Trick or sweet? Let's face it, while kids love Halloween, those Halloween treats can be tricky for parents! Check out these interesting facts about Halloween sweets.
* The most popular Halloween candies vary from year to year. According to Westchester Magazine, the most popular Halloween candy in 1900 was the Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar. 41 years later it was those melt-in-your mouth-not-in-your-hands M&M'S. And in 2011 the Tootsie Roll was tops.
* If you're looking for a lower fat, lower sugar Halloween treat, Jolly Ranchers is one of the best choices. The fruity suckers have only 70 calories, 11 grams of sugar and no fat.
* The fattier Halloween candies tend to be chocolate confections with peanuts. One of the biggest culprits is poor Mr. Goodbar, which contains 250 calories in a 49-gram bar. It also nets 23 grams of sugar and 17 grams of fat (7 grams saturated).
* Hide those chocolate bars, kids. It may be no surprise that parents tend to rifle through their kids' Halloween bags, often pilfering one candy bar of every two the child brings home, according to a USA Today article.
* The 1964 novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory spawned the 1971 movie "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," which in turn was responsible for the real life launch of Wonka candies. The once- fictional Willy Wonka candy factory became a reality when Chicago's Breaker Confections licensed the name for merchandising tie-ins with the film. The company was later bought out by Nestle and today, in addition to those famous Wonka bars, the Willy Wonka Candy Company also produces Halloween favorites like Nerds, Bottle Caps, SweeTarts and Laffy Taffy.
* Halloween was never the same after 1974. That's the year that Timothy O'Bryan, a young Texas boy, died after eating cyanide-laced Pixy Stix candy. His father was later convicted of poisoning the candy in order to collect insurance money, but the tragedy forever changed how some parents felt about Halloween treats.
* In recent years, Halloween candy buyback programs have sprouted up. Participating dentists will pay $1 for every pound of candy that is turned in. The candy is then sent to U.S. troops who have served overseas.
* If you're old enough to drive you probably shouldn't be trick or treating, at least in some U.S. cities. That's right, some cities have banned teen trick or treating, adopting age limits of 12 years old for those who can go door-to-door for free candy. In some cases, violators could face the threat of jail or fines up to $100.
Victoria Leigh Miller is a freelance writer. She has been writing about parenting topics since 2001.
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