Halloween is definitely one of my favorite holidays, as a time of candy and fun decorations, there is little downside. The decorations are the best of any holiday by far. With skeletons, fake graves, and the animatronic figures with scary catchphrases, so many people have their yards decked out. Halloween parties are always fun as well, even as it often leaves me running around my house trying to put together a costume at the last minute. Everyone gets the opportunity to dress as their favorite characters from TV shows or movies. Myself, I dressed as Steve Irwin this Halloween, celebrating my idol and a staple of my childhood as I would wake up early every morning when I was little and watch The Crocodile Hunter. Yet, at the end of the day, the best part about Halloween has to be the candy.

Unfortunately, I am at the point where I feel like I’ve aged out of trick or treating and haven’t gone in a few years. However, my time trick or treating was always my best memories. We would go around the neighborhood with our pillow cases, filling them up to the brim and going to the houses with the full sized candy bars a number of times. Yet, I can’t help but feel that the candy has been on a steady decline. Looking through my little brother’s candy haul, I was dismayed as I looked over his endless collection of Snickers and Almond Joys, the two worst candies. While the best candies are controversial, here are my rankings of the best candies I would want to see in my halloween bag:

#1- Dots

This is a really controversial take, but Dots are definitely my number one choice. They are incredibly rare to find and just not a candy that many people have on Halloween, yet they are the perfect combination of a sweet taste and a gummy-like texture that makes them unmatched. The only potential downside is that sometimes the gummy-texture feels like it gets stuck on the roof of your mouth. All around, its unique taste and rarity makes it my number one candy choice.

#2- Swedish Fish

Swedish fish are locked in as my number two choice. There is something about the sweet, yet simple taste that makes them so appealing. They are not overdone with flavor and are always a classic go-to on road trips. They are a candy that you can turn to without feeling overloaded with sugar and should be given props for their unique shapes as well.

#3- Lifesaver Gummies

Lifesaver gummies are another top tier candy. They too are a classic road trip candy that I can always turn to. On Halloween, it is generally the single packaged lifesaver gummies that are given out, but you can always find the larger bags at the gas station. They are so good because they are soft and chewy but also have a variety of flavors that prevent the candy from quickly becoming boring and tiring. 

#4- Charleston Chew

The Charleston Chew is a candy that is definitely much less well known. Named after the popular dance, the Charleston, and sharing the name of the town we live in, it is such a high level candy choice because of its well developed taste. It consists of a bar, similar to a Twix, with a marshmallow inside that has been covered by chocolate on the outside. This description does not do it justice however as it is much more than that and is possibly one of the most underrated candy choices to date.

#5- Tootsie Roll

Tootsie rolls are another candy that doesn’t get the respect it deserves, however, in this case, I feel like tootsie rolls are over hated rather than underrated. Coming in a variety of shapes and sizes, tootsie rolls are generally seen as bottom of the barrel candy choices, the candy you choose with the last of your tickets at the arcade. Tootsie rolls are really good however and have a taste kind of like caramel but also not like caramel at all. In this way, they are really hard to describe. They also are a popular halloween candy to be given out and their abundance makes them easy to find, which is something really beneficial given how much I like them. 

#6- Skittles  

Skittles are one of the most popular candy choices. They are probably given out by one in every five houses on Halloween and are a classic candy that nearly everyone likes. That said, they are not a #1 candy. They are all around solid and helped by the many different types of Skittles- primarily the original and sour versions which are the two best versions by a long shot. They are an all around great candy yet just a little lacking in taste and can quickly become repetitive enough that you don’t finish the package, and for this reason, they have been dropped to #6.

#7 M&Ms

M&Ms occupy a very similar place as Skittles. They are a candy nearly everyone likes and are a staple of the candy industry. They are always something good that people can turn to. That said, there is nothing remarkable about M&Ms and they are fairly average good-candy. Yet, I will bump them up on my rankings because there is nothing better than M&Ms added to popcorn. This is an insane combination because the saltiness of the popcorn mixes perfectly with the chocolatey taste of the M&Ms. I could not recommend more.

#8 Twix

Last but not least, Twix occupies my #8 ranking on my favorite Halloween candy list. Twix are always so good and there is nothing better than finding a house giving out a full sized Twix bar. They are truly the perfect mix of chocolate and caramel that simply cannot be beaten. They are both chocolatey and sweet as the caramel and chocolate outside combines well. They close my candy rankings well as any one of these candies, including Twix for sure, I would be happy finding in a Halloween bag.