Via iStockphoto / @henryandhuckleberry TikTok
Is Halloween candy getting smaller? And is it a sign our economy is getting worse? After a trunk-or-treat, one woman certainly thinks so.
Halloween is fast approaching. So if you’re looking for an excuse to eat a lot of candy, now’s your chance.
But as you fill your belly with Reese’s Cups and SweetTarts, you might notice something strange about this year’s candy. Simply put, it really feels like it’s a heckuva lot smaller than it used to be.
This isn’t just a “fun size vs. full size candy” problem, either. While many candy lovers have lamented the shrinking size of candy bars for years, it seems that this problem is extending into the smaller, fun-size offerings as well.
Recently, one woman found a particularly egregious example of Halloween candy shrinkflation—but there’s even more to the story than she might expect.
Halloween Candy: A Single Gummy Bear
In a video with over 289,000 views, TikTok user Danielle Martin (@henryandhuckleberry) reveals the apparent recession indicator she found in her child’s candy.
“I was going through my son’s Halloween candy from his trunk or treat over the weekend,” she says. “Look what I found.”
Martin then holds up the offending candy. It’s a single gummy bear, wrapped in plastic.
“One single, individually wrapped gummy bear,” she explains. “It’s all you get, is one. One gummy.”
Martin marks this incident as a “true sign of how horrible our current economy is.”
In an email, Martin claims she she “[has] not noticed [candy] getting smaller over the years, but I am noticing more (however, still infrequent) individually wrapped candies — a single stick of gum, a single Swedish fish, a single gummy worm, etc.”
She further claims that she did not find any other individually-wrapped candies that that her child’s haul was otherwise satisfactory. He wasn’t even disappointed by the singular gummy bear.
“My son was thrilled to find the individually wrapped gummy bear,” Martin states. “His favorite stuffed animal is ‘Blue Bear,’ a gummy-bear shaped stuffed bear, so when his candy looked like his bear that was very exciting for him.”
The response to her video, Martin says, has been a bit much.
“I am honestly a little shocked by the responses to my video. I was by no means bashing the individual handing out these candies, just merely commenting on its singleness. We were happy to receive any candies or treats that were being handed out, and we handed out our own treats as well!” she explains.
“We are a big Halloween household and celebrate many trunk-or-treats, costume contests, pumpkin decorating contests, all of it.” she continues. “I was shocked at how many comments insinuated that this might be a THC gummy, that was not ever a thought in my mind. Many others were making it political. A ton of commenters were saying that trunk or treats are the reason for the downfall of Halloween and I truly believe the opposite. Trunk or treat gives families more opportunities to participate in fun, free, and festive activities all month long! It prolongs the excitement and I don’t feel that it detracts from trick or treating on Halloween at all.”
Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Did Halloween Candy Shrink?
Not only is candy getting more expensive, but you’re getting less candy for your dollar—even if you’re just buying the fun-size snacks.
According to a 2024 report from LendingTree, the total weight of candy bags across multiple different brands has gone down in recent years. For example, a party-size bag of Reese’s Miniatures previously weighed in at 40 ounces. By 2024, it was just 35.6 ounces—an 11% reduction.
Since that article’s publication, it appears to have reduced even further. An Amazon listing for a “party size” bag now contains just 30 ounces of product.
In many cases, the size of the candy itself will decrease, even if the total count remains the same.
In 2025, the CBC compared the weight of different multipacks from the previous and current years. The station found that many candies decreased substantially in weight. A 65-bar pack of fun-size Mars bars weighed in at 782 grams in 2024. While the count remained the same in 2025, the total weight went down to 672 grams. This is a 14% decrease in content, even though the price remained the same.
This Isn’t New
Unfortunately, this trend has been ongoing for some time. For example, a full-size Snickers bar weighed 61.2 grams in 1989. Today, the same candy bar weighs just 52.7 grams.
There are a few possible explanations for why this is happening.
The first and most obvious explanation is corporate greed. A company realizes that customers will continue to buy the candy, even if they are offering less of it. Consequently, they reduce the total amount of product while still charging the same amount.
Some counter that these high prices and reduced amounts are the result of the rising cost of cocoa. These analysts argue that high cocoa prices make it difficult for companies to continue offering their products at the same price. This forces them to reduce portions and experiment with other formulations that use less cocoa.
The problem with this argument is that cocoa futures are around the same as what they were in 2024. In February 2024, cocoa was trading at between $5000 and $6000 per metric ton. It’s currently trading for about the same price—and yet, products are smaller and more expensive than they were in 2024.
Not only that, but previous cocoa price shocks haven’t resulted in comparably small candies. Cocoa reached almost $5000 per metric ton in September 2009, adjusted for inflation. At that time, a standard Snickers bar was 58.7 grams.
Even though cocoa prices are only slightly higher today, the size of a Snickers bar has decreased by over 10%—and the real price per bar, after adjusting for inflation, has gone up by 43.2%, based on shopping experiences at the time compared to current prices.
Is This Common?
In the comments section, users claimed that tiny Halloween candy was a growing concern.
“We got a single gummy bear, a single wrapped SWEDISH FISH and a single wrapped SOURPATCH KID,” said a user.
“Anyone else remember in the 90s we had to go back to the car to switch out our loot bags because the candy was too heavy?” asked another. “Im so sad for today’s kids.”
“Shrinkflation!!! These companies are robbing us blind,” stated a third. “$35 bag of candy package says 180 pieces then half of them are a single gummy bear.”
BroBible reached out to Martin via email and TikTok comment.