Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I disagree about a lot of the candy items mentioned here.
I, for one, LOVE the fun-sized (or mini, if you prefer) candies. It's a tiny bit of something insanely tasty, enough to give pleasure without causing tummy pains. When I was a young'un and I went trick-or-treating, one house gave out mini Clark bars. Yum-o-delish! I polished those off first.
I think the chewy peanut butter kisses taste absolutely divine.
Candy corn, I think is plenty of tasty, as are the candy pumpkins made of candy-corn base. Think little dollops of hardened cake-frosting.
As for apples and raisins, those I didn't mind in the least.

However, some items, I do agree about.
Toothbrushes -- a boring reminder
Religious pamphlets -- disappointing and WEIRD to boot.
Packages of "normal" food -- oh, for crying in Manhattan, what kid wants to receive a can of baked beans or a box of oat bran in his little plastic jack-o-lantern.
One time I received cough drops -- and not the Ludens or Pine Bros or Smith Bros or F&Fs, which are tasty and could pass as hard candy (as can the Ricolas). These were nasty little green pellets that were -- and tasted like -- MEDICATION. Like I said, for crying in Manhattan! For crying in Manhattan, Chicago, and San Francisco

Oh well. At least I didn't get a ROCK

I have a vegetable collection that is older. They used to have these things called jars and you could put things in them and it would make them last for a long time. If only we could recreate this somehow without the jars. That would be amazing.

"I still go to concerts but rarely buy the shirts anymore. I'd like to claim I've outgrown this, but in all honesty, the obsession remains—only now restaurant shirts have replaced the concert tee."

I'm still a fan of rock tee shirts. I wear some restaurant shirts but all that often. But I agree, restaurant tee shirts are replacing rock tee shirts in some areas.

if you lived in a wealthy neighborhood you'd know that the richest homes generally give the worst treats. in fact, sometimes they even post armed guards to keep the kiddies away.

Necco and tootsie rolls are my favorites...

There is not one item that you can purchase at McDonald’s that is good for you. Even their “fresh fruits and vegetables” are so overly treated with preservatives and pesticides, your body has to work twice as hard to eliminate those toxins than it could ever benefit from any vitamins or minerals still contained in the dilapidated whole food. Shall we talk about where they buy their meats and poultry from? Antibiotics, steroids… the list goes on. A McDonald’s body will turn into a diseased body.

Mounds and Almond Joy have GOT to be put on the list! Giving coconut to a child is pure torture, IMO. Worse than fruitcake! Last year, I took my daughter to a house where the family was leaving to spend the rest of the evening taking their small children trick-or-treating. The man said, "We're leaving. Want the rest of them?" and proceeded to dump a large bowlful of Almond Joys into my daughter's bag. Ewwwwww! Each year, my kids give all of their Almond Joys and Mounds bars to our hairdresser because she's the only person we know who likes them. This year, she's dieting. Do you suppose any of our our local homeless shelters would want them?

The Jesus pamphlets really cracked me up. We live in the Bible belt. One year, someone handed out play money with a picture of Jesus on it. My son was 3 or 4 at the time. When he pulled it out of his candy pile, he said, "Look, God money!"

My husband thinks it's mean to give a kid Cinnamon Red Hots, too (and he likes spicy food!).

Whatever happened to Zots, Marathon Bars, Bubs Daddy? Are Slow Pokes and Sugar Daddys the same thing?

I love fun sizes...that's the best way to get lots of different candy bars!!

anybody heard of "you get what you get and you dont get upset"
jeez you act like this is life or death here!

In Canada we call Smarties Rockets, equally as unpleasant. Smarties here are like M&Ms.

How did this strange custom originate? Unfortunately, we have this kind of dross over here in the UK, but I still don't know how it came about. Can anyone enlighten me?

What about root beer barrels, bottle caps? Yummy. Worst candy.....Nerds

My parents gave out raisins one year for Halloween and my friends still make fun of me for it 15+ years later.

For the record, I used to trade with my best friend for all her tootsie rolls and smarties. My absolute favorite used to be the flavored tootsies - a rare and delicious find.