Key Highlights:
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups still holds the crown as top Halloween candy, but our pick for one of 2025’s top ‘treats’ based on recent fall orders: Hershey’s Cookies ‘N’ Creme.
Nostalgic 90s standouts rose from the grave, with Baby Bottle Pop orders spiking an eerie 641% and Dum-Dums climbing 101%.
Strawberry Bon Bons, the ultimate grandma candy, are back with sales spiking more than 600% year over year.
Once the dreaded doorstep “treat” kids traded away, raisins staged a shocking comeback with 522% growth on Halloween week.
The “trick” in trick-or-treat is fading: egg and toilet paper orders dipped despite seasonal Halloween prank spikes.
Halloween is creeping up once again and this year, we’re digging beyond the grave to uncover not just the most popular candies, but which nostalgic treats are crawling back from the dead.* And spoiler: it’s not just candy making waves in trick-or-treat bags.
A Sweet Tooth That Will Never Die
It’s no shock that chocolate reigned supreme, but as we explore Halloween Trends from 2024 along with recent ordering spikes as consumers prepare for the season, there was a surprising jump and new additions to the most-loved Halloween candy list compared to the year prior.
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups still holds the crown, and it was the year of the chocolate renaissance with demand for classics including M&M’s (+37%) and Snickers (+52%), with Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bars (+41%) climbing into the top 3. Other new contenders that cracked the top 10: Sour Patch Kids and Skittles, proving that America turned back to nostalgic comfort in the timeless classics over novelty this Halloween.
While Reese’s may wear the crown this Halloween, our sweet prediction is that 2025 will be the year of Hershey’s Cookies ‘N’ Creme based on recent orders from this August through early September.**
Candy From Beyond The Grave
While chocolate may dominate the candy bowl, a few standouts rose from the grave year-over-year. From face-puckering treats like Warheads (+114%) and Lemonheads (+118%), to classic lollipops like Dum-Dums (+101%), to the iconic 90s Baby Bottle Pop (+641%), we’re seeing a craving for nostalgia.
And sweets once mocked as “grandma candy” are also suddenly trending. DoorDash saw significant spikes for retro candies including the 1920s honey almond classic, Bit-O-Honey up 117% and Necco Wafers up 48%. Strawberry Bon Bon, a classic and nostalgic treat, is also regaining popularity with sales continuing to trend upward since last year, growing more than 600% year over year.
The Dreaded Raisin Doorstep
Not every house on the block dishes out candy, but the scariest of them all come in iconic red boxes: raisins. For decades, raisins have been a “treat” you’d trade away immediately, but in 2024, raisins staged a comeback with 522% growth year over year during Halloween week.
Other savory snacks including crackers (+339%) and pretzels (+93%), found their way into pumpkin buckets too, as parents balanced sugar overload with something a bit more natural or substantial.
Premium Little Treat Culture
Let’s be real – parents want in on the fun too. And in the era of ‘little treat culture,’ premium chocolates had a breakout year, with orders for Lindt (+69%), Kinder Bueno (+60%), Ghirardelli (+61%), and Toblerone (+53%) all spiking in October year-over-year. And when these upscale sweets make their way into candy bowls, you know you’ve stumbled into the jackpot of the neighborhood.
“We’re seeing a real revival of comfort classics this Halloween,” said Cristen Milliner, Consumer Trends Expert at DoorDash. “Candy has become a kind of time capsule, with millennial parents passing down the staples they grew up with, while Gen Z and Gen Alpha are reinterpreting those same treats as retro comfort. What might have once been written off as ‘cringe’ by younger generations is now being embraced as feel-good nostalgia. The resurgence of items like grandma candy and Baby Bottle Pop shows how different generations might be finding joy in the same classics, just in their own way.”
Candy Map of America
When it comes to candy, America may agree on their love of chocolate, but look closer and you’ll see a sprinkling of regional sweet tooth quirks. Of course, Reese’s still wore the crown nationally and held the #1 spot in 14 states, but turns out every state has a Halloween candy personality worth savoring.
Southern Hospitality: Down South, Sweet Smiles – the value candy brand with something for everyone from gummies to chocolates – came out on top across Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee. It’s the Southern hospitality choice for handing out candy by the handful, proving that value and generosity go hand in hand on Halloween.
Licorice Loyalities: Fueling the licorice rivalry, we uncovered what states pledge allegiance to Twizzler vs. Red Vines. The Northeast and Midwest including Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio all stand firmly on Team Twizzlers while out West, Red Vines rule in Arizona, Idaho and Montana.
The Chewy Belt: Trolli gummies dominated in Georgia, Rhode Island, and Texas, while Laffy Taffy was a favorite in Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska, proving chewy classics are alive and well.
Sour Power: New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Utah proved sour candies still pack the sweetest punch as they ranked SweeTARTS as #1.
Sweet Surprises: From Airheads in Massachusetts to Cadbury in Hawaii, Haribo in Colorado and Skittles in Utah, each state showed off a candy crush of its own.
Candy Frenzy
For many, Halloween morning started with a jolt, as orders spiked 126% as early as 7AM and soared over 160% between 8-10 AM to stock up for the day compared to a typical October day. The scariest hour of Halloween came at 6PM with over 70% jump in emergency candy orders as kids came knocking.
The Death of the Trick
The ‘trick’ in trick-or-treat once sent eggs and toilet paper flying off shelves, but these classic harmless pranks may be slowly disappearing. In 2023, egg orders rose 38% and toilet paper 27% during Halloween week compared to an average week, but by 2024 those bumps slipped to 28% and 21%. Sure, eggs and toilet paper may be everyday essentials, but their Halloween week dip tells a bigger story: classic Halloween mischief is fading year-over-year.
“Even Halloween pranks tell a story about the times. Eggs and toilet paper, once a rite of passage for mischief during spooky season, are dipping as prices rise, making it harder to pull from the pantry without parents noticing," Milliner added. “The data also tells us that families are putting their dollars toward getting more treats, showing inflation is reshaping both sides of trick-or-treat.”
*According to DoorDash ordering data from October 2024
**According to DoorDash ordering data from August 1 – September 10, 2025
