It’s Time to Sort the Candy

After a full month of buildup to Halloween and an endless amount of Trunk or Treats and community events, the time has come to sort the candy.

Here’s how it goes at our house: the chips and little bags of Famous Amos cookies go in the pantry to fill lunchboxes for the next few weeks (thanks, Sam’s Club shoppers!). The big kids hoard the premium chocolate like Snickers, Kit Kat, and other “top shelf” confections. Those are considered “tier one”. Tier two is M & Ms, Almond Joy (love ’em or hate ’em), and things that are chocolate, but not quite up to Milky Way standards. While they remain the most popular candy in the nation, Reese’s Cups are almost Tier Two here, as they might still be around by the weekend.

But the sour and gummy candy, the food-coloring-laden treats that usually hang out at the bottom of the candy bowl well into mid-November, have been declared Tier One by the youngest child. Go figure. The delight over Sour Patch kids and Jolly Rancher Gummy Sours is unprecedented in this chocolate-addicted house.

This preference for sour and chewy things has thrown the traditional candy hierarchy into chaos.

What’s your favorite candy? Gooey chocolate or sour gummy? Or are you a real outlier who gets excited by a bag of pretzels and a McDonald’s Coupon?

Whatever your candy ranking system, we can all agree that this has been a lovely fall season with a lot of community events that brought people together to enjoy the season. And the candy.