I'm already tired of seeing bats, ghouls, goblins, witches and jack o'lanterns on display at the Hallmark store up the street. And, I'm especially tired of slogging through supermarket and drugstore aisles jammed with candy for trick or treaters. Resist!
And, no wonder. According to an article in the Miami Herald:
Halloween sales are booming this year. Maybe it's all the hurricanes, stress over gasoline prices, the Iraq war, but we're hot for some Halloween escapism.
Americans plan to spend a record $3.4 billion this year on Halloween, a 5.4 percent jump from 2004, a National Retail Federation survey showed. Candy sales represented a plump $1.06 billion of that, and are expected to increase by 10 percent this year.
Plump is definitely the word for it. And, the Herald article goes on to make some suggestions on how to be a bit healthier this All Hallows Eve:
Opt for the new healthy varieties of candies that boast of added vitamin C or calcium. Take Au'some Candies' Florida's Natural Fruit Juice Strings and Nuggets, made with real fruit and containing vitamin C and no fats, for instance. Or consider Weight Watchers brand candies for caloric reduction.
Are they joking????
They must be. Right after their diatribe on healthier Halloween choices, they offer up a list of bestselling candy brands in 2004 according to The National Confectioners Association:
1. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
2. Snickers
3. Hershey's
4. M&Ms
5. KitKat
6. Milky Way
7. Butterfinger
8. 3 Musketeers
9. Brach's
10. Nestle's Crunch
Now that's more like it. Besides, Weight Watcher's candies instead of Reese's? You try it out with the kiddies and let me know how it goes...
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