Spooked by candy prices? Georgia residents get creative for trick-or-treaters

Kryssy Riv planned to buy three bags of candy this year. Then she saw prices topping $30 a bag and cut back.

The Buford resident plans to mix in cheaper treats to stretch her supply for the 50 to 75 trick-or-treaters she expects on Halloween night.

She isn’t the only one rethinking the candy bowl.

Across metro Atlanta, residents are swapping chocolate for hard candy, shopping beyond the candy aisle and, in some cases, giving treats another trip around the neighborhood.

Even those tempted to skip handing out candy altogether are finding ways to keep their porch lights on.

Kristine Hunter of Gainesville said she considered turning off her lights for trick-or-treaters. But with young children who are always excited about the holiday, she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“Kids love their bagfuls and buckets of treats,” Hunter said.

With chocolate prices being “absolutely ridiculous” right now, she plans to hand out one bag of chocolates and one bag of less expensive hard candy.

“In the past, we solely handed out chocolates — the good stuff,” Hunter said.

The cost of that generosity is climbing. The National Retail Federation predicts that Americans will spend about $4 billion on Halloween candy this year. But that spending buys less: Prices for candy and chewing gum rose 7.7% from September 2025 to September 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Halloween chocolate prices have climbed even faster, rising 15.5% from a year ago to an average of $5.67 per package, according to PwC data reported by NBC News.

For some households, the solution is to look beyond the candy aisle.

Richard and Margaret Patrick of Braselton don’t typically have many trick-or-treaters, but they want to offer something children will enjoy. Last year, they gave out Little Debbie snacks.

“They were a big hit,” they said.

This year, the Patricks chose individually packaged cookies.

Others started stocking up long before the costumes came out. Some said they found good deals shopping early at local dollar stores. One man told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he plans to hand out candy left over from last Halloween that he kept frozen. Another will offer candy corn, having stockpiled 13 pounds from previous Halloweens.

Churches hosting Halloween events face the same shopping decisions, but on a larger scale.