2025 Halloween Candy Variety Packs, Ranked Worst To Best

Halloween is a time for trick or treating, costumes, and spooky movies that leave you jumpy and scared to turn a corner in your house. Whether you're planning on grabbing a bag of candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters or determining what to buy for the office or your snack drawer at home, there is an immense range of options to pick from. To help consumers with this dilemma, I tried a bunch of Halloween candy variety packs available in 2025 and put them to the test to decide which is best. 

Ultimately, I determined this by factoring in the actual assortment included in the bag in terms of the offered flavors, textures, and overall appearance (such as colors or shapes). I also considered how each candy tastes, as well as my assumption on how excited a trick-or-treater would be for the candy.

While most of the 10 different variety packs I sampled for this were pretty good, a couple of options stood above the pack. If you're wondering which Halloween candy varieties bags are worth investing in and which ones were a bit disappointing, come with me as I ride out the sugar rush to determine the worst from the best.

Some recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

Of all the packs I gobbled, I liked the Twizzlers Lovers variety pack – with Cherry Pull 'n' Peel, Strawberry Twists, and Rainbow Twists — the least. The flavors are too artificial and left a strange aftertaste in my mouth. In fact, these were the only candies I took a small bite of, before throwing away the rest. And while I had to try them for the sake of journalism, I didn't enjoy them.

The Cherry Pull 'n' Peel had the most noticeably artificial flavor. I love cherries (as in the fruit), but this is incomparable. I did, however, appreciate the peel aspect, as this could be fun in a string cheese kind of way. The rainbow ones are slightly more palatable as they don't have much of a discernible flavor other than sugary. Although I dutifully tried all the flavors, I didn't really like it (and that's saying something as a foodie and sweets lover).

Perhaps kids will the candy in this Halloween variety pack without issue, but I doubt they'll be many people's favorite. If you purchased this for your home or office, they'd probably get the last pick, so that's where it places.

This Halloween candy variety pack is supposed to have five options (did you catch the keyword there?): Nerds, Now and Later, Lemon Head, Gobstopper, and Trolli. While these options hit various texture points like chewy, gummy, and crunchy to establish a nice range, there were no Lemon Heads to be found. Ferrara – the company behind the five aforementioned candies — sent me three bags of this variety, but Lemon Heads weren't in any of them.

Clearly, there was some sort of mishap at the factory. And since I think the Lemon Heads would have added a tartness that could be welcome among all the sweets, the candy's absence hurt its ranking. As for the other options, Nerds and Trolli are pretty tasty in my opinion. Who doesn't like opening a little packet of Nerds, then just pouring them into your mouth? It's part of the experience and a rite of passage for all trick-or-treaters. Trolli are fun and whimsical, too, and I think these would be pretty exciting to get in your candy bag.

The Now and Laters taste like a mix of fruitiness with the paper they're wrapped in, though, while the Gobstoppers don't taste like much until you get to the sweet, chewable center. It could have easily ranked higher with simply Nerds and Trolli, but the rest of the candies give this variety pack a low position.

The Skittles, Skittles Gummies, and Life Savers candy variety pack comes with Wild Berry Skittles, original Skittles, Life Savers Gummies (technically each is a large, individually-packed gummy ring), and Skittles Gummies. The four options are nice, offering more variety than the Twizzlers pack in terms of texture. Everything in this pack is chewy, but to differing degrees. The gummies have the standard gooey and, well, gummy-esque texture, while the Skittles have the expected chewy, fruity flavor inside a shell exterior.

The two Skittles options add flavor and variety that would be delightful to find in your candy bag. The Skittles Gummies are unique, after all, and the type of thing the average candy eater might have too frequently. Meanwhile, the Life Savers are fine, though you're stuck eating one big gummy rather than the smaller bits of the Skittles Gummies — meaning it's not something I'd reach for.

Quite frankly, you have to be in a fruit-flavored mood to enjoy these treats, since that's the flavor profile of all the options. The pack delivers better variety, flavor, and texture than the previous options, but it can't rise higher than eighth place in this ranking.

The Harry Potter-themed Hershey's chocolate pack comes with classics like the mini chocolate bar, mini cookies and cream bar, and chocolate Kisses. These are all absolute staples in the world of candy. I recall many mini Hershey's chocolate bars in my candy bag, and if I was lucky, maybe one or two full-sized ones from the people who gave out the big bars. It's milky, smooth, and melts in your mouth. I like that the Kisses come in a bag of four, meaning that they are totally sealed; this makes parents breathe easier knowing the foil isn't ripped or falling off after getting tossed around a big pillowcase o' candy. 

My favorite of the bunch is the cookies and cream bar because it has those tasty cookie crisp balls throughout the bar. The white chocolate melts in your mouth, and you get the light crunch of the cookie bits for a balance. If you like Harry Potter, that could be a selling point to purchase this pack, but I'm purely basing my thoughts on the flavors and textures. There's nothing wrong with these whatsoever.

Although the items are all distinct in appearance, the chocolate bar and Kisses offer a similar taste. Given this, I simply think the upcoming variety packs bring a bit more flavor and texture variety to the table.

The Nerds Gummy Clusters would be so epic to spot in your treat hoard at the end of a night after trick-or-treating. These are individually packaged and come in three options: rainbow, spooky, and very berry. The spooky option adds an alluring novelty aspect that makes it a great pick for your Halloween festivities.

I like that these candies are a mix of chewy and crunchy, giving them a leg up in the texture department. But admittedly, these three options taste the same — sweet and crunchy Nerds coating with a gummy, mildly tangy center — which kept it in the middle of this list.

Still, the clusters bring variety in the candy's appearance and packaging, and I have to admit I'd be super stoked as a child to find a Nerds Gummy Cluster in my candy bag. I think if you placed these in a break room or at reception, they'd probably go quickly among adults, too. This product is our absolute top pick among popular gummy candies, after all, and only comes in sixth because of the quality of the higher-ranked entries.

The Nerds bring some childlike whimsy, but Haribo offers a bit more in terms of flavors, texture, and options, giving it a boost in this variety pack ranking. The Haribo Happy House Mix provides four sweets, in fact, and consists of Goldbears, Sour Bats, Goldbears Wild Berry, and Starmix.

There were mostly fruity in taste (I'll get there in a minute), though each offers something different. For example, the Sour Bats have a tangy addition to balance the sweetness, and the Wild Berry, of course, has the berry-flavored notes. Texture-wise, these are all chewy, but the Starmix provides a bit of an uncommon spin. It has a slightly softer consistency and captivating shapes like foam eggs and hearts, as well as cola-flavored gummies to bring a memorable pop of flavor.

Since there are a surprising number of Haribo gummy options out there, I wish the Haribo Berry Clouds were included in the variety mix. Then again, this blend still provides some interesting options to a kid's bag of candy, so it ranks fifth.

What child wouldn't want a package of Sour Patch Kids in their candy supply? It's interesting, plus it's something you don't usually see in smaller baggies. In fact, if you want a tangier gummy variety pack, then this Halloween candy variety pack may be your go-to. This medley comes with classic Sour Patch Kids, a tropical version, Big Kids (AKA individually-wrapped larger Sour Patch Kids), and then a large individual Swedish Fish.

The two Sour Patch Kids options provide varying colors in the mix. The tropical flavors are my favorite of the bunch, something different than the rest of the gummies on this list, which gave it a slight boost in the rankings for flavor. I really liked the pineapple one, as well, but there's also Paradise Punch, Tropical Twist, and passion fruit.

Of course, the Big Kids and Swedish Fish could be intriguing, and certainly not the type of thing you frequently find in a trick-or-treat basket. The Swedish Fish offers a unique lingonberry flavor to further establish this pack from the rest, and as much as I like Haribo, I'd wager younglings would prefer Sour Patch Kids. The chewy texture is softer than Haribo, which you really have to gnaw at, so this takes fourth.

For the sake of inclusivity, I think it was important to add something like YumEarth to this candy ranking. The brand provides candy that's free from top allergens, which can make all the difference to a trick-or-treating kiddo with a food allergy. These sweets are also organic, non-GMO, vegan, and don't contain artificial dyes or high fructose corn syrup — all of which could be a big deciding factor for certain children or adults wanting to consume candy, but may be limited in options.

This candy variety pack contains Giggles (which are chewy candy bites similar to Skittles), gummy fruits in the shape of bats and vampire teeth, along with two lollipop flavors: Strawberry Smash and Mango Tango. The gummies were my favorite of all the gummies on this list thanks to a softer texture and real fruit-forward flavor. The Giggles have that Skittles-like, mildly crunchy candy coating exterior and a soft, chewy inside.

Additionally, this pack is the only one listed to offer lollipops, which is a nice option. You get firm lollies, gooey fruit snacks, and crunchy-chewy Giggles — all in one set. The textures, superior fruit flavors, and variety help set the YumEarth Halloween variety pack apart from the previous candies, so it earns third place.

KitKat is yet another classic candy, something I recall seeing very often in my trick-or-treat bag as a kid. Lovers of the candy will really appreciate this interesting blend of options, which comes with the standard milk chocolate KitKat, Counts (a cute vampire guy in the milk chocolate flavor), cinnamon toast creme-flavored Ghost Toast, and marshmallow-flavored creme Witch's Brew.

This would have been really cool to see presented in a candy bowl where the homeowner allows you to pick your own candy. I would have been entertained by the flavors and shape of the Count as a child — and I still am. Of course, the flavors really impressed me, too, and I found myself coming back to these KitKats over anything else mentioned thus far on this list. The exclusive flavors make it even more flavorful and compelling, and anyone would be excited to end up with a seasonal flavor or count-shaped variety. You get that familiar crisp wafer in all the chocolates, too, but it still delivers on the "variety" aspect.

There's also a range in the candy's colors. Ghost Toast is light orange, while Witch's Brew is a tantalizing green. The vampire, meanwhile, is one larger KitKat that cannot be broken (in the usual KitKat fashion); this adds to the novelty of the variety pack, as well as mildly changing the texture. This is my favorite pack yet, even if the next one beat it out. My tip: Try these candies frozen.

To make it to the number one spot, a Halloween candy pack needs to offer variety in the candies themselves, as well as in the flavor and texture. With that in mind, the M&M's, Peanut M&M's, Snickers, Twix, and Milky Way Halloween candy variety pack truly delivers. Plus, these are candies children love and expect in their trick-or-treat haul at the end of the night.

This is the pack is I kept coming back to and nibbling on; after all, I'm partial to the creamy, chewy, crunchy Twix, followed by Snickers, which was America's most loved candy of the 2010s. The M&M's duo offers the classic candy coating shell exterior with chocolate that melts in your mouth inside, while Milky Ways are thoroughly creamy. Everything brings something slightly different to mix in terms of taste and consistency.

Kids and adults alike would be happy to have a bite of any of these, as they're among the most classic candies out there. Since this contains familiar favorites — all of which the average person has probably had at some point in time — it takes the top spot. So if you're going to invest in a variety pack to appeal to the masses while offering diversity, this is a must-have.

I tried the various candies provided in each package over a few days, working my way through one bag's options before trying the next. I based my ranking on factors such as variety and flavor; since this was about Halloween candy variety packs, the most important factor was that the offered candies were different.

I looked for variety in the form of flavor, texture, and appearance (like the colors or shapes offered). I also factored in my assumption about how enthusiastic a trick-or-treater would be for the candy, using my childhood self as my inspiration. Packs that had these qualities ranked higher, while ones without them or limited versions of them ranked lower.

Additionally, I didn't factor in quantity or price, as this can vary per store. Beyond that, I wanted to include candies that hit different flavor and texture profiles — chocolaty, fruity, sour, crunchy, soft, chewy, etc. If you were wondering what candy you'd be based on your zodiac sign, many of the aforementioned sweets are on this list.