Old School Trick or Treating Candy in Illinois and Missouri

Nostalgia has been a bankable thing in the twenty first century. Most anything from when you were younger is still sought after, maybe more so now than when you had easy access to it. That goes for Halloween candy too.

Every kid’s candy sack/bucket had mini candy bars of various kinds, that hasn’t changed. They were always the sought after bounty of trick or treating. That’s why you can still buy bags of “fun size” pretty much any time. It was the “filler” or “other candy” that we pushed past, the candy that was the remaining remnants of the feast of sugar that Halloween still is I guess that has been tugging at our memories. The stuff that’s not so easy to find, if it’s available at all.

With nostalgia being bankable though you CAN get those old candies that were always the last to be eaten. You just have to remember what they were called and seek them out. Candies like these:

Mary Jane’s    - Molasses and Peanut Butter. Hard at first (depending I guess on how old they were..!!) then chewy and sticking to your teeth. Who doesn’t love candy that will challenge you to consume it?   

Boston Baked Beans  -  As a kid I remember being initially confused by these. Beans? Seriously? My brain couldn’t go there. Even after having them I wasn’t sure. The more I had, the more my brain understood.

Candy Buttons  - Supposedly fruit flavors. I can’t recall much flavor other than sweet.....maybe. (They were different colors though)

Necco Wafers - Chalky and not as sugary as other offerings, but oddly comforting. There was always that one kid that was a devotee.

Smarties  - Smaller and sweeter than the Necco Wafers. There wasn’t a Halloween where a package of these didn’t get spilled all over the floor. Tradition.

Sugar Daddy – Along with the Sugar Mama and Most popular Sugar Babies the “Daddy”  milk and caramel chewy pop was a chore to consume. –“Great….Now go brush your teeth.” Was that just my mom?

Candy Cigarettes   - This novelty seemed to pre-tag you as a bad kid as a grade schooler (along with temporary tattoos). I thought they were gone, but I just saw some at a convenience store checkout in rural Illinois earlier this year.

Bonus points to you if you find and then dish out nothing but old school candies for Halloween.