With Halloween right around the corner, the age-old question is being asked repeatedly. What is the best Halloween candy?
Students around campus were surveyed on which candy they preferred. Reese’s cups had the most bargaining power this year, especially the pumpkin and bat shapes.
“I don’t eat candy that much,” said Ellis Thur, a freshman environmental science major. “But the prospect of peanut butter being in Reese’s cups, makes them slightly more appetizing.”
Though Reese’s may be the favorite among most, another iconic candy that students enjoy is candy corn. Many feel that this treat best represents the holiday through its colors or shapes.
While some seasonal candy is put on a pedestal by students, others would rather throw away certain types than eat them. For GCSU students, that candy is Almond Joy, Mounds bars and Laffy Taffy.
For many of these despised candies students didn’t like the taste at all or enough to struggle with the packaging to get the candy open.
“I think that they [Laffy Taffy] are really hard to get open,” said sophomore George Wommack, an environmental science major.
Whether it be the unpopular flavor profile or puzzling packaging, these candies are thrown out by students across the board.
The disdain for Laffy Taffy and the love for Reese’s doesn’t represent all opinions students have on Halloween candy. In the debate of candy on the GCSU campus, chocolate versus fruity was discussed. Fruity candy commonly won the hearts of students, including those whose favorite candies were chocolate based.
“I’m torn, but probably Fruity Candies just because there’s more of them,” said Cater May, a freshman psychology major.
Most people grew up liking fruitier candies that were either sweet or sour, but as they started to mature, they started liking chocolate and other less sweet candies more. Eventually, students’ favorite candies became simpler candies that focused on the chocolate.
While the debate of chocolate-based or fruity is constant on campus, one thing most students could agree on is that there is no place for healthy options on Halloween. Halloween is an all-in-cheat day for most students on campus.
“Halloween and the two weeks after it are all cheat days,” May said.
Many students prefer handing out chocolate to trick-or-treaters, often Reese’s or Kit Kats, usually in king size versions. When it was not chocolate, the next most common choice would be a hard fruity candy.
“[My favorite candy] has got to be Dots, they come in a great packaging, they taste really good and they have always been a favorite of mine,” Wommack said.
The most controversial opinion that people had was about the gumdrop candy, Dots. Some students swore by Dots, calling them a defining Halloween candy that was underrated while others said they tasted bad, and it was the first thing that they traded away when they were a kid.
“I cannot stand those Dots, they taste like rubber,” said Tess Richardson, a freshman Mass communications major.
Candy is an essential part of Halloween and serves as a way for people to connect and make for a fun tradition. Whether they spend Halloween this year at home, at their dorm or at a bar there is going to be candy connecting GCSU students back to their childhood.