Candy Bars and Candy: Holiday Candy

Candy has become big business in America, and manufacturers recognize both distinct consuming groups and consuming seasons (some of which they have been instrumental in creating). Trick-or-treating has made Halloween the largest candy holiday, overtaking Easter in 1995. The National Confectioners Association recorded 2001 American Halloween candy sales of almost $2 billion, a figure that rose slightly to about $2.2 billion in 2009. (Nearly 35 million pounds of candy corn are manufactured each year.) In the mid-twentieth century, it was common for people to give to costumed children not only candies but also related treats, such as caramel-coated apples, wax lips, and chocolate cigarettes. Parental anxieties about food tampering has led to the practice of handing out prepackaged confections, such as cellophane packets of hard candies and individually wrapped miniature candy bars.