Halloween is one of the most fun holidays of the year.
Children and adults alike can dress up, attend parties, and eat far too many sweets.
When shopping for sweets, you may find that Halloween candy is far more expensive than candy outside of the holiday.
It may make you wonder why candy always becomes more expensive around Halloween time.
Why Is Halloween Candy So Expensive? (Top 10 Reasons)
On average, a household spends around $55 on Halloween candy every year.
Those who live in neighborhoods with a lot of trick-or-treaters likely spend even more.
Halloween candy is expensive due to several factors like candy size, variety, and customer demand.
Here’s a deeper look into 10 factors that increase the price of Halloween candy.
1. Larger Sizes
One of the reasons Halloween Candy is expensive is because it sometimes comes in large sizes.
Much like Easter candy, you can find certain brands of candy that are quite large.
You might find a giant, chocolate, pumpkin, for example.
Even standard candy bars can sometimes come in larger sizes than normal.
Obviously, the large sizes add to the cost of manufacturing it.
Larger candy pieces need more ingredients which means the company takes on more expenses creating them.
Since it’s more expensive to make larger candy bars, you have to cover the cost by paying more for them.
If you want to save money on Halloween candy, one of the best things you can do is choose standard sizes.
You might splurge on a candy bar or two for yourself or your children, but when it comes to buying trick-or-treat candy, you should stick with standard sizes.
That could easily save you tons of money since you’ll be able to get more candy bars at lower prices.
Since larger candy bars are bigger, fewer of them can fit inside a bag.
As a result, you end up paying for more while getting fewer candy bars.
2. Rare Varieties
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Another reason Halloween candy is expensive is that sometimes candy companies release rare varieties for the holiday.
For example, a candy company might release a new, limited, flavor.
Since you can only get it during that specific time of the year, there’s more of a demand for it.
Since there’s more demand, the price of the particular variety goes up.
They’re also more expensive because the company has to take on more expenses to make them.
Because they don’t make that variety year-round, they don’t have their factories and assembly lines prepared to make them.
They have to adjust things to make that variety.
Since it impedes their efficiency, they’re not as profitable as they would be otherwise.
To make up for any losses that they have, they put a higher price on rare or limited varieties.
There’s also the fact that the rare piece of candy is a novelty.
Novelty items always tend to have a higher price.
People who want to be that house that gives out cool and special candy will want to get their hands on it.
Finally, some rare varieties of candy might use more expensive ingredients.
Perhaps one of the reasons why it’s rare is because it’s costly for the candy company to make.
If the ingredients are expensive, the company will look to cover those costs by raising the price.
This all makes the price of rare candy varieties more expensive.
If you want to save money on Halloween candy, the best thing you can do is buy standard candy.
You can always splurge a little on yourself or your home, but when it comes to buying candy for trick-or-treaters, buying standard candy will do just fine.
You’ll be able to save a good amount of money since standard candy is far cheaper than rare candy or limited edition candy.
3. Special Shapes
Sometimes Halloween candy is expensive because the candy maker uses special shapes for its candy.
For example, you’ll often find candy in the shape of pumpkins and ghosts.
This makes candy more expensive because it requires the candy company to use molds that they don’t normally use.
As such, they have to take the time to switch out their standard molds with special ones.
Since they’re still making their standard-shaped candy, too, they have to continuously switch out the molds with each other.
That makes the process of making candy a lot less efficient.
Since they’re not as efficient, they’re losing out on money.
A lack of efficiency means they’re not producing as much.
Since they’re not producing as much, they have fewer products on the shelves in stores.
With fewer products, they’re selling less and earning less profit.
Some shapes might also be larger than their standard shapes.
If that’s the case, they’re also using more ingredients to make them.
That makes producing the special shapes more expensive.
To cover the expense, the candy company raises the price on it.
Some special-shaped candies also have unique ingredients in them.
For example, a pumpkin-shaped candy might use real pumpkins as an ingredient.
If that’s the case, the candy company might take on even more expenses to produce the candy.
Because it’s more expensive to make, customers will have to pay more for it.
That also means it’s easier to save money when it comes to Halloween candy.
If you want to save money when buying Halloween candy, you should avoid buying candy that comes in special or rare shapes.
You’ll find that the prices are going to be slightly higher than candy that’s in its traditional form.
It may not look as fun, but it will taste just the same.
4. Combo Bags
When shopping for Halloween candy, you have a ton of different choices.
You can buy single candy bars, bags of the same candy bar, and bags that have a combination of different candies in them.
You’ll sometimes find that the combo bags are the more expensive of the lot.
That’s because the bag has a bunch of different types of candy in it and each one likely has a different cost to make.
For example, if you were to get a bag with all the same candy in it, all those candies share the same manufacturing cost.
It helps keep the cost down since it’s all the same.
However, if you were to get a combo bag, you might have a case where one particular candy is more expensive to make than the others.
As a result, it brings up the price of the bag as a whole.
You may end up spending a lot of money on one type of candy than you would normally just because it’s in a bag with a more expensive type of candy.
Manufacturing costs aren’t the only reason that combo bags are more expensive.
There’s also the fact that combo bags take a bit more time to produce.
When you have a bag that’s full of the same type of candy, you don’t have to switch it around to fill it with other types of candy.
It’s faster to make and get out on store shelves.
Combo bags take a bit more time since you have to bring the bag around the factory to fill it with all types of candy.
Since it takes a bit more time to produce, candy companies increase the price to make up for the slight loss that they incur in producing it.
If you want to save money on Halloween candy, then the best thing you can do is buy bags full of the same candy rather than combo bags.
5. Licensed Characters
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Sometimes, you may notice that a candy company signs on with a particular franchise.
You may see Star Wars characters or Marvel characters, for example, on candy bars.
Whether they’re on the wrappers, the bag, or the candy, itself, you’ll see licensed characters and logos everywhere.
This type of candy tends to be more expensive because it features a licensed character.
Candy companies will sometimes enter into a partnership with a franchise to sell more candy.
Since Halloween candy is typically geared towards children, if they see their favorite character on a piece of candy, then they’ll want it.
Candy companies are relying on that to encourage parents to buy particular types of candy.
Since they know there will probably be a bit more demand for that particular candy, they raise the price.
Candy companies that use licensed characters also have to spend a bit of money to get access to those characters.
They may have to purchase a license that lets them use the likeness of characters for a limited time.
They might have to give a certain percentage of their profits to the licensee to use the characters.
Whatever the deal might be, candy companies usually have to spend some sort of money to be able to use those characters.
Since they’re taking on a cost, they have to raise the price of that particular candy to make up for it.
You can save money on Halloween candy by choosing to buy standard candy rather than candy that has licensed characters on it.
It should shave off a dollar or two from the price.
6. Limited Time
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Perhaps one of the biggest reasons that Halloween candy is expensive is because it only happens for a limited time.
Although candy sales start as soon as the end of September, a lot of people don’t do their Halloween candy shopping until a week or so before the holiday.
All the same, candy companies know that people are going to be on the hunt for Halloween candy as soon as September ends.
However, this also means that they stop looking for candy after October.
To make the most of it, candy companies charge high prices.
The fact that Halloween only comes once a year also means prices for anything Halloween related is also going to be more expensive.
They can only buy those things during that specific period.
If they miss out, then they have to wait an entire year to get another try.
It also helps the conscience.
Buying a lot of candy outside of Halloween may seem like an indulgence that isn’t worth it.
Buying a lot of candy during the Halloween season makes sense.
Spending a lot of money on Halloween candy is easier to forgive than buying a lot of candy outside of Halloween.
Since you’re more willing to spend more money on candy during the Halloween season, candy companies take advantage of that.
They have high prices to ensure they can earn as much of a profit as possible.
Finally, the fact that Halloween only happens once a year means that candy companies only have that particular month to earn a lot of money.
While other holidays involve the buying of candy, Halloween is the king of them all.
Candy companies want to earn as much profit as possible during the season, so they have higher prices on their products.
If you want to save money on Halloween candy, you should try to buy candy outside of the Halloween season.
As long as you properly store it, candy can last for a long time.
Otherwise, Halloween candy is expensive because it’s only around for a limited time.
7. Holiday Markup
Because Halloween is a holiday, you can expect that holiday markups are also a reason behind expensive Halloween candy prices.
Even if the holiday wasn’t Halloween, companies tend to price things higher during the holidays.
That’s because, for certain products, they know that there’s going to be an extra demand for them.
People tend to indulge more during holidays.
To take advantage of that, candy companies raise their prices.
Saving money on Halloween candy is easy if you know when to buy it.
Because you can store candy, you’re able to buy it far ahead of the actual Halloween season.
Whenever there’s a sale on candy, it’s worth buying them and stocking up.
Then you can avoid the holiday markup and save a lot of money.
You might want to start buying candy two or three months before the Halloween season.
Even if you do buy a bag or two of Halloween candy once the season begins, you’ll have saved a good deal of money by getting most of your shopping done already.
8. Customer Demand
When it’s the night before or the night of Halloween, you’ll find that most store shelves are empty.
The candy that remains tends to be even more expensive.
That’s because, the closer that it gets to Halloween, the more demand there is for Halloween candy.
Last-minute shoppers tend to be the ones who pay the most for Halloween candy.
They also have the fewest options.
That’s because they’re shopping when demand for Halloween candy is at its highest.
Whenever customer demand is high and supply is low, the price of the item skyrockets. It’s basic economics.
Since there’s less candy available, but the demand is still high, the company raises its prices to meet demand.
Demand will fall since not everyone wants to spend a lot of money on candy.
Only those who can afford the more expensive prices end up buying the product.
A way to save money on Halloween candy is to buy it before demand gets out of hand.
That might mean shopping as soon as you see Halloween candy hit the shelves or shopping before the Halloween season begins.
By buying early, you can save money later.
9. Candy Jars Get Full After Halloween
Another reason Halloween candy is expensive is that candy companies know that people aren’t going to be shopping for candy in the few days, if not weeks, following Halloween.
If they have children, then their children are going to bring home tons of candy from trick-or-treating.
That will fill candy jars for days to come if they’re good at rationing it out.
Families who don’t have a lot of self-control might get through their candy quickly, but they still won’t be shopping for candy right out of the gate.
As such, candy companies aren’t going to have much profit in the days following Halloween.
To ensure they make their profits last, they have to make as much money as possible during the actual Halloween season.
To do so, they have high prices on their candy.
Halloween candy is expensive because candy companies have to make enough of a profit to last through the period of time in which people aren’t buying candy right after Halloween.
10. Supply Chain Problems
A final reason why Halloween candy is expensive is because of supply chain problems.
One of the biggest candy makers in the world, Hershey’s, stated that supply chain problems were making it difficult for them to produce enough candy to meet the demand for Halloween.
There could be any number of reasons for supply chain problems.
The recent pandemic is still sending shockwaves through the supply chain.
A problem with their supply chain means that the company isn’t going to be able to produce as much candy.
That means supply will be low.
With demand as high as it always is, and low supply, the price of candy is going to be quite high.
Conclusion
Halloween candy is a staple of the Halloween season.
However, there are many reasons why it’s one of the more expensive purchases of Halloween.
Luckily, there are ways that you can save money on your Halloween candy purchases.
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