Alarmed Jack O' Lantern - © c2952 via Pintrest

State Of The Swag: Hallowe’en Treats Update 2024

Where I live, the ‘kids’, as such, are almost exclusively high school seniors or older. And they’ve left Trick-or-Treating behind them. Meanwhile, multiple factors are putting pressure on supplies and prices of treats this Hallowe’en…

Hallowe'en Candy Display - © 2023 ABC News

The whole Hallowe’en concept remains in flux. As it has been since the COVID crisis. There are kids who are, or will turn 4 years old by the end of this month. They’ve never never experienced Trick-or-Treating. And as it stands, they probably never will.

Hallowe’en concept outdated?

Parents are all too aware of the dangers facing kids who go door-to-door after dark, even under adult supervision. And we’re officially into the now-annual COVID-plus-Flu season.

Parents are also more aware than ever of the health issues posed by over-consumption of salty, fatty and sugary snacks – which the Hallowe’en tradition openly encourages. We hear more and more about the global obesity crisis – and childhood obesity in particular – with every passing week.

Not to mention the notable increases in the price of chocolate and other traditional Hallowe’en treats over the past decade. This while family buying power has decreased due to continuing high inflation (plateaued, but not dropping significantly), and healthy foods such as fresh fruits and veg-gies in particular.

More and more folks are asking, “Is there still room in our lives for something as frivolous, costly and stressful as Hallowe’en?

Bad news for confectioners

Meanwhile, the foregoing having been said, the confectioners and salty snack makers are in a crisis. They have traditionally counted on Hallowe’en for a substantial contribution to their annual bottom line, at a time when they’ve been drawing down all summer on the bounty from their previous, early-year Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day booms.

Add to that, their costs are rising for several reasons, all out of their control, connected to world commodity prices and global warming.

Chocolate prices are soaring due to a succession of crop failures in West Africa, where more than 70 percent of the world’s cocoa beans are grown. The global cocoa harvest is down 14 percent over last year. And rising. Now, factor-in similar price increases for sugar. And fat, the third key ingredient in processed chocolate. It’s traditionally cocoa butter, but rising prices have made it necessary to sub-stitute cheap oils and fats in recent times.

Chip makers also affected

If you’re a maker of salty snacks, salt is up some but not too much. There’s never been a shortage of salt due to the weather in recorded times. It’s either mined or evaporated from salt ponds which are plentiful around the world.

But cooking oil remains a ‘hot’ commodity. And chip makers need literally tons of the stuff to fry their wares.

No rest for the wicked – or their wallets!

My take

Candy and chip makers are forecasting – hoping for – overall sales of (US)$3.5 billion this fall. And with just a couple of weeks left in the ‘season’, they’re apparently hurting.

The actual cost of the candy and snacks they’re hawking seems to have taken second place to hopes of snagging a majority share of a shrinking market. If I didn’t know better, I’d say they’re in a price war, right out of the gate.

ABC News reports, “Target is offering two 70-piece Hershey’s candy bags for $15 (with a buy one get one at 50 percent off promotion). Walmart is selling 125-piece candy and chocolate bags with Reese’s and KitKats for $15 each. […] On Amazon, a 5 lb. / 2.5 kg bag of candies with favorites like Tootsie Rolls [is also selling for] $15.”

Candy prices were up 13 percent last Hallowe’en over their level a year before. They may well be up even more this year, over last, when all figures are in. And sales will be down – again.

I think the answer to our original question is clear and unequivocal: We can’t afford what most North American adults consider a ‘traditional Hallowe’en’ anymore. And many of us no longer want to par-ticipate in the spectacle, at all…

~ Maggie J.