As Halloween 2025 draws near, the candy debate is hotter than ever, blending traditional favorites with new viral sensations. While Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups maintain their national reign, social media trends are ushering in nostalgic throwbacks and innovative treats, creating a diverse landscape of trick-or-treat delights. Expect to see unique state preferences and the enduring, often polarizing, presence of classics like Candy Corn shaping America’s sweet tooth this spooky season.
Halloween is more than just costumes and decorations; it’s a nationwide celebration of sugar, and 2025 is shaping up to be an exceptionally dynamic year for candy enthusiasts. From enduring classics to TikTok-fueled sensations, understanding what will fill trick-or-treat bags requires a deep dive into sales data, regional preferences, and the ever-evolving world of social media trends.
Whether you’re stocking up for your neighborhood ghouls and goblins or simply curious about the confectionery pulse of the nation, we’re here to unwrap the definitive guide to 2025’s Halloween candy landscape.
The Reigning Champions: National Favorites According to Instacart
Year after year, certain candies prove to be irresistible, consistently topping national sales charts. According to comprehensive data from Instacart’s 2024 analysis, which offers a peek into 2025 trends, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups once again claim the coveted #1 spot for highest-selling candy by total weight. Their unique salty-sweet combination continues to captivate taste buds across the country, with the introduction of Reese’s 2025 Peanut Butter and Jelly Cups further cementing their innovative appeal and sparking significant buzz on TikTok.
Hot on Reese’s heels are the ever-popular Peanut M&M’s and Classic M&M’s, showcasing America’s enduring love affair with chocolate. These bite-sized delights, known for their satisfying crunch and melt-in-your-mouth chocolate, continue to offer a wide variety of seasonal and custom flavors, making them a versatile crowd-pleaser for any candy bowl.
Rounding out the top five national favorites, Kit Kat and Snickers hold strong. While Snickers faced some controversy in 2025 due to “shrinkflation,” its classic combination of nougat, caramel, peanuts, and chocolate ensures it remains a Halloween staple, often appreciated by parents who might “inspect” it a little too closely before it reaches the kids.
Beyond the National Average: State-Specific Candy Cravings
While national trends provide a broad overview, America’s sweet tooth isn’t uniform. Instacart data highlights significant regional differences in candy preferences and purchasing habits:
- Candy Hotspots: Utah consistently claims the crown, buying candy 50% more often than the national average in October 2024. Other high-ranking states include Wyoming, Oregon, Idaho, and Nebraska.
- Less Enthusiastic Buyers: States like Hawaii, Florida, and California purchased candy at rates well below the national average.
The Sunshine State offers a particularly interesting case study. While Instacart data shows lower overall candy purchases, a Local 10 report, citing Reader’s Digest, indicates that Skittles are a top favorite among Florida readers. Other local favorites mentioned include Kit Kats, Sour Patch Kids, and Reese’s, underscoring how local polls and community sentiment can differ from large-scale sales data.
Meanwhile, the Pacific Northwest has its own unique tastes. In Washington, for instance, Twix emerges as the uniquely beloved Halloween candy. Further south, Arkansas residents show a particular fondness for Hershey’s Milk Chocolate.
The Social Media Surge: New Favorites and Nostalgic Comebacks
2025 is the year social media, particularly TikTok, heavily influences Halloween candy trends, driving both the rise of new products and the resurgence of nostalgic favorites. Our friends at Bored Panda compiled a list of candies making waves this year.
TikTok’s Trending Treats
- Sour Patch Kids: This classic sour candy has seen a massive spike in popularity, fueled by Gen Z online trends and viral challenges. Its signature sour-then-sweet flavor profile makes it a standout.
- Skittles Pop’d: A crunchy, puffed-up version of the original, Skittles Pop’d exploded in popularity with rave reviews and viral unboxings, offering a fresh texture while retaining the fruity flavors fans adore.
- Hershey’s Seasonal Nuggets: The pumpkin spice latte version of these bite-sized chocolates is a viral hit, particularly with adults, offering festive wrappers and unique fall flavors.
- Butterfinger: After new flavors and crunch-testing videos went viral, this “crispety, crunchety, peanut-buttery” bar is back in the spotlight.
- Starburst Gummies: Gaining ground on traditional gummy powerhouses like Haribo, these gummies offer the original Starburst flavors in a softer, tooth-friendly format.
- Jolly Rancher Freeze-Dried Candy: One of the hottest trends of 2025, freeze-dried candies offer a crunchy, airy new texture that young candy fans are eagerly embracing.
Nostalgic Comebacks
- Twizzlers: Newsweek reports more U.S. states favoring Twizzlers over rivals like Red Vines, and strong fan defense online, solidifying its place as a fun, chewy favorite.
- Lemonheads: This old-school favorite, with its crunchy-yet-chewy, sweet-but-tangy profile, is making a comeback driven by nostalgia.
- Sweetarts: Since the 1960s, Sweetarts have offered a bold mix of sweet and tart. With new launches, they’re now serious rivals to other sour candy brands, rallying younger fans behind this once-underrated favorite.
- Nerds: No longer just for “geeks,” Nerds have made a comeback with colorful new looks and a rainbow of bold flavors, loved for their tiny, tangy, and chaotic texture.
- Laffy Taffy: Fueled by millennial parents sharing childhood favorites, Laffy Taffy‘s bold fruity flavors and playful colors, complete with corny jokes, are making it the biggest Halloween candy comeback of 2025.
- Airheads: The Airheads sour range has brought this ’80s classic roaring back, with bold flavors and sweet-and-sour intensity appealing to new generations.
- Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bars: Iconic and undeniably classic, these bars went viral after non-Americans reacted to their distinctive tangy flavor. For many, they evoke cozy childhood memories and remain a foundational chocolate bar.
- Strawberry Bon Bons: Comfort classics are back in style, and these retro creamy berry treats with their iconic wrappers are making a big return this Halloween.
- Baby Bottle Pop: This outrageously sweet, interactive candy from the 2000s is back, with millennials eager to share this fun, dippable treat with their kids.
The Perennial Debate: To Love or Loathe Candy Corn?
Few Halloween candies spark as much discussion as Candy Corn. Despite its polarizing reputation, this festive classic has been around for over a century and remains a steady staple, consistently making up 2-3% of all candy orders on Instacart during October. Its harvest-inspired colors make it a perfect fit for the season, with October 30 even designated as National Candy Corn Day.
However, opinions vary wildly across the country:
- The Biggest Fans: Mississippi tops the list, ordering Candy Corn 92% more often than the national average, followed closely by Nebraska (91%) and Kentucky (77%).
- The Least Enthusiastic: On the flip side, Hawaii ordered Candy Corn 55% less often than average, with Washington D.C. (-50%) and Florida (-43%) also showing low interest.
This split demonstrates that Candy Corn isn’t just a treat; it’s a tradition people either eagerly celebrate or enthusiastically debate, making it the ultimate Halloween wildcard.
Spooky Season Starts Early: Decoration Trends
It’s not just candy that marks the unofficial start of Halloween; decorations set the mood, too. Instacart data from 2024 reveals that consumers are getting into the spooky spirit earlier than ever. While previous years saw a pickup in decor purchases around the week of September 7, last year, households were already adding inflatable ghosts and giant spiders to their carts by the week of August 24. So, if your neighborhood started looking like a haunted mansion a little sooner, your eyes weren’t playing tricks on you!
The Halloween candy landscape of 2025 is a vibrant mix of comfort, innovation, and regional pride. From the enduring dominance of Reese’s to the TikTok-fueled ascent of Skittles Pop’d and the return of nostalgic favorites, there’s a treat for every taste. Whether you align with national sales data, your state’s unique cravings, or the latest social media buzz, one thing is clear: America’s sweet tooth is ready for a frightfully delightful Halloween.
