- With Halloween fast approaching, Americans are gearing up for the holiday, purchasing costumes, hanging up decorations, and most importantly, stocking up on candy.
- According to the National Retail Federation's seasonal trends report, more than 160 million Americans are going to buy candy for Halloween this year.
- Read on for 15 mind-blowing facts about Halloween candy consumption in the US.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Halloween is just around the corner, and this year Americans are predicted to spend nearly $2.6 billion on candy alone.
Each year, Americans flock to supermarkets and convenience stores to buy candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters. The National Retail Federation's seasonal trends report estimates that more than 160 million Americans will buy candy for Halloween this year.
Read more: 23 photos that show how Halloween is celebrated at the White House
A look at the numbers shows that Americans' relationship with candy on Halloween is truly mind-blowing, from the amount of candy the average trick-or-treater collects to the staggering amount of candy corn that gets sold every fall.
Keep reading for more surprising facts about candy this Halloween season.
Children would have to play for two days straight to burn off the calories in the average amount of candy collected on Halloween.
According to Donna Arnett, head of the department of epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health, the average Halloween candy haul contains between 3,500 and 7,000 calories.
Arnett told United Press International that it would take a 100-pound child 44 hours of walking or 14.5 hours of playing full-court basketball to burn off the average amount of calories in candy collected on Halloween.
The blog Daily Burn estimated that a standard pillowcase can hold over 1,600 pieces of candy when fully stuffed.
According to the Daily Burn, a standard pillowcase can hold 1,690 pieces of candy.
Studies show that kids can consume up to three cups of sugar eating Halloween candy. This equals almost 169 sugar cubes.
Fortune reported the "dangerous" amount of sugar consumed by kids on Halloween — three cups of sugar in 7,000 calories of candy.
"For context: That's 675 grams of sugar, or the same as chomping down almost 169 standard sugar cubes," according to a Fortune article published in 2017.
Skittles is the top-selling Halloween candy in seven states, the most out of any candy.
Looking at 12 years of data, CandyStore.com determined that the most popular candy by state was Skittles, with the candy ranking as the No. 1 choice in seven states.
Second and third place went to Reese's and M&M's respectively. Reese's is a proven fan favorite, though candy corn — ranked sixth this year — has also ranked highly in past surveys.
Hershey begins producing its holiday-specific candy up to six months in advance for Halloween.
"As you can imagine, the planning for Halloween happens months in advance," The Hershey Company told The Patriot-News. "Most of our Halloween production occurs in the springtime so product can begin shipping in time to arrive on shelves at the end of summer in time for the transition to the fall season."
Americans are predicted to spend $2.6 billion on Halloween candy.
According to the National Retail Federation's seasonal shopping trends this year, Americans are predicted to spend $2.6 billion buying candy for Halloween in comparison to $3.2 billion on costumes and $2.7 billion on decorations.
172 million people in the United States celebrate Halloween — and about 95% are predicted to purchase candy.
Annual research from Candystore.com shows that, of the 172 million Americans who celebrate Halloween, 95% of people will purchase candy.
Past years also maintain the same percentage — whether Americans are purchasing candy for themselves or to hand out to trick-or-treaters.
That means about half of the entire US population is predicted to buy candy for Halloween this year.
The population of the US is just over 327 million, according to the US Census Bureau. About 163 million Americans are estimated to have bought Halloween candy last year — right around half of the population.
Only 49% of people said they find candy corn tasty, making it one of the most polarizing Halloween candies.
Two polls from market researcher Morning Consult show that 49% of Americans find candy corn tasty, 23% find it gross, and 21% don't like it but admit that it's an important part of Halloween.
Candy corn has long been considered a "contentious" Halloween candy with critics noting texture and sweetness as reasons to hate the kernel-shaped candy.
35 million pounds of candy corn are still produced each year. That’s about 9 billion pieces — over a billion more than there are people on Earth.
Susan Whiteside of the National Confectioners Association told Vox that the "vast majority" of candy corn is sold during the October holiday season. With 9 billion pieces produced each year, that's over a billion more candy corn kernels than there are people on Earth.
In fact, October 30 — the day before Halloween — is officially designated as National Candy Corn Day.
Mental Floss reported that if candy corn kernels sold during Halloween were laid out end to end, they would circle the earth 4.25 times.
If candy corn kernels sold were lined up end to end, it would wrap around the earth 4.25 times. With a circumference of 24,901 miles, this totals almost 106,000 miles of candy corn.
Vox estimated that 300,000 tons of candy are sold during the Halloween season. In other words, "six Titanics'" worth of sweets.
"If you took all the candy that's sold during Halloween week and turned it into a giant ball … it'd be as large as six Titanics and weigh 300,000 tons," Vox reported in 2016.
That breaks down to about two pounds of candy for each American.
Americans buy 90 million pounds of chocolate during the week of Halloween.
Daily Burn reported that 90 million pounds of chocolate is sold during Halloween week.
In a poll, 70% of respondents said chocolate was their favorite type of Halloween candy.
The National Confectioners Association took a poll to determine what was America's favorite variety of Halloween candy. Chocolate dominated the survey with 70% popularity, while candy corn, chewy candy, and gummy candy were the next closest finishers.
Although candy consumption is a staple of Halloween, there's a holiday when even more money is spent on candy: Easter.
According to National Retail Federation data, Americans reported that they spent more money on candy for Easter than they did for Halloween.
The totals were close — $2.4 billion for Easter and $2.1 billion for Halloween, according to Fortune.
But Halloween is likely still the king of candy consumption — as CNBC noted, most Halloween candy is purchased in bulk, while candy for holidays like Easter, Christmas, and Valentine's Day tend to be more premium purchases.
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