The best part of Halloween isn’t dressing up, and it’s not getting spooked out. Those things are great, but we all know that it’s all about the candy. Halloween candy is special. Bright orange and yellow, made up of funky shapes, and packed with sugar, it’s the absolutely best. Let’s take a look back at the sweetest, creepiest, most out of the box Halloween candy from the 60s and 70s.
Candy corn is the number one, A+ Halloween candy from the middle of the 20th century. Still available today in massive quantities, the original candy corns remain the easiest way to get a sugar high during the Halloween season. Candy Corn is now available year round, but there’s just something special about jamming on it on October 31st.
Sure, Starburst are everywhere today, but when they were introduced in 1967 as “M&M’s Fruit Chewies” (no joke), these babies were a special fruit flavored candy that everyone wanted in their treat bucket. Today, these things are everywhere but back in the day these were a truly special treat.
First produced in the 1950s, the Big Hunk is a classic candy bar that keeps things simple. Made of roasted peanuts and covered in nougat, these are the perfect candy bar to receive in the middle of trick or treating. Not only are they super sweet, but the peanuts provide the amount of protein you need to keep going for the rest of the night.
Today’s kids are sleeping on Abba-Zaba bars. Unlike anything commercially available, these sweet treats are basically just peanut butter covered in taffy. That’s it. First manufactured in the 1920s, Abba-Zaba bars are definitely old fashioned but they’re easily one of the tastiest candy bars every manufactured. You can still get these in stores on the west coast, but they’re not as popular as they used to be. It’s time to change that.
Kids don’t know about Bottlecaps today. A precursor to Sweet-Tarts, these circular, bottle cap shaped (duh) candies are pure sugar with no trace of natural flavors or ingredients – they rock. Bottlecaps are perfect for popping in your mouth and letting the sugar dissolve on your tongue to help you push through for another block of trick or treating.
It’s probably for the best that modern trick or treaters don’t know the joy of receiving a big ol’ candy apple from a random person on Halloween night. If you don’t know what candy apples are, they’re obviously a juicy, tasty apple covered in sticky, gooey caramel. They take forever to eat and they can absolutely destroy your teeth if you take too hard of a bite, but wow were they an awesome snack. Following claims of apples filled with razor blades and all manner of nastiness, candy apples were put on the no-no list for Halloween.
Another example of a homemade treat that today’s kids will never have the joy of experiencing, pop corn balls are exactly what they sound like – baseball sized treats made of popcorn that’s coated in sugar and sometimes even caramel. Salty and sweet, pop corn balls have been phased out of Halloween due to safety issues and concerned parents.
The 60s and 70s were all about fruit flavors. This probably has something to do with the fact that we just didn’t have the money to put towards fruit flavoring during World War 2, but in the post-war era the money was flowing and suddenly food scientists were able to get their mono working on candy that sort of kind of tasted like an orange or a grape. Vibrantly colored and legit tasty, Wacky Wafers were finally discontinued in the 90s.
Perfect for Halloween, these spooky little candy coffins, were filled with candy bones that could be assembled into a skeleton or eaten piece by piece. Not only were they a fun toy, but the candy itself was sweet and tangy, which is totally different than what you’re expecting.
PB Max was a delicious treat from the 80s, featuring a cookie base topped with peanut butter and oats, all covered in chocolate. While it wasn’t specifically a Halloween candy, it was a popular item to find in trick-or-treat bags. Unfortunately, it was discontinued in the early 90s.