In no particular order….
- Pennies: Who gives out pennies (or any other extremely low denomination of coin) on Halloween night!? I wouldn’t complain if it was a dollar, but pennies just don’t go as far as they used to. First of all, it is NOT CANDY! Second of all, there are no “penny” candy shops left out there.
- Apples: That isn’t candy! That’s healthy stuff! It is true that there have been a couple of documented razorblade in the apple cases, and that is enough for me to stay away from them. Besides, this is the night for trick or treating, and if you hand out an apple, it is likely to end up in your flower garden or on your roof.
- Raisins: Nope….Uh-uh…Not going in my mouth on Halloween. Unless, of course, they are Raisinettes!
- Advice: “Look both ways before crossing the street,†should have already been beat into my head by my parents. That is not your job as the person who is giving me delicious treats!
- Canned Food: A can of Sugar Beets or Candied Yams might seem great to some people, but it is not something to give to a trick-or-treater. It is likely to end up through a car window.
- Stickers: Yeah, SpongeBob or Superman stickers are cool, but nobody wants them on Halloween. Now if you want to give a piece of candy and a sticker that’s fine, but don’t give just a sticker.
- Coupons: Even coupons for free stuff are no good. Free Wendy’s Frostys or free McDonald’s french fries are normally good, but a kid wants the instant satisfaction of candy. With a coupon you have to remember to take them in the car then convince your parents to stop by to get you something free. Most of the time the coupons expire before you can use them anyway. Say no to coupons.
- A Toothbrush: Yeah, yeah. We all know we should brush our teeth. We don’t need to get that message drilled into us by our neighbors.
- Little Bags of Microwave Popcorn: Anything that requires the use of a 1000 watt kitchen appliance shouldn’t be given to kids on Halloween.
- Homemade Anything: I don’t care if your cookies won blue ribbons at the county fair or your popcorn balls are the toast of the town, don’t put them in my Halloween bag. The parents won’t let us eat anything homemade anyway and your homemade treats will end up getting tossed in the trash anyway. Save your time and buy a big bag of candy at the local megamart.
I think there’s a penny candy shop in Pennsylvannia still.
October 31st, 2006 at 8:10 amLet me add: packets of Pepperidge Farm (or other mass-manufactured, prepackaged sugar cookies):
1) Children do not like plain sugar cookies (or at least I didn’t).
October 31st, 2006 at 10:57 am2) Children cannot properly appreciate Pepperidge Farm cookies, for the most part.
3) Those sugar cookies get HARD in the package, dammit!
tonks: Do they actually sell candy for 1 penny?!? Do I need to get a plane ticket? Tee hee.
October 31st, 2006 at 11:51 am[...] The definitive source for Halloween goodies is the Candy Addict blog.  Their postings today are a trove of spooky goodness, including the Top 10 Worst Non-Candy Items to Get on Halloween, How Adult Can Get Candy While Trick-or-Treating Without Dressing Up, a review of Candy Corn-flavored soda and the Top 10 grossest candies for your Halloween party table (the worst candy? The “lick your scabs” candy bandages). [...]
October 31st, 2006 at 12:10 pmI haven’t done trick or treating since I was 12 my sister was 20 something :-)
But if I was I’d like raisons and Little Bags of Microwave Popcorn:
Little Bags of Microwave Popcorn are cool you put some good pikes of chocolate after it’s made and it becomes so yummy.
Raisins: I like them and I can melt choclolte on them mmmmmmmmmmmmm or put them in salads. Okay so I am weird.
I love candy corn and lickerish
October 31st, 2006 at 6:39 pmRobert I promise if I remember where it is and what it’s called I’ll tell you.
November 1st, 2006 at 1:32 pmyou can give me your email adress and plus your name and some questions about candy
February 11th, 2007 at 8:30 ami will give you my email to it is: p.hadia.mac1@hotmail.com
bye
February 11th, 2007 at 8:31 amTo anyone who’s looking for a penny candy store(and to the author, they do exist :D), there happens to be one in Littleton, New Hampshire. It is called Chutters, and it ALSO happens to have the world’s longest candy counter, it’s quite awesome if I do say so myself. Here’s a link to their website: http://www.chutters.com/history.html
October 21st, 2007 at 5:05 pmIntelligentLittlePopTart: But are those items actually sold for a penny? Most times I find ‘penny candy’ the amount is more than a penny.
Besides, if some kid gets a nickel in Nebraska, it’s not going to get them to New Hampshire…
October 31st, 2007 at 4:19 pmI would say the top worst non-candy trick or treat item would be a chick tract. http://www.chick.com/default.asp
October 31st, 2007 at 11:49 pmi actually smacked a person for giving me a toothbrush and advice.
November 25th, 2007 at 8:36 pmI hate tootsie-rolls. I never eat them and they just sit in my halloween bag growing old. Most of the time they’re hard, but even when they aren’t…I just don’t like them. I’m also getting sick of Hersheys bars. Be a little more original, please! Everyone gives those out.
January 12th, 2008 at 5:24 pmI also really hate it when these lazy curmudgeons give you melted candy that has been sitting next to the front door for hours
July 30th, 2008 at 2:47 pmYou are so right, I’m an 8 year old trick or treater and all I want is candy that doesn’t suck. I hate freakin pennies and throw the away all the time – but for Halloween they really suck. I throw all the change I get (don’t think a kid even wants a freakin quarter now a days) into the trash with those suck ass apples!!!!!!!
October 24th, 2008 at 8:22 amgosh;;
October 29th, 2008 at 10:46 amcandy corn should be one of them.
it doesn’t taste like candy or corn.
/:
May I add religious pamphlets?
October 31st, 2008 at 9:14 pmNot a good treat AND annoyingly uncomfortable.
I don’t like those little treat bags with the pencil and the other little cheap toys. Funny story, this Halloween we got these bags with cheap pencils, a paper airplane and an ad for gutter cleaning!!
November 1st, 2008 at 12:26 pmBest non-candy treat I’ve found is glow bracelets. You can get them 100/$7 if you shop around online(which is what you’d spend on two bags of candy anyway), kids go insane for them, added safety crossing street bonus… This year I literally had to have an extra person because of the trick or treater traffic and keeping kids from robbing me wholesale of half a dozen of them.
November 2nd, 2008 at 12:58 pmWe had someone give out glow bracelets to the kids this year as well. It was a very good idea and the kids loved them. The folks giving them out even activated them and put them together, which was very nice of them. If you’re not going to give out candy, I’d say glow bracelets/necklaces are a great second choice!
November 2nd, 2008 at 7:51 pmI can’t believe I’m the first to mention those vile peanut butter kisses! They were horrible back then, they’re still horrible today…why they still make them, I can’t imagine–does ANYONE like/eat these?
November 7th, 2008 at 7:25 pmi live in milford, connecticut and there is stil a penny candy shop down town it they have been in business for EVER!! and they have sky bars and other homemade stuff!!! its called Wandas Sugar Shack if you ever come to milford you should check it out its kind small tho
November 13th, 2008 at 8:43 pmI love the really old fashioned type of sweet shop, it’s a shame most are dying out.
November 16th, 2008 at 7:02 pmWith regrads to trick or treat, never give me fruit! lol
I disagree. You can hand your homemades off to me, that stuff is the shiz.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:14 ami love popcorn balls and pepermint wafers
December 9th, 2008 at 3:01 pmGee, Tom, I think the PB molasses kisses taste absolutely divine! (I’m in the minority) Send ‘em my way :-)
December 28th, 2008 at 10:59 pmsome of my faverit candy’s r dots,tootis pops, almost evry candy ecsept candy corn
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:49 pmThe good ol days.
January 9th, 2009 at 3:22 amgreat article! better than getting rocks or razor blades.
January 9th, 2009 at 3:24 amI LOVE CANDY!!!
January 12th, 2009 at 12:28 pmI LOVE CANDY!!!SO MUCH
January 12th, 2009 at 12:29 pmIn my younger days I ate my fair share of candy,now as an adult I love to possess it,to have it around for all to enjoy,halloween is a big deal to me:O)
January 22nd, 2009 at 8:36 pmThe worst is Good’n'Plenty. That candy shell-coated licorice? That stuff is nasty.
January 28th, 2009 at 9:22 pmYes the worst ones here are definately listed. The thought of apples, or toothbrushes….how did they come about. Popcorn is maybe not so bad but what’s halloween without the candy and all the fun that goes along.
Lynda
May 8th, 2009 at 12:18 pmI’m pretty sure the pennies hearken back to the “trick or treat for unicef” days. I’m not sure if unicef is still using children to do their fund-raising, but that’s where the pennies and other coins used to go when I was a kid, and usually people with pennies also still gave out candy.
June 12th, 2009 at 3:04 pmi enjoy mini bags of microwave pop corn!!! they are less cals and still all the good!!
July 28th, 2009 at 3:53 pmthere should be a rule for the kind of candy given out too. NO MORE CANDY CORN yuck. i hate it. Chocolate, lollipops, and sour stuff are awesome
August 23rd, 2009 at 12:17 pmdont forget cans of soda, once my dad said we could only stop at one house that halloween cuz we were travling and the guy gives me a fanta. really? my dad doesnt let me drink in the car so it got warm, eww @ ashley i might check out that store, i live near milford lol
August 31st, 2009 at 9:41 pmwho in the world whould want a toothbrush honestly!!!!
October 17th, 2009 at 12:33 pmOoh I liv in New Haven so I cld go there! Sweet ! Litereally.
November 14th, 2009 at 8:31 pmits so hard too get reece peanut butter cups these days for halloween…you always get those gross snicker’s (sorry i dont like peanuts in my chocolate!)
March 4th, 2010 at 2:36 amthere was a guy giving out sardines and soap in my naighborhood in the past
April 1st, 2010 at 10:05 amwanna hear something sad? I moved down to central florida last year from Michigan. Halloween is a big deal up there. Lots of fun. My kids got all dressed up for the big day of Trick Or Treating (its my youngest daughters Bday..isnt she lucky!) and NOBODY gives out candy down here. The streets were empty. How disapointing. I guess its just not how it used to be. Out late…running from door to door like a crazy maniac…laughing and comparing loot. …ah..the memories. lol. As for the candy…I always hated when older people would give out butterscotch disks or peppermints. Most of the time they looked like they were already sucked on. gross.
May 21st, 2010 at 12:01 pmOne Halloween my friends mom told me to go to the Crankiest-man-in-the-world’s house and he sprayed me with his hose and ruined my candy. What a douchebag. And the last house was this stuck-up rich guy’s and he gave me a mint. >:-(
July 22nd, 2010 at 5:22 pmThe worst Halloween treat I ever got was an unbaked sweet potato. My favorite treat was Milk Duds.
September 7th, 2010 at 8:33 pmthe story about razor blades in the apples is just that a story probly started by the candy companies.in fact the only cases of halloween treats being messed with involve family members.i remember back when people wern’t afraid of thier niegbors.we didn’t need parents to trick or treat with us.and the best treats were the homemade ones.now cities and towns tell you when and where your kids can trick or treat.when did we become so paranoid?
September 28th, 2010 at 9:30 amOkay why would you give out a tooth brush that is just wrong and whats with rasins there just dried grapes and know one wants and apple for Halloween unless it is in caramel or dipped in candy that is just un American giving out fruit for Halloween.
October 8th, 2010 at 1:10 pmActually I loved going to this one house and getting homemade, baked doughnuts. We used to eat them right there, BEFORE going home. I’d eat a dozen right there, with milk. The house still exists, but I think the people are gone from it. But in the 80′s when I did my candy rounds on Halloween, there was nothing more delicious and non-nutritious than a good old powdered or cinnamon doughnut fresh from the doughnut maker.
October 14th, 2010 at 11:55 amPeople in our town have been handing out cans of pop for years. I know its probably cheaper than candy, but those poor liitle kids hauling around all those cans. I feel sorry for them.
October 17th, 2010 at 10:26 amI remember getting pennies for halloween from the doctor in our small town so many many years ago. Nobody does that anymore and besides the penny won’t buy anything these days.
October 20th, 2010 at 3:41 pmthis guy told me that when he runs out of candy for the trick or treaters, he just pour some fruit loops into the bags.
October 27th, 2010 at 2:32 pmthat’s disgraceful!
Kids might not like pennies or quarters – but they love dollar bills. Last Halloween I spiked the candy dish with rolled up dollar bills – the kids loved it! We don’t get tons of kids so for 20 bucks it was affordable fun, and yes, once the word spread – they came back for more!
January 31st, 2011 at 11:32 amWow, do people really give out coupons at halloween? That is really bad! Ever seen a kid go into a store and use a coupon? This is supposed to be a fun holiday! Give em some candy!
August 14th, 2011 at 11:19 amHaha, I am actually a halloween baby! My mum baked me a cake that looked like a pumpkin every year until I was about 14 and then I had to say ‘Sorry mum but can I not have an orange cake this year!’ I do like it when the kids come around for trick or treat but I think there is sometimes a little to much expectation on their behalf. A lot of the kids by me just want hard cash – hardly the spirit of Halloween!
September 19th, 2011 at 10:15 amHey, I have a kind of make shift candy store in my house for my trick or treators. I buy at least 30 kinds of candy with displays. But I am so disappionted this year with the candy. Give me ideals on what would be cool.
October 12th, 2011 at 12:48 pmMany years ago when I just landed on Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, as a student, I was introduced to my first Halloween.
Seeing kids going around at night gathering treats was very much fun to me as a first-timer; however, I was horrified when I heard that some ill-hearted people put some sharp objects into those non-candies treats such as apple, marsh mellow, etc on purpose.
From then on, I’d caution every parent to double check on the received treats before letting their kids consume them.
October 14th, 2011 at 3:50 amI hated apples as Halloween treats. They weren’t the nice, big, crisp ones your Mom would buy you at the grocery store, they were the “seconds” or “thirds” that were stuffed in a plastic bag. They were soft, and mushy and mealy. Every house in my neighborhood that handed out apples got them back as applesauce. On their garage door or their cars!
July 27th, 2013 at 9:20 pm