Christmas is a time of candy extravagance. Boxes of high-end chocolates line store shelves, and once-a-year goodies make their appearance. But with the state of the economy, can you afford to give your loved ones the gift of candy this holiday season?

SURE you can! Because there’s one place that everyone can afford to buy candy: your friendly neighborhood dollar store! But will a gift of dollar-store candy thrill your nearest and dearest… or only ensure that you yourself receive nothing but dollar-store gifts in forthcoming years? Find out in a special Candy Addict three-part series: It Came From The Dollar Store: The Cheapo Holiday Candy Special.

Around here, the most popular dollar store is the Dollarama chain, which has yielded many Candy Addict review items over the months I’ve been writing for the site. I carefully selected three items from the shelves of Christmas candy at my local Dollarama, the first of which is the Whipped Creme Santa, made by the Georgia Nut Company of Stokie, Illinois.

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After my successful venture from traditional candy canes to Bob’s Blueberry Candy Canes, I felt less skeptical about seeking out another flavor. Though I normally don’t go for watermelon, I found these pink candy canes with green stripes aesthetically inviting enough for me to purchase Bob’s Watermelon Candy Canes from my local H.E.B.

Like its blueberry counterpart, the watermelon variety is the same size as a standard candy cane. Unwrapping it, I smell a scent reminiscent of strawberry jam, which is an odd thing considering watermelon and strawberries aren’t really that similar aside from them both being red….

Despite the smell, the taste is indicative of artificial watermelon. There are many varieties of watermelon-flavored candies out there, so as I sucked on the end of the candy cane, I tried to find a good comparison to better illustrate its taste.

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What’s better than candy? Free candy! Lots and lots of free candy. A large variety of free candy: bubble gum, jaw breakers, candy canes, suckers, Tootsie Rolls, peppermints, Smarties, oh my! And it’s all free, free, free!

“So what is it? Your leftover Halloween candy?” you may ask. No, my friend, this candy is fresh. This is December candy, not leftover October candy. This is Christmas Parade Candy!

My family went to our town’s Christmas parade last week. We actually weren’t thinking about candy at all – just thinking of the enjoyment we’d get from watching middle school bands attempt to play in tune, high school kids play tubas with scowls on their faces, and little kids sing Christmas carols as they shivered in the 10 degree wind chill factor. It’s a delight we anticipate each year. What could be a better way to celebrate the season than breathing exhaust fumes from diesel powered fire trucks and tractors for an hour? (Yes, we have tractors in our local parade….)

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Being a Candy Addict is a double-edged sword. When you’re one, everyone knows you love candy. Around the holidays, that means we can be easily satisfied if someone gives us one of our favorite candies as a gift.

However, you always run risk of giving an addict of piece of candy he/she won’t like. I mean, as Candy Addicts we have very specific taste preferences, and being given a candy bar we won’t eat may seem more of an insult than a sign of affection. In such cases, I’d personally rather have been given socks.

So if we could compile a wish-list of the candy we would most like to find stuffed in our stockings Christmas morning, here is what we’d like to receive and why.

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Despite being raised in a Jewish family, the one holiday I anticipated most anxiously the whole year was Christmas. It might seem strange, but it’s the truth. No, it wasn’t that I liked the It’s a Wonderful Life marathons or the endless playing of carols on the radio. The truth is, I adored Christmas candy.

And no other candy represents Christmas to me as much as the candy cane. It’s the one time of the year when I specifically go for something peppermint flavored, even though they’re basically the same as those after-dinner mints, just in a different form.

As I have grown, so too have candy canes. They have branched from their traditional form into new flavors, colors, and fillings. Though I typically purchase the classic variety, this year I felt compelled to mix things up a little.

Staring me down at my local Walgreens was an entire display of candy canes – so many to choose from that it was intimidating. I went back and forth between what to buy, but ultimately, I decided it would be best to try something simple, just like the original. With that framework in mind, I grabbed a box of Bob’s Blueberry Candy Canes and headed to the checkout line.

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