Halloween Favorites: Activities, Costumes, and Candies

Halloween originated as a Celtic festival called Samhain, when they believed the boundary between the living and the “otherworld” was the thinnest, allowing spirits and fairies to enter. They feasted, drank alcohol, held contests, and people went from house to house in costumes to sing songs for food. 

Nowadays, Halloween is celebrated with not too different traditions. There are many popular festivities that people participate in, so let's take a look at the most popular activities, costumes, and candies this Halloween!

Obviously, the most popular Halloween activity is to trick or treat; it’s the whole reason some people celebrate it. It's just plain fun to dress up and search for doors to knock on for candy, but I think it is important to highlight some of Halloween's other popular activities, like picking pumpkins and carving them. Back during Samhain, the Irish would carve demonic faces into turnips to scare away Stingy Jack, and the tradition was applied to pumpkins when they were found by Europeans in the new-world.

 Another popular Halloween activity is trunk or treating! It was made to be a safer way to trick or treat, where churches and schools have parents park their cars and hand out candy from their trunks while the kids still get to dress up and go from car to car. Halloween parties are a popular activity that people partake in during Halloween. It gives people an excuse to dress up in costumes for a reason other than asking for candy! People bob for apples, sit around bonfires, and have costume contests.

Commonly, costumes from movies or shows released before a year’s Halloween end up being the most popular that year. 2023 had costumes from Barbie, Princess Peach, and Wednesday, and 2024 saw Deadpool & Wolverine, The Amazing Digital Circus, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 costumes. This year, the predicted most popular costumes are from K-Pop Demon Hunters, with Google’s Frightgeist predicting Rumi costumes to be the most popular overall. 

Some other popular costumes that return every year are the witch, dinosaur, bunny, pumpkin, cheerleader, Spider-Man, and Batman costumes. Custom costumes are also very popular, as they give people a way to show off their talent or wear things dear to them that aren’t very well known to others!

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are the most popular candy for Halloween, being the most sold on Instacart last October (foodandwine.com). Behind Reese’s are peanut and regular M&Ms. Last year, most of the candy I saw were Kit Kats, Snickers, Hershey’s, Twix, and Haribo Goldbears. Candy Corn is another popular, but divisive candy, as most people either love it or hate it. 

Before the 1950s, families would hand out homemade treats like cookies and pieces of cake or fruits and nuts. But during the 50s, candy manufacturers started to promote their products for Halloween, which consumers found more affordable than homemade foods. After the 70s, candy became the go-to trick or treat due to safety concerns by parents.

I hope this helped inspire some fun ideas on how to spend Halloween and what candies to look for. Halloween is celebrated in many different popular ways, and it's best to enjoy yourself in ways that you hold dear!