you forgot Smarties!

The worst has to be those no name black and orange wrapped peanut butter wax tasting things.

This is making me nostalgic for Halloween now.
Damn you >_

Also, quite surprised Monkey Nuts aren't on the list, is that a British thing?
A wee bag of salted or roasted nuts would be fine but we always ended up getting scoop after scoop of monkey nuts.

So not only did you end up with a huge mess after breaking into them you were left with a horrible, dull, tasteless nut too.

Box of Raisins. The ultimate slap in the face.

And you are on the money with the "full size candy bars." An old couple in our neighborhood lived at the very top of a hill. No one EVER would have wasted their precious trick-or-treat time hiking up there except for the fact that they gave out full size candy bars.

Candy corn is the shit. I love that stuff.

Shaggy was spot on about the unidentifiable smoosh in the black or orange wrappers. That stuff was nasty.

I grew up in a small, rural town in Jersey, and there was this one house every year that gave out fucking KING-SIZE candy bars. Reese's cups and Hershey bars, i think. We did that very same thing, changing our costumes, running home for a different mask, etc. Life was good.

This list is pretty much factual.

So glad i'm going trick or treating tomorow for the first time in years.

This list made me laugh - it's spot on. Except that I'm one of those freaks that actually like candy corn. But I understand.

Always go to rich people's houses. I tried that when I was a kid and I got one of those almost-pure-sugar "fruit" drinks in the squeezable bottle. And it was blue flavour, too!

WHOA! You forgot two blatantly horrible, HORRIBLE candies:

1) NECO WAFERS
2) CIRCUS PEANUTS

It does not get any worse than that.

Shaggy - I agree - those no name black and orange wrapped wax-tasting things are wretched!

Smarties are NOT the worst candies, come on.

Right on about changing costumes and hitting up the full size house twice. We did that all the time in NJ when I was a kid. A few things though:

Candy corn is fucking delicious and the big ass pumpkin shaped candy corn is even better.

Tootie pops > Blow Pops. No contest

The best: the people that left bags of candy on there porch and left their houses with signs that read, " Please take one piece." HA, one piece. Half a pillow case of candy in single stop more like it.

"HA, one piece. Half a pillow case of candy in single stop more like it."

MAJOR, MAJOR ROFL

Someone made cheese and onion rolls last halloween and they were awful.
I got loads of apples. :/

Someone made cheese and onion rolls last halloween and they were awful.
I got loads of apples. :/

cat poo

Some places use to give out cans of soda...those were the good old days. I always loved the big sweet tarts that got chewy after awhile....

My wife bought some little bags of chips a couple of years ago. I thought it was a strange idea, but the kids went nuts. I agree that Necco Wafers are just about the worst. From Wikipedia: "The candy does not melt and is practically indestructible during transit, making it ideal for shipping overseas to the troops." I think that says it all.

This list easily could've been longer...

The pros -- Def. smarties. Sweet tarts? Even better. Then any kind of Wonka candy. M&M packets.

I definitely agree with the cons. Though the tootsie roll pops sometimes went in the con pile when they were covered in kleenex, sharpie and rubber band to resemble ghosts. Somehow knowing that each piece of candy was individually and extensively handled kinda turned me off.

Another con -- other tootsie roll product besides the pops. Though they were really quite good when you ate them... but when first taking inventory of your loot, it was always discouraging to see the tootsie roll to awesome candy ratio.

But the absolute worst is Neco wafers, hands down. I would try to eat them every year out of respect. And then respectively would spit it out.

Brian, your writing gives me lulz orgasms. I think I've run past you to a full-sized candy bar house before.

Great list, but bit-o-honey's retarded cousin, Mary Janes are the worst! One year my mom gave out pencils for Halloween and it took a move to a new neighborhood before we lived it down.

Shamless self promotion time, I carved Dean Venture into my pumpkin and you can check it out on my site - Happy Halloween!

Oh man. I can't wait to paw through my daughter's Halloween candy and pick out the good stuff she shouldn't have. I'll let her keep the full size candy bars, no parent should ever deprive their child of that. But for each full size candy bar, I'm the dickweed parent who makes her balance it out by getting rid of some of the smaller ones...mostly so I can have some candy too.

But as a kid, my favorite Halloween treat came from the old couple who gave out comic books. Yep, they had 'em lined up and we could pick 2. And every year it was Spider-man and another Marvel comic (the DC comics always languished for the suckers who were late to get there). I would sort my candy and eat the good stuff while reading a comic book. I miss those days.

Hellz yeah!!!

No, no, I'm sorry, you're all wrong. The worst candy you could get for Halloween was:

SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS! http://www.oldtimecandy.com/squirrel-nut-zippers.htm

Awful, totally nasty. Bit-O-Honey was manna from heaven in comparison. I mean, come on. "Squirrel Nuts?" EWWW.

Similar to Sean above, my favorite was the old lady in my apartment building (Ivy Hill, Newark NJ) who gave out MAD Magazine! That was brilliant. I still have all of them!

I like candy corn too, though, so gauge my tastes accordingly.

I've definitely recieved religious pamphlets on the dangers of celebrating halloween. They came free with a mini lecture from the mom who was handing them out.

Dude. shaggy is right. Those things are awful

But yea...boxes of raisins are far worse than candy corn.

I love candy corn, and necco wafers (same stuff as the valentines hearts) and smarties and circus peanuts. What can I say?

Not sure how can you diss suckers but have so much love for Blow Pops and Tootsie Roll Pops? Just dressed up hard cany on a stick really.

Blow Pops beat the crap outta TR Pops anyway...hard candy with a turd in the middle. But then again I hate tootsie rolls...it's like some fake waxy shitty chocolate. Always gave em away when I was a kid.

Blow Pops are slightly better but the gum interrupts the candy eating process so they should be saved for last

Sean, you are totally spot-on. The best Halloween on record was the year my friends and I stumbled on the house with the guy giving away, apparently, his comic book collection. He just had his longboxes out in his living room (yes, we went unsupervised into some dude's living room, but there were other parents and lots of adults there, so I guess we thought it was ok, plus, y'know, they were COMICS!), and we kept going back and back and back with every variation of our shared costumes we could possibly think of. So, so awesome.

My least-favorite Halloween candy was always Mary Janes. Then one year, I went trick-or-treating with a friend who loved Mary Janes and hated Reese's, and was willing to trade. It was like winning the friggin' lottery.

Eww Yeah I hated those orange and black toffee candies sick

I'm the odd one out—I love candy corn. It's basically pure compressed sugar with no nutritional value, which to me is what trick or treating is all about. I agree with the rest of the article, though I was never too fond of Blow Pops. Like someone said, they interrupt the candy-eating process.

And don't forget the best defense against being stuck with nasty candy in the house. Have your kids stop back periodically, sort out the crap neither they nor you want, and then give it out to the kids who come to your door. Hopefully it then makes its way back to the house that gave it out in the first place. I'm betting there are a lot of you out there who do this every year.

What about pencils? Getting pencils was the worst.
Cans of pop were always the biggest thing.

I like the candies everyone else hates. I love the PB kisses and necco wafers and black licorice and circus peanuts...yum.

Candy Corn, sweet and simple.
Tootsie rolls are the worst substitute for actual chocolate. And as a kid I went for it every time, as in, maybe this year, it's real chocolate. But no, alas, it was still a damn Tootsie Roll.
Tootsie rolls are like someone bought expired generic hot chocolate and mixed with cold water and injected into small wax bits.
I really hate tootsie rolls.

Candy Corn, sweet and simple.
Tootsie rolls are the worst substitute for actual chocolate. And as a kid I went for it every time, as in, maybe this year, it's real chocolate. But no, alas, it was still a damn Tootsie Roll.
Tootsie rolls are like someone bought expired generic hot chocolate and mixed with cold water and injected into small wax bits.
I really hate tootsie rolls.
Also, religious tracts as a kid were much more horrible as a treat, because it usually convinced me I was going to hell because I was trick-or-treating.

how dare you forget charlie brown and add "i got a rock" to the list, bastard.

I remember ONLY going to the house with the regular sized candy 9 times using 9 different costumes. And in my neighborhood there's a rich couple that after they've given out all their candy, they give out fucking 5 dollar bills. FUCKING 5 DOLLAR BILLS! I love my neighbourhood.

Old people give out treacle some times- thats the shit

little bags of m&ms were like currency when i was little

actually, they sort of are still.

little bags of m&ms were like currency when i was little

actually, they sort of are still.

little bags of m&ms were like currency when i was little

actually, they sort of are still.

little bags of m&ms were like currency when i was little

actually, they sort of are still.

wuuuuuuuuuuut????.......candy corn rules!!!....i see gummibears in the dark

this is so stupid the wost thing is what my american friend told once he got his tongue trapped in an apple because there was a mini mose trap in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I once got a fiver.
twas fantastic, we had found this little street no-one really knew of and started knowcking, and this old lady came to the door and said she had no sweets, and so she gave us a fiver.
No pennies for me =]

there's a few people in by subdivison who give out cans of soda. everyone loves those people.

and the people who take little tiny paper bags and put like three or fours pieces of candy in their and then put a little twisty-tie around the top. i love that. it's like a little present

I'm not sure if this falls under the "best" or "worst" category, but old people around here sometimes give out Chick Tracks books in lieu of candy... Really, I know a lot of kids who are disappointed by getting these, but I love a little literature along with my haul of candy... Nothing like reading about how I'm damned for all eternity while gobbling down a mountain of miniature candy bars.

ahh i remember going to the rich neighborhoods
and they gave out money
now that was nice
and i am not talking one dollar bills some were like $10
but that doesnt happen to often now
=(

List was pretty good -- and accurate -- except that I liked the box of raisins as a kid, ha ha.

Best treats ever = Tickets for horror/action movie, DVD of favorite movie and the all time favorite VIDEO GAMES!

Those are extremely rare and they usually only give those to the "x"'d kid to come to their door. They usually keep it a secret.

the best two are in the comments... boxes of raisins and those little no-name black and orange wrapped waxy pieces of peanut butter flavored crap. if you're planning on giving those out, just turn off your porch light and lock the door. no thank you.

candy corn, i am indifferent to, and i actually like necco wafers and circus peanuts.

Those fucking apples, and those fucking PENCILS. Necro wafers, circus peanuts, tootsie rolls, all of them suck. I loved sending my little sister to act like a poor orphan and take the extra candy they would give to her. HAHAHAHAHAHA

My MIL's neighbor is a banker and two years ago he gave out 3 lb bags of M&M's and Peanut M&M's. We had three kids and they each got one. All of our Christmas cookies had M&M's in them that year. :)

Gum was always great to get. Not the 10 seconds of flavor that the Double Bubble gave you (though I always did love pulling apart the twisted ends to open them), but actual packs of chewing gum.
Those mini boxes of Nerds ruled as well.
I also loved the rare candy that you might only have gotten one of such as Bottlecaps. I always saved the rare candies for last because they stood out from the sea of Hershey's Miniatures you got way too much of.
Also every now and then someone would give away full size Fun Dip...major score. And some may find them disgusting but I loved the wax bottles with the liquid inside.

Cool stuff? One house gave away packs of baseball cards. Another house gave away those candy cigarettes. The kind that were wrapped in paper with flour on the inside so you could "puff smoke" out of them? Classic. No gateway links to smoking with those, huh?

Lame stuff? Not just Tootsie Rolls, but the non-chocolate ones that were lemon or lime flavored. Ugh.

Oh, all the memories (and a quite accurate list).

Trick-ot-treating in Cincinnati, Ohio... 1970's-80's :)

I like candy corn and I LOVED getting the candy cigarettes (*I have just quit smoking after 18 years-- its been 10 days off of cigs-- thanks Halloween candy! :)

I grew up in NorCal apple-picking country(Camino,Apple Hill), and all the migrant laborers would be in town during H-ween. They were AWESOME. See, they were all gearing up for Dia De Los Muertos, so they would all be drunk as hell, and for some reason they all had huge cans of dimes and quarters. They didn't give out one or two coins, no, they would give out FISTFULS of this loot!!! It was in their neighborhoods that we would pull the whole costume-switching-return-for-more scam. GOOD TIMES.

I loved candy cigarettes. There was never enough of them. My mom is allergic to chocolate so she would raid my bag for Mary Janes and Bit-o-Honey. I am not a Tootsie Roll fan but I do like the vanilla ones.

I love candy corn.

Pros:
Snickers(freeze them, yum)
Candy Cigarettes
Peanut Chews
Bazooka/Double Bubble
Twizzlers

Cons:
Peanut Butter Kisses(aka Black & Orange candy)
Starlight Mints or any little hard candies
Palmer Chocolate(eww)

I LOVE candy corn. Ya'll can just stfu

The worst treat to give this halloween would be candies from China.

Ugh, you forgot those hard-as-rocks and poorly wrapped molasses candies...they come in like half-closed orange wrappers? Does anyone even eat those??

Aw. It was so great a couple of years back. Me and some friends chaperoned a bunch of kids trick or treating and we wanted a theme. So it was that about 15 of us were all undead-ed up and staggering around the neighborhood zombied up. I trick or treated by accident. Wandering round arms outstretched people just started thrusting candy at me. It really sucks when you cant carry a bag. I had pockets stufffed with Quality candy by the end of the night. Not good with chocolate.

What about those popcorn balls, they might have even been worse than a rock.

Oh dear, the days of trick or treating were so fantastic. To this day my mother buys exclusively the candy I like to give out in outragous quantities gives candy out on a "one of each to every child" policy and then sends me home with like two unpoened boxes of candy.

I love that.

Last night while over at my boyfriend's house I couldn't help but notice his parents (mother being a spastic tightly strung woman but also a nurse) was giving out seseme snaps, now I guess those aren't the worst, but to be honest, every time I pick up a seseme snap it is because I am so hungry I think (this can't be as bad as I think they are) but I am never wrong.

Back in the years of trick-or-treating with my brother and my cousins, there was one house we always made sure to hit right after most people had stopped being out, the guy would have like two huge massive bowls left at least and if you sang him a simple nursery rhyme esque song he would tip an entire bowl of fantastic candy into your pillowcase, memory almost serves grab his glass of gin or whatever was truly in it say good night to us and the second we turned around the light would be out and you heard the lock click.

yo when i went trick or treatin there was this old woman who gave out bags of chips AND candy!!!! it was awesome! and i also went in my friends neiborhood and a kid who im friendly with who is on my bus lives near my friend and his house was awesome! and his dad gave out SICK candy!!!!! u could get like 2 full size candy bars!

this year i received condoms at our local pub crawl. i would have to say it was pretty B.A.

The best I would get, would have to be a remote control car, and Soda!

The best I would get, would have to be a remote control car, and Soda!

Candy corn is on my list of Halloween Candy win. Love that stuff.

Smarties are #1 all time best ever. Solid Pixie sticks is what they are. Also tastier.

Wost ever are Necco wafers and those old taffy candies.

Never liked candy corn. Doesn't look like corn anyway.
Looks like yellowed teeth extracted at the funeral home from dead elderly people who ate too much candy corn all their lives.
As I matured I've come to appreciate Mary Janes and Bit O' Honey. It's Old People candy, like something yellowed that grampa pulled out of his pants, been in there since 1934.

There used to be an old couple down the street where I lived, and the husband would dress up as a soda machine every Halloween. You would press a "button", and he would give you a soda!

omfg. last year i dressed up as little red riding hood and whent trick r treating in my friends neighborhood.

me and my twin friends (dressed up as geishas) walked up to this house and did our normal routine. rang the doorbell, wait, say "trick or treat!". Well, this time, the very old lady who gave my candy saw my costume and said, "Aww, look at your costume! little red riding hood?" i agreed and she replied "i used to read that story to my grandaughter before she passed away of cancer". i told her i was very sorry for her loss. because of my costume, she gave me a 2 pound bag of candy!