Monday, October 12, 2015

Halloween Candy From The '80s!

Back in the '80s, trick-or-treating was an awesome experience. Nearly all of the homes in my town gave out candy. There weren't many fuddy-duddies whom left their porch lights off and their front doors shut. Even my childhood doctor, whom was already pretty old at the time, participated in Halloween. He passed out full size candy bars and his house was always decorated in a very spooky manner. My younger brother Joshua and I would travel all across town hitting every home we could. It was an all night ritual that usually lasted many hours. When it was all said and done, we'd get home and combine our hauls into one giant heap. The candy would last us for a few weeks. We'd trade off certain types of candy. He usually wanted the Nerds, whereas I preferred the taffy and such. The chocolate was usually split evenly, being as we both loved it.

Thinking back, I can still remember the types of Halloween candy I enjoyed eating. I wonder if kids still get these candies today on Halloween...


Peanut Butter Kisses - Most kids hated these peanut butter taffy candies, as I recall. The children I went to school with always complained about the nasty candy in the "black and orange" wrappers. Personally, I rather liked them! They had little bits of peanuts mixed in with the peanut butter taffy. The Peanut Butter Kisses weren't too hard to chew in your mouth, either. I'd always stuff a few in my pockets and take them to school with me as a snack.


Mary Jane - And no... I'm not talking about illicit Arkansas Stink Weed, either. Mary Jane was a hard, peanut butter and molasses taffy. It was similar in taste to the Peanut Butter Kisses, but without the bits of peanuts. Also, the flavor was much bolder because of the molasses. They were definitely harder to chew, so I'd usually just suck on them until they disintegrated in my mouth.


Clark Bar - One of my favorite candy bars to get on Halloween was the Clark Bar. It was similar to a Butterfingers bar, but had a better-tasting chocolate coating. The inside was made of a layered peanut butter crunch that contrasted the chocolate very well. I can recall that if I ate more than one Clark Bar in a sitting, their unique flavor would give me a light stomach ache. It was so worth it, though.


Sugar Daddy - This is the only candy bar on a stick that I have ever seen. The Sugar Daddy is simple, really. It's a rectangular chunk of caramel... on a stick. How can you go wrong with that? I can remember putting them in the freezer before eating them, as to prevent their tendency to get sticky and stretched out.


Atkinson's Peanut Butter Bar - These tiny striped bundles of joy were AMAZING. They were nothing more than peanut butter wafers coated in a flaky, crunchy layer of white candy, but oh were they so good. I remember hoarding these little bad boys most of all after Halloween. They would crumble in your mouth the moment you bit into it. This would release the peanut butter wafer flakes, whereupon they'd promptly melt into the tastiest candy you'll never forget!


Reese's Pieces - Darn if these weren't always welcome to be dropped into my Halloween candy bucket! Little peanut butter cousins of M&M's coated in chocolate... oh man oh man! Honestly, this was the only thing I liked about the hellishly boring movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. That chubby little alien could take a long walk off a short pier, for all I cared!

After recalling all of these wonderful confectionary treats, I think I noticed a trend -- I must have really liked peanut butter based candies as a kid!

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