Oct. 22: Halloween treats

This article lists the ten most disappointing treats for trick-or-treaters, according to the food blog Serious Eats. The article’s pretty funny, so click through and read it. Here’s a quick version of their list:

1. Toothbrushes
   
2. Raisins
   
3. Candy corn
   
4. Smarties and Necco Wafers
   
5. Dum Dum lollipops
   
6. Apples
   
7. Tootsie Rolls
   
8. Miscellaneous wrapped hard candies
   
9. Laffy Taffy
   
10. Anything fun-sized

You’re probably not surprised that I have some comments about this list. I know, I have comments about every list. Hey, I like candy.

• Is candy corn really the fruitcake of Halloween?
  
• Why are Smarties on this list? Isn’t disliking Smarties kinda like disliking candy in general? Who could hate Smarties? I understand if you don’t love them, if you don’t go out of your way to buy them, but would you ever turn them down? Or am I the only one that thinks they’re not bad? I like them, in fact, and I like them a lot. I buy them. I sort and eat them by color. They give me a buzz like few candies can.
  
• Tootsie Rolls, well, maybe I am the only one who likes those. They were my dad’s favorite candy so I have a special-er fondness for them than I might otherwise.
  
• Laffy Taffy? ‘Sgooooood.
  
• “Anything fun-sized”??? What, do we expect king-sized candy bars to be given out at each house? Who lives where they do that? Because I am totally joining them for T&T-ing this year.

Here’s the Halloween candy philosophy at our house:

• We buy two different types of candy to hand out. Some we like, like chocolate candy bars, etc.; those go on the bottom and are therefore more likely to be left over when the doorbell finally stops ringing. The others are edible, like Skittles or Starburst, just in case we’re left with any. We give our favorites to the kids we like/know.
  
• We keep a separate bowl of crappy candy (think Dum Dum lollipops or expired Jolly Ranchers) for the older kids—you know the ones; they refuse to say “trick or treat” and just stand there in their god-awful scary costumes with their pillowcases held wide open. The little brats would get pennies or Primary Treasures if I could get away with it.

Do you get trick-or-treaters at your house? What do you hand out on Halloween and why?