Spyke

I like chocolate. I like European chocolate much more than American chocolate.

But it's just those particular candy bars that have a vomit aftertaste to me now & they didn't use to when I was a kid.

4
lemmy.today

At this point is cheaper to be the house with full candy bars /s

Looking at the prices of Snickers from CandyDirect.com you can get 15.8 lbs of fun sized (about 400+ pieces if my math is right with each bar at 17 grams) for $186. $0.46 each. Fuck what a scam.

Full bars are fucking $2.41 each in bulk. WTF

Also, some of these bags are huge. 350, 250, etc. pieces for $25, so 7¢ each. The top row center bags are 15¢ per piece. If you're not expecting a constant steam of kids, one of these might be all you need.

84
pawb.social

At this point is cheaper to be the house with full candy bars

Okay, complete tangent, but...

When my kid was still Trick-or-Treating age, I was walking around town with him and as it was getting a bit late, we came upon a house with a man sitting out front with a half-full box of full-size candy bars. He gave my kid one, and my kid asked if he could have another. Before I could scold him, the man said "Sure!" and gave him another, then followed up with "You can have the whole box, if you want..."

My kid was obviously ecstatic, and after a minute of chatting with him, it came out that his wife had told him he had to stay out there til they were all gone, and he wanted to go inside and watch whatever game was on.

So that's how my kid ended up having the best Halloween of his life.

90
lemmy.dbzer0.com

Similarly, my first Halloween at a new neighborhood. I go all out. I aspired to be the house my buddies and I would have talked about when we were kids. Decorations, sound effects, light show, etc… I run AV for a living, so it was all pretty basic for me. But with just some basic stuff, I had it looking really nice. This was my candy tray:

I had two trick-or-treaters. Two. Turns out, there just weren’t that many kids in my new neighborhood. That second kid got the entire tray.

17
Rcklsabndnreply
sh.itjust.works

A lot of people with, ehem, special needs, buy a shit ton of candy for Halloween so that when there are pounds of it left over they can be like, 'Oh geeze, I guess Someone has to eat all this candy...'

12

I mean.. Those look like normal Canadian prices.

However, contextually, that stuff in Canada is actually chocolate and many US versions have little to no cocoa, and oils instead of milk ingredients. So its a rip off because its not even chocolate.

56
Dicskareply
lemmy.world

Considering global coffee and chocolate prices, I'm surprised. Are sizes the same as last year?

9

Just go for flour/sugar based snacks instead of chocolate then. Few packs of Aldi version of hobnobs, job done.

4

I normally do full sized bars considering how many people we get on average. I normally buy them at Costco Business and it looks like they're still priced the same. Prices at regular Costco are similar to what I remember of last year too.

We probably make most of our chocolate here. In the area around where I work there are at least 4 Mondelez plants. I know Mars has a few plants in or around the GTA as well.

2
lemmy.ca

Halloween just promotes socialism for children. If they want candy, get a job in the mine.

57
Anebreply
lemmy.world

The stupid shit tho is five years ago the candy would go on sale the day after and it $4 a bag. The candy is not expensive and the candy is probably somehow circulating from 5 years ago. Is all supply and demand, fucking capitalism.

8
indomarareply
lemmy.world

Yeah that's what's so shocking about it, these bags would be $5 only a few years ago. And I remember how painfully impoverished large swaths of the country were then.

I cannot imagine how the average American in the Midwest is surviving at the moment.

7

Have you been to a dollar tree? And everything is $3 or more

4

Wife and I both work, everything is carefully calculated to have us constantly worry about bills and unexpected expenses. If one of us misses 1 day of work there is 1 bill that won't be paid, which means multiple phone calls from bill collectors. A lot of them are super fast about sending to collections. I no longer fret about my credit score.

3

"Heres a baggie with a toothbrush, a travel size toothpastea box of raisins, 50 pennies, and an apple".

26

I've been a full size candy bar house for a while. Buying bulk candy bars spiked in 2021. Boxes usually average about $1.25 per bar, but you can find sales at Costco at $0.60 each if you aren't picky on exact candies.

Non-candy options I sprinkle in that are hits are rice krispy treats, bags of microwave popcorn (unpopped) and the packaged 2 pack of cookies.

7
CallMeAnAIreply
lemmy.world

You literally just have to do 5 seconds of planning and not buy from the top manufacturer 3 weeks before Halloween. Everyone is just looking for reasons to bitch with this rage bait.

-15

Shit is getting stupidly expensive. People are gonna bitch. You're gonna complain about them. I'm gonna make a comment about that because i can't help it. We're all fucked. Let the person air their grievance about overpriced candy. Fuck's sake 🫠

25

I mean, looking at just this picture, $20 will do you fine. So even your idea of 5 seconds of planning seems a wild exaggeration. Buuuut, we can still complain about prices going up and up and up.

5

Well, this year it looks like there’s one little bag on the bottom shelf that’s ~$9, the rest is $19+. Not including tax.

4
lemmy.ca

I get about 50 kids in average every year.

So no matter the price (unless it gets any higher), I'll spend a couple hundred on candies. I'm not wealthy but I can afford it once a year .... I actually prefer spending more on this holiday than for Christmas.

Plus I loved this holiday when I was a kid. What other time or place do you have an opportunity to see a strangers house and get candy in a safe and public holiday? So I've made it a rule in my life that on Halloween when a kid comes to my door, they're getting a few handfuls of candy. I also don't care of the kids age ... they could be two or twenty (as long as they're polite and non aggressive) they're getting candy.

I once had a group of college kids who were Indian nationality who were just out having fun with some face paint and daring each other to visit houses .... I gave them a bunch of candy, told them which houses to go to and made them laugh.

42
ExLisperreply
lemmy.curiana.net

Spending money on stuff is the essence of American existence. When you stop doing it, America will die.

25
frunchreply
lemmy.world

How do you manage to exist without spending money? How are you online? Do you live at a library or something?

9

You can cut back heavily without cutting everything. Doing my part to kill capitalism. Currently playing my part against all branded food/drink products and fabric softener.

3
CallMeAnAIreply
lemmy.world

God forbid they hand out candy once a year 🙄

Christ, you people will bitch about anything.

5
ExLisperreply
lemmy.curiana.net

In Spain there's a tradition to give out candy during The Wise Men parade. The town hall buys the candy, not the parents (socialism!), and they are mostly the cheapest ones because it's just for fun.

You can give out candy without turning it into competition and forcing everyone to spend money.

10
Zierreply
fedia.io

Unfortunately Americans are brainwashed to spend money on everything their whole lives. You're a horrible 'American' if you don't keep the 'economy' going (AKA making rich people richer). And everything in America is a stupid competition. Thankfully, not all Americans participate in the brainwashing.

8
CallMeAnAIreply
lemmy.world

Who is having a competition 🤣 you people just invent things to rage about

-1
ExLisperreply
lemmy.curiana.net

I only know it from pop culture and online comments but in TV shows everyone wants to be the "house that gives out good candy" and people often brag about investing in better candy. So I don't know, maybe most people don't care but the concept of a competition is definitely out there.

2

Yeah, remember that those tv shows are advertisements in and of themselves. No one cares about the house with the best candy aside from a few kids that are happy.

6

You don't have to watch TV shows to know this, literally check out any US-centric halloween subreddit or facebook page to see the evidence for yourself.

It's common sense, and OP's username checks out.

1

I've seen you in multiple posts now being an utter shitbag. What the fuck is your problem?

5
mienshaoreply
lemmy.world

Am american and I have never ever heard of someone spending “hundreds” of dollars on halloween candy. 99.9% of americans are not doing that.

11

Come to my neighborhood.

The average resident makes double what the average household income is in the region. It's essentially the wealthiest neighborhood in the region without gates to keep the poors out. The houses are not too far apart for kids to walk either. So most of the community brings their kids to walk around this neighborhood. I get 400-500 trick or treaters on average.

As my wife and I both grew up well below the poverty line we are very generous with the candy.

4

I'm not American .... I'm in Canada in northern Ontario ... we don't have kids so I have a bit of extra cash, plus I grew up poor so I know what this holiday means to many kids, especially in my area where families don't have a lot, especially these days.

8
lemmy.world

I'm a house that buys Full size Candy bars. We average 50 kids in our neighborhood, so generally 1 fundraiser box covers us.

I still have my 2024 screen shots and as you can see the price went up 31% I know it's not an exact comparison, but the box I gave away last year appears to have been discontinued. On lower count packs its gone up nearly 45%.

I was planning on doing Roasted Chestnuts and Apple cider for parents as a fun gag, but now I'm considering doing that exclusively.

40
Korhakareply
sopuli.xyz

I got excited at this idea until I remembered that American cider isn't alcoholic. Should make some proper scrumpy!

4
lemmy.world

At that price, I think I'll just hand out dollar bills. Kids love money, right?

39
Rooster326reply
programming.dev

We are doing stickers and glow sticks. Bought the "rave family special" online. It was still cheaper than candy.

Worst case Ontario - we now have emergency lightning, and an activity that will take hours for the kids.

10
yamaonanreply
lemmy.world

Worst case Ontario

It's water under the fridge.

Gnomewhatimsayin?

11

We are doing the same. No candies. My partner will give out stickers, pencils, and some organic savoury puffs that she managed to snag somewhere in bulk.

5
buttnuggetreply
lemmy.world

I would have to assume that if you handed out single dollar bills, kids wouldn’t really know what to do with it.

8

Pool it together and buy bags of candies at 70% off on November 1sr

16

when I was a kid, people would give out pennies when they ran out of candy

4
lemmy.nullspace.lol

Get ready to see lots of posts marveling at how expensive common things are getting in the US

33
piefed.social

My wife bought rice krispie treats for super cheap, dumdums, some lesser known candy, little Halloween toys and stickers, and made goodie bags.

If you avoid the mainstream big name candy, it's not so bad.

28
lemmy.world

What are you, some kind of socialist? But seriously, people always complain about how things are so expensive but keep buying the same overpriced trash.

26

That overprized trash gets flung into everyone's faces with ads constantly and is placed at eye level in optimal shelf locations so you see it first and can grab it the easiest. It's placed at the counters when you have to wait (in overpriced small / singular packages), and if the advertising machine detects you might be perceptible to being convinced into buying it (e.g. through analysis of your previous purchases collected by the payback program or store itself together with your social media posts showing you're sad or depressed) you'll receive tailored ads at the right moment via Smartphone, websites, Music streaming service and (soon) car infotainment + "smart" camera-enabled digital ad screens in public.

Don't blame people for being manipulated by the manipulation machine, none of us is safe against it. Our resources for full awareness are sucked dry and monetized until we're tired and defenseless; and at that point you can't blame anyone who just wants to buy something that makes them a littlr bit more happy and less tired. Of course everyone ultimately has free will, but in the dystopia we live in that free will requires phenomenal energy to truly act on.

Smash the system, not everyone else's desire to feel happy. 🙂

18

Dumdums, sure, but where did you find rice krispie treats that are cheaper than this candy? Just spitballing, but 140 pieces for $20 works out to something like 8 cents per piece, while just a quick search shows prices for rice krispies to be way higher, up to 50 cents per, with a few options scattered that bring the prices close (I think I saw a 100 pack for $21, and a 45 pack for $9).

3
slrpnk.net

Odd that products made and packaged in the US, from government subsidized corn syrup, and not the most affected by tarrifs, still jump in price. Maybe inflation will be the scariest thing this Halloween

27
sh.itjust.works

A majority of Hershey products have been made in Mexico for some time! It was "somehow" cheaper - possibly in part to tricklin' down trade agreements - to ship the ingredients there and then send the finished product back. As much a "fun" fact as the "fun-sized" candy. Even the JustBorne/The Peeps peoples of Pennsylvania manufacture a bunch in Canada.

11

Jesus fuck. Almost $30 for those big bags?

I am definitely going to WinCo and getting 5 pounds of peanut butter cups. They're only ~$2 or 3/pound from the bulk bins!

They're not Reese's but they are just as good.

24

Winco is incredible. At first, I was annoyed at them not accepting credit cards. But after seeing the prices, and how credit card companies work, I understand it.

Things are higher quality/cheaper than Walmart, without the "Walmart tax" of cheating the manufacturer.

3
Dharreply
lemmy.ca

Cups, in this economy?!?

11
lemmy.world

Just have them cup their hands, pour some water in, and then send them on their way. Fortunately, eggs and toilet paper are expensive as well, so you shouldn't have to worry about any repercussions.

5

Fortunately, eggs and toilet paper are expensive as well

Jesus christ, I cannot imagine being a kid in this generation of the US.

No treats or tricks under the MAGA regime. I hope they at least remember how to do a t-shirt ninja. If their parents even let them go outside, that is...

3

Oranges are a traditional treat for Christmas. I reckon with its orange hue, it's gonna make a killing for Halloween this year!

4

Leave a note on Your porch saying "come back tomorrow".

12

I only got about five groups last year, maybe 15 kids total.

I noticed a couple of days ago that the Halloween candy was out at Walmart, but I didn't check prices. If this is accurate, then, yeah, porch light off this year. It's not even worth putting out a pumpkin. Also, I'd end up eating the leftover candy, so that's not good either.

If homemade cookies weren't shunned, then I'd do that, but I can't imagine parents letting their kids eat them. The fearmongers have won.

18

I just bought 40 lbs (big neighborhood) at US$4.44 a lb for snack-size name-brand 'chocolate' at Costco

Nominal price for the past four years has been $5 a lb here. Given that's kirkland's packaging with mars/hersheys candy in it.

Looks like my local grocer is $24.99 for the 3.4lb bag which is over US$7 a lb so ... yikes.

17
jlai.lu

Oh, so that’s what it looks like inside a murican supermarket. That’s a metric shit ton of plastics from an UE pov.

I’ve never seen bags like that, some seems dumb with the numbers, 195 or 310 but why not plain and round 200?

17

The only bags like that I've seen are much smaller than these, and I'm also in EU

1

Where ? The biggest I’ve seen are 1Kg.

1
Duckingoldreply
lemmy.world

Definitely a US grocery store.

195 or 310 is piece count. The bags are usually sold by rounded weight (3 or 5lbs).

16

Yes it’s written pieces next to the number, but I find it strange to have 195 snickers instead of 200. I didn’t think about the gross weight tho, it could be the reason yeah.

3
lemmy.dbzer0.com

I guess you’ve never seen the Asian fascination with putting everything in individual plastic wrappers. Definitely not just an “American” thing.

If you’re going to jump on the America Bad train, at least put some fucking effort into it. There’s plenty of non-hypocritical stuff to make fun of.

16
Skunkreply
jlai.lu

You assumed that, the murican supermarket and the plastic quantity are two different sentences separated by a comma.

And the murican supermarket is only because I’ve never been in one, nor seen candy packaging of that size.

1
lemmy.dbzer0.com

It’s a singular shelf of candy. This isn’t representative of any market, super or otherwise. A quick trip by your image search engine of choice could probably elucidate the mystery better than a Lemmy shitpost.

2

I fail to see how that’s relevant. I’m not looking to learn how they look.

I was telling that American supermarket and plastics were not the same sentence and not at all a "murica bad" stereotype that you thought I was getting at. Believe it or not, I have zero interest in trashing the US or its people that I know are a majority of good intelligent peaceful people, I just don’t care and carry on.

2
leminal.space

This is literally representative of the current state of big box stores in the US, which you can confirm by any of the numerous comments here giving their personal accounts.

Cope harder.

0
lemmy.dbzer0.com

I wasn’t referring to the prices. I’m not sure how else to explain it, so I guess I’ll just repeat myself and hope it clicks for you?

A couple of shelves of candy is not representative of what a market - small or large - looks like. Markets sell more than one type of product.

Any other coping I should be working on, smart ass?

0
lemmy.world

i see you are the comment police all over the place! lol you're a loser I'm blocking you

0

We call them sweets. I think some brands are changing to better packaging though. Large tub of celebrations should do, each kid gets a tiny chocolate bar

0

TBF, it's a gum-candy display.

There's some 3 times more plastic than an equivalent display here in Brazil, but I don't think you can extrapolate anything from what gum-candy looks like. It's supposed to be shitty.

3

it's what happens when you elect economic geniuses

27

The avian flu caused egg shortage? Also easily linked back to policies put in place by the GOP.

1

What kind of BS is that?

"Ecofascism is "environmentalism through genocide", opined Klein. Political researcher Alex Amend defined ecofascist belief as "The devaluing of human life—particularly of populations seen as inferior—in order to protect the environment viewed as essential to White identity.""

Basically all the right wing nut bags that are popular now deny climate change. Trump even has his famous drill baby drill bit

13
Ledivinreply
lemmy.world

it's called ecofascism and you're gonna love what comes next.

...did you think "eco" meant "economy?" 😂🤣😂🤣

8

Other places that don't use USD can still complain about overpriced goods. Collapse already so the rest of the world can get on with our lives.

2
RebekahWSDreply
lemmy.world

Neither do we, but I still buy it, pretend we do, then eat the bag over the night!

12
lemmy.world

Buy your candy at the end of August like I do and they are half price or even lower. This is what happens when you wait until what you would think the opportune time to buy your Halloween candy is.

10

"The most opportune time to buy halloween candy is when its 90% off november 1st of last year, the second best time is now" - Sun Tzu

15
sh.itjust.works

IKEA has full size bars for a dollar each. I think 30 of those would be better than a bag of small candies for $30

9

You don’t want to get known as the full bar house unless you wanna spend $500 bucks a year on candy at minimum

Mini bags at Costco tend to run $0.25 or less a piece

5

People who have afforded to buy their neighbors candy in the past have always been awesome people.

I am not one of those people.

8
lemmy.world

Candy canes for my house again. They remain cheap. You just have to wait for this stuff to sell and they put out the Christmas stuff.

8

Exactly why I haven’t done it in a couple of years. I hate it, cause I love this holiday. But get fucked with these prices. Maybe this is all the winning.

8

I think everyone should collectively decide to hold Halloween 2 days after Halloween so everyone can get in on that reduced price candy.

Takes the sting out of inflation a little bit and everyone still gets their good time in.

6

They all look like from same brand that probably wants to have a 500% profit margins from reporpusing sugar

6
lemmy.world

But what about Helloween? Heavy Metal Hamsters enter chat!

6

the rollerblade wheelchairs with reflector stripes for long exposure photography fancy.

2
lemmy.world

Learn how to bake the awesomest shortbread you can, & wrap some of that edible-gold up in wax-paper for each kid.

Flour, cornstarch, oats, butter, salt, do not add-up to the extortion-prices charged by the flavored-sugar-in-plastic-wrappers companies.

_ /\ _

6
yermawreply
sh.itjust.works

Plus you can stick razorblades in them real easy if you bake them yourself.

15

The sad part is this may be the first time in history that there are enough randomly psychotic and violent people on the loose in the US that this is something parents should suddenly have reasonable fear of.

I'd be less afraid of razorblades and more afraid of my kid getting shot on some hick nazi's doorstep tbh. MAGA nuts have already gunned down kids on their front lawn for less.

2
lemmy.world

Yeah I'm not trusting random bread from people especially during Covid season.

13
sh.itjust.works

But have you tried their sourdough? That starter is going to be the next generation's most valued inheritance.

4

OK that's actually a fantastic idea. Cookies it is. If parents have a problem with unwrapped corpo-candy then their kids don't have to eat them. I can spend a day banging out ten dozen cookies and not give the monthly-sugar-holiday any more money.

4

I assume you mean 5 cents. When was the last time it was that cheap? I haven’t bought a bag of candy in like 150 years.

3
pulsewidthreply
lemmy.world

No, you would not. $150? Try just over $50.

Random example bag - https://www.walmart.com/ip/M-M-S-Milk-Chocolate-M-M-S-Peanut-SNICKERS-TWIX-MILKY-WAY-Milk-Chocolate-Individually-Wrapped-Halloween-Candy-Trick-Treat-Variety-Pack-200-Ct-Bulk-Ba/5175566490

2.18kg for $24.96 USD. ~37.71 AUD.

We simply don't make bags that big, because that size is pretty ridiculous. But, you can buy 20-packs of Snickers, Twix, Milky way standard price $7.50 at Coles. They're between 300 and 320 grams so you'd need about 7 bags for the equivalent content and weight = ~52.50 AUD.

Yeah, about 40% more expensive, but these are made in Australia with cane sugar and real milk, not whatever hugh-fructose corn syrip + sawdust filling the US ones have nowadays thanks to endless Republican deregulations.

3
VitoRoblesreply
lemmy.today

Is there Australian supermarkets or are Aussies stuck having to suck off the evil Walton family?

1

Yeah there are supermarkets, but it's a bit of a duopoly between the two market leaders Coles and Woolworths.

Aldi entered the market about a decade ago but there are fewer of those, there are also lots of independent grocers that have their own cooperative brand called IGA (independent grocers association iirc), but they're generally the most expensive.

1

Always has been (in countries that do not celebrate Halloween). The prices of grave candles seem okay for now though.

3
lemmy.zip

We’re doing no candy too. These little birth control advertisements running around leave trash around on purpose and destroy property repeatedly in my neighborhood.

Their neglectful parents can buy them candy.

3

We stopped giving out candy and instead do chips, juice, gummies, cracker packs, etc. The cost is roughly the same, he kids send to love it, and we don't want to be stuck with a bunch of leftover candy.

3
lemmy.today

you might as well go to WF and buy more 'cleaner" candy, also prime members get discounted on certain halloween candy.(i would still wait til your closer to halloween, since its not that much discounted right now), also employees get extra discounted on top of the prime ones(recent changes). funny thing its somewhat cheaper too.

0

I checked Walmart on Ohio and the most expensive one is $19 for 2.5 lbs of mixed mini chocolate bars.

To be clear, a 2.5 lb bag is pretty damn big. $.47 per oz.

In the photo shown, its the one with the green witch face.

0