy when I was a kid.

I don’t like Skittles. Idk if they changed the ingredients, or if it’s just me, but they make me sick now.

I never liked Whoopers. They were the first Halloween candy to be traded with my friends when I was a kid.

*Whoppers

Anything with coconut.

I like Whoppers and Almond Joy and Mounds.

At Easter, I treat myself to those robin's eggs, which are basically Whoppers.

Black licorice

Candy corn

I loved candy corn. As a kid, I used to bite off the yellow part and show it to my mom and dad and tell them I had just lost a tooth. They went along with it but I know they didn’t believe me. For some reason I thought it looked like a real tooth.

R6

Banana taffy makes me choke on my saliva - no other flavor, just banana.

Any "banana flavored" candy really tastes horribly fake.

R15 Agreed.

Circus peanuts. If I hated the neighborhood children, I'd pass those out.

Those Circus Peanuts ... what was the point.

The BEST two Halloween candies:

1. Reese's peanut butter cups. (Reese's is pronounced "Ree-suhs," not "Ree-sees."

2. Twix caramel.

I always have Reese's--but if it's a low traffic year for Trick or Treaters, someone has to finish those off--me. And then it's time for the stretchy jeans.

Fentanyl and razor blades! I worry so much for my grandbabies, but none of my children have called me in the last twenty years.

Neccos 🤮

Chick-O-Stick

The banana flavored Nile Lata will make you want to fight. It’s awful.

As a kid I always enjoyed Mary Janes, Candy Corn, and Circus Peanuts. I liked to let the Circus Peanuts dissolve on my tongue.

Milk Duds. As mentioned above Mary Jane's and Necco Wafers. But, Circus Peanuts have to be the worst.🤮

My two favorites were Mary Janes and Necco wafers.

À son goût.

REALLY SHITTY CHEAP AND NASTY AND THIN LOLLIPOPS

I hated Milk Duds, especially because I always got them confused with Whoppers, which I love. The disappointment was brutal.

Also, I'm not very bright.

Agree with R11

Where'd you people trick or treat? Did you go to the cheapest neighbors?

[quote]I hated Milk Duds, especially because I always got them confused with Whoppers, which I love.

Conversely, I hated Whoppers and loved Milk Duds.

I didn't like candy corn alone but my mom would mix it with peanuts and the combination was delicious. I agree with Bit o' Honey being the worst.

Jolly Ranchers. Honestly, what kid's going for a sucker during a dedicated candy binge?

Good and Plenty, for obvious reasons.

Those revolting black and orange taffy things that taste vaguely like peanut. Do they even have a name?

All those cheap, obscure brands of candy like "Zero" bars. They're still made--I saw them at a candy superstore.

What demon is giving out black licorice for Halloween?

I’d rather have an apple or toothbrush or something ‘healthy’ that all the kids hated getting.

Dum dums-cheap

black licorice is fine. Not all kids have baby tastes. I liked it as a kid.

Candy corn for the win.

I'm in my 60s so these are time-period specific:

Those candy dots on paper. We wound up eating mostly paper

Wax Lips and Wax Soda Bottles. I think you were supposed to chew the wax (?) and drink the vile, artificially-colored, non-descript liquid in side.

I actually rather like candy corn in small doses thought is just pure sugar plus mystery additives. Agree with the rest noted. Malted milk balls tastes like chocolate covered vomit.

We always mixed candy corn with salted Spanish peanuts. It's a really tasty, salty-sweet combo. It's a bit like a Payday bar but with high-quality peanuts and minus the rodent hairs.

Black licorice. It tastes like a dog’s fart smells.

[Quote] Malted milk balls tastes like chocolate covered vomit.

We’ll take your word for it.

The WORST: those awful peanut butter taffy things, wrapped in orange and black wax paper! Candy from the depths of hell...

As a kid, I remember dumping my bag of collected Halloween candy on the carpet as soon as I got home. Mary Janes were the first thing everyone threw into the garbage. They always looked like something someone found under dusty old sofa cushions, or under grandma’s bed.

I got a rock.

If anybody gives you candy corn just pass it down here to me. I LOVE candy corn. Not for the taste and not for the godawful sugar content, but for the heart and soul of it. I treasured it when I was little.

A lady on our street gave the kids KFC one year. The next year it was pizza.

I admired the guy down the road that dropped a baggie of prepared mac and cheese in your candy sack..

Those flavourless fondant mini pumpkins. Chemicals and sucrose.

So true. Mary Janes always tasted like a blended nougat of peanut, corn syrup, Elmer's glue and wall plaster.

Some housewives in my middle class paradise suburbs make good homemade treats for trick or treat. One had delicious candy apples - and another had great caramel apples. Neither are so easy to get right. Another had caramel popcorn balls. Another had brownies, wrapped in wax paper. You might also get peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip cookies, or m&m cookies. We knew all these people and we ate their treats.

Fudge was another treat that came in wax paper.

[quote] (Reese's is pronounced "Ree-suhs," not "Ree-sees."

Ree-shuhsh

Chick Tracts. Scared the hell out of me.

"Chick Tracts" ??? WTF

[quote]Where'd you people trick or treat? Did you go to the cheapest neighbors?

A new low for Datalounge snobbiness. Congratulations, BPC.

In the old days it was commonplace to get a handful of peanuts in the shell. My father took them all.

I've never liked Jolly Ranchers. Too hard to bite into, and too sugary to suck on.

I've never minded candy corn. Although I do understand why people wouldn't like it. I also love chocolate-covered malted milk balls. I could eat those for days.

I'm old.

Any time I want to get rid of a rotten tooth, I just pop in a Bit-O-Honey from the candy I saved when I was 12.

Here’s a sample , r53

I love candy corn, especially the yellow layer.

The worst thing I ever ate on Halloween was your mom.

R58 thank you. I've never heard of those but how horrifying! What region of the country was this?

I got tired of sullen, rude kids and parents who would crawl en masse out of double-parked vans, some with three sacks each (for my aunt with diabetes, for my little sister who's crippled, for my baby brother).

I admit some who I just didn't like because of being unfun got Little Debbie Oatmeal cakes with icing in the middle. They were the worst "treat" imaginable.

One kid walked back up my steps and handed it back, saying, "No thank you." I gave him a full big bag of the good stuff.

Smarties are the best.

[Quote] A lady on our street gave the kids KFC one year. The next year it was pizza.

But doesn’t it make a mess in those plastic pumpkin buckets???

Wax bottles. Who came up with that and why did it ever sell? Wax lips were at least funny.

Hands down, apples with a razor blade inside.

I didn't realize the Dum Dum lollipops were cheap. I liked them, most of the flavors, at least. I also like Jolly Ranchers green apple and watermelon. I like hard candies like those butterscotch discs, too.

R58, a suburb of Seattle. Mr. Pierson still lives there, still creepy, still mean because I’m his longtime neighbor since I was a kid in the 60s/70s. His house is being swallowed by foliage and he uses a cane now.

Cadbury Easter Eggs left over from April. They don't age as well as Peeps.

I hate M&Ms, can't stand how they feel on my teeth.

Laffy Taffy was pretty bad. My conspiracy theory is that the dentists of America promoted that candy-more cavities and more fillings pulled out. Cha-ching!

[quote]Those revolting black and orange taffy things that taste vaguely like peanut. Do they even have a name?

[quote]The WORST: those awful peanut butter taffy things, wrapped in orange and black wax paper! Candy from the depths of hell...

Never knew they had a name, but I googled it and they're called, Peanut Butter Kisses. Hershey should sue them for false advertising and defamation. By putting 'Kisses' in the name, they are attempting to piggyback off a successful brand name to sale that terrible garbage.

As a joke, the city of High Point, North Carolina "banned" them: [quote]“Alright everybody, we're giving you a one-week notice as you prepare for trick-or-treaters to remind y'all that by order of the City of High Point Emperor of Acceptable Candy (it's a real thing), these are banned. No one likes them, don't give them out."

[quote]Smarties are the best.

And dum dums are among the worst. Half-candy and half-paper stick that starts to peel before you finish the candy.

Black jelly beans are just gross. I'd rather take Nyquil than eat Nyquil-flavored candy.

Some of the ones people hated so much as children (like Mary Janes and Necco wafers) were leftovers from the Depression era and WW2, when everyone was so broke and candy was seen as a real luxury.

By the time I was a kid in the early 70s and went trick-or-treating, they were still being given out by old people who were either used to buying them or had acquired a taste for them when they were children and there was nothing else to be had. (In a similar way, by grandpa grew to love the taste of Postum--a coffee substitute made with grain--during the war and drank it for the rest of his life, even when actual coffee became available again.)

Anything that isn't a form of milk chocolate (as long as it doesn't have those nasty little hazelnuts in it).

[quote]R22: The banana flavored Nile Lata will make you want to fight. It’s awful.

"Nile Lata"? Did you mean 'Now & Later'?

Button candy, jawbreakers, rock candy, Mexican lollipops - anything that tastes just like pure sugar was the worst. I also hate Dum-Dums and marshmallow candy. The rest of the reviled candy, like Black Licorice, Mary Janes, Smarties, Chick o Sticks, Candy Corn, Candy Pumpkins- I like. I don't care for Almond Joys but I love Mounds. Hershey chocolate needs something with it - like peanuts, crispy corn, peanut butter -- or toffee. It's too sour on its own. That wax bottle candy sucks though - ew. I also don't care for plain M&Ms for the same reason as the Hershey problem.

I like that Rosie O'Donnell is giving out toys and candy for Halloween. She has four kinds of toys that kids can choose from(as shown here), as well as full-sized candy.

If you've got the money, why not give out candy and toys to the little ones.

Dots. YUCK! Same with Jujyfruits or whatever they're called. I also hated anything coconut, especially those tri-colored taffy thingies wrapped individually in a clear wrapper. In perhaps another unpopular opinion: I HATE Milky Way. Those were always my bartering weapon.

[quote]R61: I've never heard of those but how horrifying! What region of the country was this?

R68's suburb of Seattle notwithstanding, Chick Tracts are liable to be found anywhere in the world. Chick Publications is based in Chino, California, but they ship everywhere, with many tracts available in multiple languages. It's an evangelical thing.

Ever seen 𝐌𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐦 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 (1986)? The tracts make a cameo on the car dashboard of bible fanatic Camp Loman.

R80 do you mean Brach's Neopolitan Sundaes candy? I'd love to have some of that again, and their caramel royals or the white taffy nougat with the colored jelly in it.

I loved the SNL skit where Maya Rudolph as Donatella Versace gave out cigarettes to the kids who were trick or treating.

Little girl: "My mother told me not to smoke."

Donatella: "Tell your mother they're Capri Lights."

R82, I loved those!

Sadly, they're discontinued.

I cant believe root beer barrel candy hasn't been mentioned. Along with Mary Janes, Bit o' Honey, and Chick o Sticks -- gag worthy.

Smarties used to be a novelty because they only were sold in Canada.

R67 For kids, Dum Dum lollipop are a perfectly delightful treat when you've been dragged to the bank with your mother. In a Halloween bag, they may as well be belly button lint.

Taffy

[quote] Necco wafers were leftovers from the Depression era and WW2

My mom was born in 1922 and loved Necco wafers.

Leftover (stale) Peeps from Easter

[quote]do you mean Brach's Neopolitan Sundaes candy? I'd love to have some of that again, and their caramel royals or the white taffy nougat with the colored jelly in it.

I used love these - that weird, coconut taste. I don't know what happened, but the quality of this cheap candy has really gone down hill

I don't get all the hate for Necco Wafers. The green and orange ones are yummy. The licorice flavored ones, not so much.

Apples with razor blades were always a hit in my neighborhood!

R19- For you.

R92- I agree. I liked Necco wafers when I was a kid. One of the reasons- I felt you got a lot of sweets for your money. The package was fairly large.

R79 - That reminds me of an old story. Something about two little kids and a house made of candy...

[quote]"Nile Lata"? Did you mean 'Now & Later'?

That had to be what they meant, R77. "Nile Lata" sounds like a suburb of Cairo.

BTW, I like Now & Laters, all flavors.

I remember that people used to give out Twinkies and Ding Dongs for Halloween.

Ah, the days of Ding Dongs in foil wrappers. They just tasted better than they do know. Well, until you bit down on a piece of forgotten foil with one of your fillings. OUCH!

r86 If I remember correctly, Smarties in the U.S. were like smaller Sweet Tarts, not the Canadian faux M&M's.

Smarties started out small and uncoated and they came in rolls. They looked like aspirins.

Maybe in the '90s or so, Smarties became larger. I thought they became coated, too, but I was wrong. They stayed powdery.

Swiss Rolls too

r22 It's true Smarties were and continue to be sold here although they originated in the UK. They were one of the goodies Rowntree made before Nestlé bought them out.

I swear they tasted better when Rowntree made them.

I hated those red Swedish fish. Barf!

Assies. Utterly disgusting candy.

I wanted something in a wrapper,

I wanted something of respectful size, not those tiny smashed Snickers glued to the wrapper, or those tot-choking mini-malted-chocolate balls lined up in a smack row under the plastic.

I wanted a decent excuse if the item wasn't chocolate. Butterfinger? OK. Payday? All right, but don't make a habit of it. Pixy Stix got you dog shit on your car door handles and house doorknobs.

I wanted nothing with coconut, which tasted like wet sugared doll hair. Mounds? Almond Joy? I could trade with my twin sister. Neapolitan Three-Color Coconut Slices. Your son's getting beat up on the way home from school tomorrow and he won't know who did it.

Candy apples go through your garage window.

And if you gave me something I liked I wanted lots of it!

[quote] I wanted something in a wrapper. I wanted something of respectful size

That's what all bottoms want.

R104, watch your mouth! Those are delicious! Same for the red Sour Patch Kids...even though they give me canker sores if I eat too many.

What about the razor blades in apples. That was the worst. Can't believe nobody has mentioned them.

Dots. Love 'em

[quote] I wanted something of respectful size, not those tiny smashed Snickers glued to the wrappe

I hear ya r106, but have you seen the cost of good candy bar candy? We get over 250 kids, probably closer to 300. Serious.

We give out a fun size candy bar - Reeses, Snickers, Kit Kats, Twix, 3 Musketeers, Milky Way AND a mittful of good penny candy.

When your candy costs for Trick or Treat run up to $125 or so dollars, smaller size matters.

R106 has stated his boundaries!

Raisinets. But what was actually worse was getting those mini boxes of raisins. Blech-nothing healthy at Halloween, please!

Does anyone remember that dumb first-grade craft project where you taped two pennies and a stick of Juicy Fruit to a piece of orange construction paper shaped like a pumpkin? Even then I thought it was lame.

No, i dont remember that.

I love Bit o’Honey when it’s fresh but it never is.

Now & Laters and bubblegum.

I just don’t get Mary Janes. What sadist decided a candy with the texture and flavor of linoleum was a good idea at all, let alone to give to a child on Halloween.

Those circus peanuts suck too.

[quote] I wanted something of respectful size, not those tiny smashed Snickers glued to the wrapper, or those tot-choking mini-malted-chocolate balls lined up in a smack row under the plastic.

Yes, Lens. We know you like your candy BIG.

I never understood the appeal of candy corn. It's just corn syrup and colors.

There is a Mad About You episode (S02E06 The Unplanned Child) with a Halloween theme. At the end (22:40 closing credits) Larry Miller sings an ode to candy corn.

Corn? When did I have corn?

R114 - Me neither. Guessing R113 went to a "special" school.

Remember when hospitals allowed people to bring in their Halloween candy to be X-rayed for needles and razor blades? It's crazy how everyone believed those urban legends, even hospitals. It's no wonder that Trump became president.

R117 Mary Janes are super old, over 110 years. I like them but, I like weird stuff like Malort and braunschweiger.

I would think MARY! Janes would be the official candy of DL.

[quote]Mary Janes are super old, over 110 years

They sure taste like it.

How the fuck do you start talking about Donald Trump on a Halloween candy thread.

Bit O Honeys aren't bad. You have to suck on them for a bit before they get in the right spot. DL, they should be top ten.

[quote] You have to suck on them for a bit before they get in the right spot.

This... sounds vaguely familiar.

[quote] Mary Janes are super old, over 110 years.

But on DL, she can pass for 45.

[quote]I hated those red Swedish fish. Barf!.

I've never had them, but I've seen them in the grocery store and can't imagine what they taste like.

Like raw snapper. Not that I'd complain...

Turkish Foot Candy

Because Trump is everywhere that’s why. Greedy-Power hungry and the many ignorant want his prick. Happy Halloween.

And he's orange, like a pumpkin.

Do you remember Brach’s pumpkin shaped candy corn?? 🎃

For those who hate Mary Janes - is it the texture you don't like? It's taffy, which I love but apparently some people really don't like. Or is it the peanut butter-molasses flavoring? Do you also dislike saltwater taffy?

It's the fact that Mary Janes are like eating rocks.

Not the worst, but I sure enjoyed getting those little mini packs of candy cigarettes.

Whoppers malted milk balls are poison wrapped in a layer of chocolate.

Does anyone remember Bonomo's Turkish Taffy? Like Mary Janes, it was another tooth destroyer.

why is malted milk poison?

skittles

[quote]why is malted milk poison?

I don't know that they're poison, but I have always hated them. Just vile. I think that's a minority opinion, however.

Is in many candies, the European "whoppers" are called Maltesers, by Mars UK, and they are better than Whoppers.

I prefer my good ole 'murrican Whoppers, r144. I really don't care for English milk chocolate (to the point that I'd rather consume that waxy whatever-the-hell-it-is coating a Whopper).

I ate a Mary Jane in kindergarten and promptly threw up. 60 years later still cannot stand the sight or smell of them.

A lady on our street used to give out cough drops, that brand with the Victorian guys with long beards. We told Mom who said never trick or treat at her house again.

If you like malted milk balls, try this ice cream recipe. It's REALLY good.

Expect full-size candy bars this year

[quote]I don’t know if they still make it, but I got sick from eating banana flavored taffy when I was a kid.

Yup, they do. I LOVE Banana Laffy Taffy!

Taffy makes me choke

I liked malted milk balls as a boy. Not so much now. They changed.

When I was a kid those malted milk balls came in a milk carton-like package.

[quote] why is malted milk poison?

Baby tasters can't handle any "exotic" flavors like the malted flavor.

If you like the Wendy's Frosty or Ovaltine, that's malted.

Those horrid Boston Baked Beans.

Smith Brothers, R147. Trade and Mark.

[quote]I don't know that they're poison, but I have always hated them. Just vile. I think that's a minority opinion, however.

You aren't alone. They're awful. Terribly awful.

[quote]Those horrid Boston Baked Beans.

Loved those.

I like malted milk. The great thing about Shake Shack is that you can get malt in your milk shake. Delicious!

R140, I loved Bonomo Turkish Taffy. You'd slap it on a flat surface to break it up into bite-size pieces and then let it soften in your mouth. I liked rock candy, too, which is pure sugar and nothing but. It's sugar. What's not to like?

Why are circus peanut banana flavored? Shouldn't they taste like peanuts?

Starburst and Butterfinger.

Love Starburst.

[quote]Why are circus peanut banana flavored? Shouldn't they taste like peanuts?

To make us wonder why one thing looks like another thing, but tastes like something else.

I remember that those wax teeth and lips that were sold at Halloween were labeled "chewing gum," which I found odd. It would be like chewing on a candle.

Bazooka gum was also garbage.

Trick or treaters visiting Ina Garten's house on Halloween are going to be in for a big disappointment.

The whole Sugar family; Mommas, Daddies, and Babies. Yuck!

Whoppers you also have to suck on for a bit before you crunch 'em. I think they're fun and satisfying to eat. Yes, the milk carton container was iconic. I think they still use them if I'm not mistaken.

My trick-or-treating years were the early-to-mid 1990s and every year at school, we would go over the safety rules and they emphasized the part about letting you parents inspect the candy when you got home. You'd think that razor blades and crack rocks being given out at every other house.

1) Did you or you parents ever find anything unsafe when going through the candy, other the gross candy we've listed here?

2) Another thing I didn't see was anybody giving out fruit instead of candy. Did you ever get fruit?

What other crazy rules, myths and scare tactics did they use to keep you in line?

I got a handful of loose popcorn from an old hippie who reeked of weed.

My Grandma loved to tell the story of my aunt going to the home of a wealthy judge. He plopped a hunk of leftover roast into my aunt's trick or treat bag.

Boxes of sunmaid raisins

It would be fun to have adult trick or treating with edibles. Obviously not for your stuffy or low rent friends, but you can get some individually wrapped ones and pass them out. Or a small festive bowl for your party.

Saran-wrapped popcorn balls. Nice gesture, giving something homemade, but, to be honest, nobody touched that stuff.

R170, I once got some loose Cheez Waffies when a teenager, munching on these once-ubiquitous snacks from Wise, answered the door and said "oh, shit, I forgot it was Halloween. Well, here, have some of these."

By the way, Cheez Waffies are disgusting but delicious. Supposedly, they're back on the market, but I haven't seen any in stores around here.

Ass Mints

The faculty apartments I lived in between ages 7 and 15 were a trick-or treater's paradise EXCEPT some of the foreign junior faculty types had zero clue about Halloween and you'd occasionally get a snippy Eastern European chewing you out for ringing their doorbell. (Then put up a sign, ya commie!) Some older kids swore a non-American lady once (unwittingly?) handed out chocolate Ex-Lax. Of course, I now recognize that was likely an urban legend and I feel like I've lost a piece of my youth.

We would get the tiny box of raisisns too but I swear they had been bought in January. They were hard as rocks! Kind of like eating the JuJubes you'd get at the movies.

Mom would always tell us not to eat any candy before we got home so she could inspect it. But we'd get handfuls of candy corn and eat that while out trick or treating. One year, i overdid it on the CC and would get nauseous just looking at the stuff. Unfortunately, I've gotten over that and will indulge in a 10-12 each year. As a matter of fact, someone put a ceramic basket of CC in the cube next to mine. Thank God, I only go the offie 2x week.

Candy choice indicates Ina Garten is one sick chick-o-stick.

Here's an alternative, R176. Now available on Amazon.

I trick or treated in the 60s and early 70s in NY suburbia. Yes we got a bit a fruit. It wasn't a scandal to us. But we also got real, homemade candy apples and caramel apples. Which were good.

There was never the slightest intervention by parents on our sacks of loot. Not that I remember in my waking hours, at least. I liked the cold halloween nights the best. It was spooky and few kids were out for less time, so more candy for us die hard trick or treaters.

I got a rock…

I always thought it was cool getting the homemade popcorn balls. My mom would never let me eat them though. Also, I wasn't a fan of getting pennies in my Halloween haul, but there was always a house that gave out quarters by the handful. We'd get hopped up on sugar and head to the video arcade.

Growing up in Brooklyn late 1960s- mid 1970s I would go tick or treating with siblings and friends on my block. At least half the candy was bad, but we would also get some excellent candy bars, and sometimes dimes. The best was a middle aged woman who would get dressed up as a different character each year, decorate her front door with a distinct Halloween theme, with haunting music playing from the stereo, and give out the best candy. One year it was truly amazing candy apples, the next cupcakes with over the top Halloween icing and decorations, and the next this unique caramel apples. It's a lasting memory I have of someone who truly enjoyed making kids excited and happy.