What’s your least favorite Halloween candy? Even though there’s so much chocolate and sugar-coated awesomeness to choose from, CandyStore.com combined 12 lists from the web and survey data from 40,000 of its customers to come up with the worst Halloween treat picks of the year.
So how does this mix of lists and survey data get to the bottom of the barrel when it comes to the worst Halloween candies? CandyStore.com weighted each best/worst list, giving each candy a different point value based on rank. The site then totaled the points and created their own 10 worst Halloween candies list!
What candy took top honors as the worst? Oh-so-surprisingly, candy corn came in at number one. Last year’s number one, circus peanuts, fell to number two and peanut butter kisses (not cups!) was number three.
The rest of the list included (in order starting at number four), wax Coke bottles, Necco Wafers, Tootsie Rolls, Smarties, licorice, Good & Plenty and Bit-O-Honey.
If you’re curious what candies Americans actually like, CandyStore.com’s best 10 list includes (in order starting at one), Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Snickers, Twix, Kit Kat, M&Ms, Nerds, Butterfingers, Sour Patch Kids, Skittles and Hershey Bars.
Halloween is just around the corner which means it’s time to start stocking up for all of those trick-or-treaters. The question is, what will you give them? Candy corn or M&Ms? Depending upon where you live, the most popular Halloween candy could be very different.
CandyStore.com has created it’s annual list of the top Halloween candy in every state using data compiled from the last 12 years of sales. Check out America’s top five candies below and see where your favorites stack up.
California, Florida, Minnesota and South Carolina, Hawaii and Arkansas all love tasting the rainbow. Skittles came in first in all of these states and took the top spot overall for the entire country.
The salty-sweet combo of chocolate and peanut butter is a big winner in Texas, Oregon, Kansas and North Carolina where Reese's Cups came in first, taking second overall for the country.
Wisconsin, South Dakota and New Hampshire can't get enough of Starburst, which takes the top fifth spot.
Rounding out the top ten Halloween candy in the country is candy corn (yes, really!), Hot Tamales, Tootsie Pops, Sour Patch Kids and Hershey’s. Check out CandyStore.com‘s interactive map below to see what candy takes the top spot in your state.
Fans of the original Swimmers know this TJ’s fave as a yummy, gummy alternative to the iconic little red fish that you’ve pretty much adored since birth—or at least the preschool years. Now the TJ’s treat is getting an upgrade with tart and tangy flavors.
The new Super Sour Swimmers are similar to Sour Patch Kids, but with a different look. Instead of the teeny tiny little people shapes, these are sea creatures.
Made with cane sugar, tapioca, spirulina, annatto and other natural fruit and veggie sources, the Super Sour version of the Swimmers come in red berry (starfish), huckleberry (dolphin), orange (tang fish), and strawberry (clam shell) flavors.
You can find 14-ounce bags of these tangy goodies in TJ’s stores now for $2.99.
Last year’s Sour Patch Kids Zombies have reawakened for the Halloween season and this time they’re easier to score.
The limited-edition Sour Patch Kids Zombies were available for purchase only at select 7-Eleven locations last year, but this Halloween fans of these sweet, sour gummy zombies are in luck. These tasty treats will be rolling out on store shelves across the country at retailers like Target and Walmart and even available online through Amazon.
Unlike the traditional mix of Sour Patch Kids, which feature a rainbow of colors, the zombies are a mix of just two flavors, purple grape and orange. The Sour Patch Kids Zombies come in individual packages and treat size bags perfect for handing out on Halloween.
You should be spotting these gummy zombies in stores soon as Halloween season is clearly already in full swing. They won’t last long though, so if you’re hoping to score some, grab them before they stumble away.
From Cabbage Patch Dolls to the View Master, we can all agree that some of the best toys of all time were around in the ’80s and ’90s. Though you’ve grown up, the toys have never stopped being awesome and now you can share them with your own kids thanks to Zulily’s Deals From the ’90s sale.
Each Thursday for the month of August, Zulily will be kicking off a new round of ’90s-themed deals. You can currently shop for styles from iconic ’90s clothing label PONY and some of the most popular toys, like Moon Shoes and Sea Monkeys.
Each Thursday’s totally tubular sale with new items will last for just a few days so you’ll want to act fast as the selection will get snapped up quickly.
Target is already a hot spot for parents, and the bullseye retailer just made shopping for the entire family even easier. This week the company released a sneak peek of its Hyde and Eek! Boutique and for the first time ever, the collection will include Halloween costumes for kids in wheelchairs!
The Adaptive Costume Collection currently has two options, a pirate and a princess. The inclusive costumes attach easily to wheelchairs and can even be cut down to size to fit unique sizes.
Adaptive Princess Halloween Costume
The Dress
The Adaptive Princess dress comes in hot pink and gold, with an opening in the back for easy dressing and a wheelchair compatible design. It’s just $20 and includes a crown.
The Carriage
Go all the way and get the coordinating carriage, which includes a wheelchair cover that easily attaches using hook-and-loop closures for a secure fit. It can be cut to fit a variety of wheelchair sizes and includes a coordinating crown for your little prince or princess (of course!) The carriage is $45.
Adaptive Pirate Costume
The Costume
Ahoy there, matey! This adaptive pirate costume includes a vest, a hat, pants (with leg openings wide enough to put on pants over shoes) and eye patch. It has openings in the back, making easy to dress and wheelchair friendly. $20.
The Ship
Get thee ready for a night of trickery with the Pirate Ship Halloween Costume Wheelchair Cover, adapted for any size wheelchair. It includes ocean-themed wheel covers, a black Jolly Roger flag and detailed ship sides that attach with hook-and-loop closures, perfect for your little boy or girl.
One of the most famous mamas of the animal kingdom just gave birth—again! April the Giraffe finally gave birth, after 15 long months of pregnancy—and hundreds of thousands of anxious viewers tuned in to the livestream to watch the magic happen.
April’s last pregnancy garnered more than 232 million live YouTube views. Even though she just gave birth in 2017, Animal Adventure Park (April’s home) announced her latest pregnancy last July—hinting at a spring birth.
Animal Adventure Park owner Jordan Patch recently told The Washington Post, “We continue to sit and wait. The physical development and signs suggest we are there, it’s just a matter of when.” He went on to add, “If we hit April 1, I’ll be absolutely shocked, based on the observations we’re seeing in house.”
It looks like Patch was right—April gave birth on Saturday, Mar. 16 just before 1 p.m. local time. Still no word (yet) on whether it’s a boy or a girl.
If you missed the birth, don’t worry. You can still tune in to April’s live YouTube feed to see how mommy and baby are doing!
Blink and you missed it last summer when NECCO abruptly closed its candy factory in July 2018, after more than 150 years. The Revere, Massachusetts plant produced NECCO Wafers, Clark Bars, Mighty Malts and of course, those iconic NECCO Sweethearts. But it’s not all doom and gloom for the candy conversation hearts of our childhoods.
Spangler Candy Company, makers of Dum Dums lollipops, acquired both the Sweethearts and NECCO Wafers products following the closure of NECCO last year. The company plans to relaunch Sweethearts in time for Valentine’s Day 2020. Until then, and with Valentine’s Day just around the corner, we’ve come up with a few places to still get those candy conversation hearts we all know and love.
Brach's Valentine's Day Tiny Conversation Hearts
Target
This is the closest you'll get to classic NECCO Sweethearts we all grew up with.
Flavors: Classic flavor mix of Apple, Banana, Cherry, Grape, Sweet Mint and Orange, as well as Very Berry and Tropical Fruit flavor mixes, too.
Another oh-so-close but still not exactly the same as NECCO Sweethearts, these bigger-than-usual Smarties have little messages stamped onto each candy.
LifeSavers Valentine's Day Gummies Message Wild Berry Hearts & Rings
Target
New this year at Target, these gummy LifeSavers candies let your Valentine's message linger just a little longer than a traditional candy conversation heart.
In 2019 Krispy Kreme is releasing a limited-edition Conversation Heart Donut! Choose from 4 fillings and over a dozen edible sayings that make the powdery heart candy of yesterday look like old news. You can shop the line from Jan. 30 through Feb. 14.
Birth control can be a great tool for preventing an unplanned pregnancy, but when you’ve already got mom brain it can be hard to make sure you take it correctly every day. That’s what makes a new kind of birth control such a game-changer, as this micro-needle birth control patch means all you’d have to do is give yourself a little tap once a month.
According to a new study published in the scientific journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a patch that uses dissolvable micro-needles to inject levonorgestrel, a common hormonal medication that prevents pregnancy.
All users need to do is apply the patch to their skin and the tiny micro-needles break off, implant themselves under the surface of the skin (where they dissolve) and slowly release the drug over time. Despite the tiny needles, the entire process is painless. The price tag is also pain-free—with the researchers reporting that each patch should only cost about one dollar.
Don’t call your OB/GYN just yet, however. So far the drug has only been tested successfully on rats, but the researchers are hopeful that it will have similar results in humans.
Mark Prausnitz, a regents’ professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and author of the research paper, said in a statement to EurekAlert, “Because we are using a well-established contraceptive hormone, we are optimistic that the patch will be an effective contraceptive. We also expect that possible skin irritation at the site of patch application will be minimal, but these expectations need to be verified in clinical trials.”
The 1980s arguably produced some of the best toys ever invented. Nintendo anyone? How about My Little Pony and Transformers? And that’s just scratching the surface. The good ol’ days before screens took over meant playing with your toys from the moment you woke up til you heard your mom shout “dinner!” Read on for the best retro toys to hit the market in the 80s and smile as you reminisce about your childhood!
Sweet and wholesome Teddy Ruxpin was a groundbreaking technological advancement on the typical teddy bear. He could actually read you books and talk to you! Mind. Blown.
Whether you were 'allowed' to play doctor or not, this Medical Kit was a quintessential playroom item. Giving shots was your fave thing to do, until you realized that actual shots really did hurt.
Remember making sure your Cabbage Patch doll was legit by checking for Xavier Roberts' signature on its butt cheek? You also tried to master your braiding skills on their yarn hair that always ended up being too short to braid. Most of all, we loved these sweet dolls and their adorable dimples.
Mr. Gameshow would be creepy by today's standards, but as kids we thought he was the coolest cat with the funniest jokes and laugh. Again, a toy that could talk to you? It was earth shattering in the 80s.
You couldn't get enough of these cheery, colorful ponies with rad names like Moondancer and awesome designs tattooed on their sides. You no doubt collected as many as possible and even asked for the carryall stable to tote them to and from playdates.
The 80s gave us plush toys that even taught us values. The Care Bears were character trait toting, huggable teddies that spread goodwill teaching kids about bravery, harmony and sharing.
When Nintendo became portable in the form of the Game Boy and you could take Super Mario Land anywhere... it was the dawn of a new era and the beginning of on-the-go screentime entertainment. Road trips were no longer your worst nightmare, as long as you had plenty of batteries.
You staged many an incredible battle between your He-Man action figure and his archenemy Skeletor. Playtime was otherworldly with these Masters of the Universe.
We didn't know what we liked better, playing with our dolls from the Strawberry Shortcake collection or smelling their dessert-inspired fragrant scents! Bonus points if you also had their nemesis, the Peculiar Purple Pie Man doll!
These pizza eating, sewer dwelling, crime fighting turtles put an entirely new spin on heroism and we loved their clever antics in their cartoon too. If you had a real pet turtle in the 80s, we're pretty sure you named him Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo or Raphael.
Transformers: more than meets the eye! Heroes in disguise! How cool was it that Transformers were literally two toys in one? Optimus Prime and Kickback may have been the coolest toys you ever owned.
Who can forget the commercial for Monchhichi dolls with that sugary sweet song: "Monchhichi, Monchhichi, oh so soft and cuddly!" You couldn't wait to get your hands on one!
Parents wouldn't get you a dog? That's what Pound Puppies were for! You were obsessed with rescuing these pooches that needed a home. Puppy love at its finest.
What’s your favorite toy from the 80s? Share in the comments below!
