By Clair Robins clair@candystore.com
Easter is a really big candy holiday.
Did you know more is spent on candy for Easter historically than for Halloween itself? Depending on which data you look at, Easter is as big or bigger than even Halloween. It’s a silent monster.
Easter Candy Quick Facts
Among those who celebrate Easter, 87% of plan on buying Easter candy.
For those who don’t celebrate Easter, 33% plan on buying Easter candy.
People will spend about $21 on average.
Total Easter spending is estimated to be over $18B in 2019.
Ninety million chocolate Easter bunnies are made each year.
87% of parents will prepare Easter baskets for their kids.
81% of them will steal some candy from their kids’ baskets.
The National Retail Federation says Easter candy spending was $2.49 Billion this year, down slightly from last year’s $2.63B. In 2020, it is a little murky due to the coronavirus outbreak. So stock up for your Easter egg hunt while you still can.
Historically, however, of the people who do not plan to celebrate Easter, 33% will still buy Easter candy. What?
That says a lot. There is some good stuff out there, people.
But there is also some pretty bad stuff. Candystore.com knows for sure because you’ve told us loud and clear what you don’t like. You have to be careful when asking people about their least favorite holiday candy. It stirs up some deep emotions that can come out in an unfiltered rage.
There’s a lot not to like about the way 2020 is shaping up. Easter is Sunday, April 12, and the candy opinions out. You’ve heard the complaints and even had some of these in your own Easter basket.
Candystore.com asked a whole lot of people about their favorite and least favorite Easter candy. They got 19,000 responses.
So the truth can finally be revealed:
HERE ARE THE TEN WORST EASTER CANDIES:
#10. Fluffy Stuff cotton candy stayed at #10 this year.
It is a popular brand of packaged cotton candy. If you like cotton candy, it’s good cotton candy. The people in our survey made it clear, though, that cotton candy is not their favorite, to put it mildly. More than that though, there is a strong sentiment that it doesn’t belong in the family of Easter appropriate candies. It does feel a little gimmicky to take a cotton candy product and call it a rabbit’s tail and market it for Easter. That may not be terribly different from what a lot of candy products do, but it does feel a little forced here.
#9. Jelly Beans (generic) are down from #6 last year.
Jelly beans come in many different flavors from many, many different manufacturers. They are not universally hated for Easter. It’s just that people prefer higher quality jelly beans these days.
The days where you could plop any old jelly bean down into the grassy Easter basket might be gone.
#8. Peeps Hot Tamales. New on the list this year.
The thing with Peeps is there is a group of people who love them and a much louder group who do not. Peeps are fun for making funny art stuff, but most people don’t want to eat them or very much of them. It doesn’t seem to be something that is someone’s regular go-to. It’s more of a “had one during a holiday season, don’t need one again for a while.” Regret it? Maybe.
These Hot Tamales Peeps are really standing out for some reason. The word from those speaking up is they crossed some line here. Candystore.com does know that spicy candy has gone up in popularity. Perhaps this is an attempt by Peeps to capitalize. Good luck.
#7. Twix Eggs. New on the list this year.
Twix Eggs don’t on the surface seem to be anything that might cause an affront. It’s just a bigger version of a Twix, which people love. It seems like the shape is what most people are objecting to. Also that fact that making a Twix into a giant bar maybe isn’t as appealing? Could it be that part of the appeal of Twix is the breaking apart and the snap with each bite?
#6. Chocolate Crosses. Up from #7 last year.
Chocolate crosses have become an increasingly popular – but possibly not so well received – Easter candy. Much of the backlash seems to come from people trying to square the idea of turning a torture device into a yummy chocolate treat.
I have to admit, this one always seemed a little forced to me. I get the whole “reason for the season” movement that some of the more traditional believers have hung their hat on. I do. I grew up in that world. Perhaps that motto works better at Christmas time, when there was no torture. Just a little frankincense and myrrh.
#5. Chicks & Rabbits Marshmallow Candy. Down from #4 last year.
I actually quite like these. It seems like most people are comparing them to circus peanuts. Circus peanuts are not good company to keep, if you’re trying to be popular. They were the #1 worst Halloween candy.
Also, they don’t really look like chicks or rabbits. They kind of look like aliens.
#4. Bunny Corn / Easter Candy Corn. Down from #2 last year.
Candy corn always places highly among the disliked candy, but can often also place highly on the most liked list. It’s a highly disputed candy type.
For Easter, it seems the hordes have chosen to dislike candy corn. I am a confessed candy corn lover, but I will admit the pastel coloring does give me pause. I’d still eat it though.
#3. Chocolate Bunnies (Solid). Up from #5 last year.
Chocolate bunnies are one of the most iconic Easter candies. So what gives?
Solid chocolate bunnies are a buzzkill. You see a chocolate Easter bunny and think how fun it will be to devour it. The thing is, solid chocolate Easter bunnies (as opposed to hollow) are just too much darn chocolate. It’s demoralizing. Here’s this giant, dense brick of chocolate.
Yes, it’s shaped like a bunny, and it’s cute. After one bite, enticing turns to intimidating. You realize there’s no way you are going to devour this thing. Common solid bunnies have 12 ounces (340g) of chocolate. A regular-sized Hershey Bar is 1.55oz (43g). That solid chocolate bunny is equal to nearly 8 whole Hershey Bars (7.9, to be exact). Could you eat 7.9 Hershey bars?
Probably not. You pull the foil back up over the quarter-eaten bunny ears and long for the time before you made such a foolish attempt on a solid chocolate bunny. A time when your Easter fun momentum was still on the rise.
#2. Peeps Easter Candy. Up from #3 last year.
Peeps are a regular on our WORST holiday candy lists. They just don’t get much love outside the diorama art world. They tend to get compared to rubber or sugary foam in the comments we received.
They don’t seem to be a thing that many people want to associate with putting inside their bodies. Put it on a doughnut, however, and they might sing a different tune.
#1. Cadbury Creme Eggs. Reigning Champion.
As Easter candy goes, Cadbury Creme Eggs are one of the most well-known candies ever. Perhaps that’s because of the classic old commercial where the clucking bunny lays an egg and it’s a Cadbury Creme egg.
A whole generation thought rabbits clucked after this and laid eggs. You gotta give Cadbury credit, there is cultural cachet there.
Cadbury Creme Eggs are a highly unique candy. Chocolate shell with a creamy and sugary goo inside that has both the white and the yolk of the candy egg. It seems like a confectionery engineering marvel. Bravo for creating such a work of candy art. The thing is, they’re just awfully horrible to actually eat.
The chocolate shell is a problem. The thing is hard enough to eat without making a mess, but god forbid the egg has gotten a tiny bit warm and the outer shell has softened. Then you’re in for a sloppy mess with this awkwardly shaped candy whose liquid filling does nothing to support its shape. It falls apart into goo.
Speaking of the shell, its ingredients have recently gone through some changes. Cadbury Creme Eggs’ shell used to be made of Cadbury dairy milk chocolate. But Cadbury was bought by Kraft in 2010, and that was an ominous event. Five years later, they announced the change to a “standard chocolate mix.”
People were not happy about that. They even started a petition to go back to the old recipe.
But the liquid filling is the thing that people seem to have the most problem with. It’s liquid fondant, which ok, yeah, that sounds gross. Its consistency apparently leaves more than a little something to be desired to most people.
But there’s a lot to like out there also. Again, 19,000 people have spoken.
So here are THE TEN BEST EASTER CANDIES.
#10. Skittles-Filled Easter Eggs. Down from #9 last year.
Skittles Easter eggs combine the fun and re-sealability of candy in a plastic Easter egg with the desirability of not being generic jelly beans. Skittles are a very popular candy overall. They finished as the #1 overall top Halloween candy last year.
#9. Sour Patch Easter Bunnies. Up from #10 last year.
It’s no surprise that Sour Patch Kids are hugely popular right now. Sour candy and spicy candy have both gone through a resurgence of late. These Sour Patch Bunnies are well received as plastic Easter egg fillers. A good change of pace from classic, but often generic, jelly beans
#8. Foil-Wrapped Chocolate Eggs. No movement this year.
These might be my number one top favorite. I love the foil wrapped chocolates, especially when they have some candy crunchies inside. The cookies and creme variety are extra points.
Quick little hit of crunchy chocolate and I’m on to the next piece of candy in my Easter basket. The only drawback is they can be messy if they are eaten warm.
#7. Robins Eggs from Whoppers. Down from #5 last year.
Robins Eggs are little Whoppers malt balls shaped like eggs and covered with a crispy candy shell. The shells are colored with speckles to look like little robin eggs, except that robins’ eggs don’t typically come in yellow and coral colors, so far as I know. These are crunchy and satisfying. You can put them inside a plastic Easter egg for a nice surprise or sprinkle them into the Easter basket individually. Very nice.
#6. Lindt Chocolate Carrots. Down from #4 last year.
Lindt Chocolate Carrots are delightful. Foil wrapped chocolate carrots are designed to look like little carrots. They look divine in an Easter Basket and the flavor is nice too. Lindt is known for quality, and these chocolate carrots have hints of hazelnut to give them a warm and fuzzy feeling. The little curve at the end of the stick makes them feel like little spring carrot umbrellas. So cute.
#5. Jelly Beans (Gourmet / Naturally-Flavored). Up from #7 last year.
Jelly beans did really well when they distinguished themselves as being gourmet or made with natural flavorings. Basically, any fancy jelly beans work well. You can tell the difference usually by the size. Nice jelly beans tend to be on the smaller side. The flavor difference is gigantic though. The vibrant flavors that come out of naturally flavored, or gourmet jelly beans, like Jelly Belly are great.
#4. Kinder Joy Eggs Candy. Up from #6 last year.
Kinder Eggs haven’t been in the Easter candy lexicon very long, but they’ve made a huge splash. Kinder Joy Eggs only recently became available in the US, but they are a candy giant in Europe and the rest of the world.
Who doesn’t love a surprise toy inside of anything? And when that thing is yummy chocolate-y wafer balls floating in creamy candy goodness, it’s a win win.
#3. Chocolate Bunnies (Hollow). Down from #2 last year.
Here is the quintessential Easter candy. The chocolate bunny. Tale as old as time, well at least the 19th century. The story goes that there was a German goddess named Ostara, who was the goddess of spring and fertility. Her name is thought by some to be the origin for the very word Easter. In German, the word for Easter is Ostern.
Anyway, there is a myth about her turning a bird into a bunny to save it, so there you have the Easter Bunny. That was hundreds of years ago. Chocolate bunnies are slightly more recent. You can find molds for chocolate bunnies in Germany that go back to the 1890s. They were also being made around that time by some Pennsylvania Dutch, one in particular named Robert L. Strohecker.
It’s fun, it’s big, it’s festive, and it better be hollow. Hollow chocolate bunnies are all the fun without any of the hard work or guilt involved with trying to eat a solid chocolate bunny.
#2. Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs. Up from #3 last year.
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are an absolute juggernaut in the candy world. These are like those, except shaped like an egg. Yeah, that’s about it. Pretty awesome.
#1. Cadbury’s Mini Eggs. Wins again.
Simply glorious.
They may not have the history of chocolate bunnies, but Cadbury Mini Eggs are hugely popular. They were far and away the most popular Easter candy in our study. There is just something about these little eggs that is irresistible.
Is it the softness of the outer shell to the touch? Maybe it’s the way the shell holds strong to the bite for a moment and then gives way to a soft and yummy chocolate center with a satisfying crunch. The flavor of the shell and chocolate combined has a specialness to it that I can’t quite put my finger on. Why is it so darn good?! It just is. Really good.
They are infinitely better than their Creme Egg brethren. And they have their own cute commercial too.
