(NewsNation) — If your Halloween memory is a bag full of the “usual suspects,” maybe it’s time to think outside the bar. The candy bar, that is.
Online candy sites, and international markets in many cities, could be the source of Halloween handouts that will make your house a must-stop for trick-or-treaters. Or, depending on what you choose, a must-avoid.
“When I was a kid, I vowed to be the grown-up who would give out jumbo chocolate bars or really special candies,” wrote Kat Thompson, an associate editor of the food and restaurant website Eater. “No peppermints, tiny caramel hard candies, or tragic pennies allowed,” she added.
The challenge is to find individually wrapped candies. While you might be tempted to go DIY and bag up some sweets bought in bulk, hand-packed Halloween treats have generally gone the way of home-baked treats. They’re the first things that parents find in their kids’ treat bags and throw out.
The other challenge is the cost. The online stores and boutique shops mark up imported candies quite a bit. Amazon’s candy pages usually include the per-ounce or per-item price breakdown.
Here are some international candies available in U.S. stores and online:
From Colombia, these lollipops have a bubble gum center and come in several tropical flavors.
This is the British version of those big bags of “fun size” American candies, and features Cadbury’s biggest sellers such as Dairy Milk, Twirl and Wispa.
The hard candies from Thailand boast, according to Thompson, “the perfect balance between sweet and tart with the faintest whisper of salt.”
It may not be fair to include the wildly popular German gummies since the company opened a 500,000-square-foot factory in southern Wisconsin last year.
Japan’s version of Starbursts, Hi-Chews became popular in the U.S. thanks to Mormon missionaries who brought them back from Japan. Besides the usual fruit flavors, Hi-Chew continually experiments with new and season flavors.
This is a creamy milk-flavored toffee from China that has “a unique chewy texture.” You may want to consider if the neighborhood kids will go for that.
If you can’t commit to one country or candy, online operators offer huge bags of candy, chocolates and snacks from around the world.