Fun Halloween facts to get you to buy chocolate
Filed under: Extracurriculars, Food
If you want to be popular on Halloween night, give out chocolate. That's among the many fun Halloweeen facts I found on the spooky night.
- The Census Bureau estimates that 36 million kids between the ages of 5 and 13 will trick-or-treat this year on Halloween. (Many of the ghosts and ghoulies that visit my house are under five, while some are old enough to drive from house to house, so the total number of TOTers is certainly higher.)
- There are 111.4 million occupied housing units in the country, also known as targets to this ravenous horde.
- 41% of givers scarf down some of the candy they bought for the night, and 90% of parents admit to stealing some of their childrens' plunder.
- Chocolate is the most common handout (52%). Thirty percent of households give out hard candy or lollipops. One in four spring for full-sized candies. The rest hand out the misnamed "fun" size.
- The most popular candy gifts as ranked by children:
- Chocolate, 68%
- Lollipops, 9%
- Gummy candy, 7%
- Gum, 7%
- Happily, 93% of people residing in households consider their neighborhoods safe. I wonder how many nations in the world can match that?
- The U.S. grew 1.1 billion pounds of pumpkins last year, equivalent to over 1,100 B-747s. The most gourd-friendly state? Illinois, which produced almost half of the Jack-o-lantern blanks.
- The average American consumed 23.8 pounds of candy last year. Yes, I did my share of the work.
- We will spend around $2.23 billion on candy during the seven days leading up to Halloween, according to a spokesperson for the National Confectioners Association.
- The Jack-o-lantern is a tradition brought to the U.S. by Irish immigrants, who back home had carved them out of rutabagas and other root vegetables.
- The pumpkin originated in Mexico around 7,000 B.C.
- The winning pumpkin in the Circleville Ohio Pumpkin festival this year weighed 1,635.5 lbs., more than the combined weight of the Cleveland Cavaliers starting lineup plus their coach.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-28-2009 @ 2:19PM
Sharon McEachern said...
And what about candy for Daddy from the kids' trick-or-treat sacks? When fathers take the little ones out Halloween night to go around the block for candies, they expect some sharing. Mommies are more likely to sneak their favorites from the kid's bounty on-the-sly. Ethic Soup blog has a great batch of Halloween posts, some fun for kids like "Halloween Ethics: when you go trick-or-treating", most funny weird or scarey for parents at:
http://www.ethicsoup.com/halloween-posts-were-baaack.html
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10-29-2009 @ 9:35PM
Kathy Howe said...
I wonder what the average number of trick-or-treaters to visit a house would be?
I know that chocolate was always my favorite Halloween treat!
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11-04-2009 @ 2:57AM
sonnywilliam said...
Our sweet guests gave us these sweets today;)
How did you know our favorite snacks?
...maybe from this weblog:P
Anyway, thank you Rhomel for this cookies.
I enjoyed talking with you and see you someday in San Diego!!
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