If You Feel Tricked By The Price Of Halloween Treats You’re Not Alone

Inflation has been a financial burden on virtually every household over the past couple of years, but the pain has been especially acute when it comes to keeping the neighborhood kids flush with candy this Halloween.

This is the second consecutive year that candy is more than 10% higher than the previous year. In 2022, Halloween candy was 14% higher than the same time in 2021 — and it’s 13% more expensive this year than it was in 2022.

Making it last

As with other wallet-busting supermarket purchases, some folks are opting to scale back the amount of candy they’re willing to shell out to the diminutive ghosts and superheroes who approach their front doors tomorrow night.

Illinois business owner Jessica Weathers is one of those consumers, who said it “doesn’t make sense” to spend $100 or more to buy the same amount of candy she normally buys. Instead of stocking up on plenty of sweets — for trick-or-treaters and various parties — she said she bought just two bags this year and will be turning off her porch light when the supply runs dry.

And she’s not alone. One recent survey found that roughly 1 in 3 Americans say they’ll either scale back on the amount of Halloween candy this year or trade in the top-shelf sweets for some cheaper sugary fare.

Identifying the factors

While inflation is a widespread economic issue, there are some specific issues impacting the cost of candy:

• Floods and other climate issues across West Africa have caused cocoa prices to soar.
• India banned sugar exports and Thailand has seen its sugar production dwindle.
• The cost of labor, packaging, and other ingredients (like peanuts) have also increased.

Industry insiders say we might be stuck with these high prices at least until the middle of next year.

Chris Agee October 30th, 2023

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