Halloween Candies Every ’80s Kid Remembers

Halloween in the 1980s was a pretty magical time to be a kid. Plastic pumpkin buckets, homemade costumes, and the freedom to wander the neighborhood at night made October 31 one of the most exciting nights of the year. Of course, the candy was the best part, and kids in the ‘80s had lots of interesting options. Some were classic chocolates still seen today, while others were hip but fleeting. Although many of these sweets can still be found today, there’s something about them that brings us right back to the 1980s.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups had been around for decades by the time the 1980s came, and they had stuck around for good reason. The melt-in-your-mouth combination of milk chocolate and peanut butter made them a favorite for pretty much anyone with taste buds. In fact, houses that gave out full-sized Reese’s were famous throughout the neighborhood. The brand became even more recognizable thanks to their clever commercials. Ads showed people accidentally mixing chocolate and peanut butter, much to their delight. The Reese’s brand also had a huge boost after Reese’s Pieces appeared in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in 1982. Reese’s was practically unavoidable during the ‘80s.

Nerds

It’s hard to imagine a world without Nerds but these wonderful candies didn’t hit the market until 1983. After Willy Wonka Candy Company created these sweets, kids went nuts for the little colorful clusters. These tiny, crunchy pieces of candy came in brightly colored boxes, usually separated into two sections holding different flavors. The packaging was almost as fun as the candy itself, featuring otherworldly cartoon creatures. Kids could eat one flavor at a time or, if they were feeling crazy, eat both sides at once for an explosion of flavor. Nerds were vivid, weird, and practically made for the aesthetic of the ‘80s.

Fun Dip

Kids of the ‘80s will almost certainly remember Fun Dip. The snack came with packets of flavored, brightly colored sugar powder. It also included a Lik-A-Stix. Kids would wet the stick by licking it, dip it into the powder, and delight in the sugar overload. They’d repeat the process until their tongues were neon blue. The best part was that after the colored sugar was gone, you could eat the little white stick. Although versions of this candy had existed since the 1940s, Fun Dip became truly popular in the 1980s. This candy was almost interactive, which made it super appealing to youngsters. Of course, impatient kids skipped the process entirely and poured the powder straight into their mouths.

Pop Rocks

Pop Rocks were unlike any other candy that existed at the time, which helped make them a childhood obsession. Originally introduced in the 1970s, kids in the ’80s couldn’t get enough of this special treat. As soon as the tiny crystals hit your mouth, they’d crackle and pop. This was due to a release of trapped carbon dioxide, but to kids it was magic. The strange sensation was so entertaining it was near giggle-inducing. Later, the candy became associated with one of the most famous urban legends of the decade. All across America, kids spread the outrageous story that eating Pop Rocks while drinking soda would cause your stomach to explode. Some versions even claimed that specific children had died this way. The story was completely false but added another layer of mystery to the already-strange candy.

Blow Pops

Tootsie Roll Industries introduced Charms Blow Pops in 1973. By the time the 1980s rolled around, they were a household favorite. If you didn’t find a handful of these in your trick-or-treat bucket, you weren’t going to the right houses. These oval-shaped lollipops had a hard candy shell wrapped around a piece of bubble gum. The appeal was obvious: kids got two treats in one. And it sort of became a game to anticipate the last bit of the lollipop before you had access to the gum. Somewhat novel flavors like watermelon and sour apple made them even more popular. Getting to the gum required patience. Some kids spent hours sucking and licking away the candy, while others crunched their way through the shell. Without a doubt, Blow Pops were one of the most coveted Halloween treats.

Runts

Introduced in 1982, Runts were another unique creation from the Willy Wonka Candy Company. These fruit-shaped candies came in a variety of fruity flavors, with each piece resembling the fruit it tasted like. Bananas, cherries, strawberries, oranges, and limes were the original shapes, though the flavor choices expanded over time. Their unusually hard shells made them completely different from soft chews or gummies. Kids had strong opinions about which flavors were the best, and which flavors tasted nothing like the actual fruit (looking at you, banana).

Bottle Caps

Bottle Caps were another Wonka creation that became a familiar part of the ‘80s. The small, round candies were shaped like old-fashioned soda bottle caps. They were meant to mimic the flavor of popular soft drinks. Flavors included cola, root beer, grape, orange, and cherry. Their unique, beverage-based flavors and slightly chalky texture made them stand out from the masses. Of course, whether they actually tasted like soda was always debatable.

Candy Cigarettes

Looking back, candy cigarettes are one of the strangest Halloween candies ever created. The chalky white sugar sticks were packaged in miniature boxes designed to look like actual cigarette brands. Children would pretend to smoke them, which, oddly enough, was considered perfectly acceptable entertainment for kiddos. Other versions were made of bubble gum and wrapped in paper, and kids could blow out a puff of powdered sugar that looked a bit like smoke. Although candy cigarettes had been around for generations, they grew in popularity in the ’80s, despite growing concerns about the dangers of smoking. Today, they’re a bizarre reminder of just how much things have changed in a few decades.