The worst Halloween treats ever

Sometimes the scariest part of Halloween is the items that end up in your trick-or-treat basket. From lame candy to calorie-laden diet busters, we’ve rounded up the worst Halloween treats ever.

Often, the worst Halloween treats aren’t actually the worst tasting — they’re just the worst for you. Other times, kids sort through their trick-or-treat stash and pull out items that are a lot more trick than treat. We’ve rounded up the worst of the worst.

Calorie bombs

Oh, how we love the sweet treats that we give ourselves an excuse to eat at Halloween. Unfortunately, these diet busters aren’t worth it.

Twizzlers

Nine of these red sugar sticks pack the same number of calories as a Wendy’s double stack burger. Not that we’re encouraging the burger, but at least you’d be full for more than five minutes. If you can stop at just one or two, go for it. But if you think eating Twizzlers means you gobble as many as you have fingers or toes, pass on them.

Airheads

They’re light and small, so they can’t be that bad for you, right? Wrong! Made of sugar, partially hydrogenated oil and artificial colors and flavors, Airheads offer endless empty calories and some trans fats. Be smart and skip ’em.

Full size candy bar

When you were a kid, you might have tried to sneak back to the house that handed out full size candy bars for a second or third trick-or-treat opp. Now that you’re an adult? Full size candy bars are bad news when you’re likely to chase it with a few bite size bars. Skip the big stuff.

Fun size candy

Wait, we just told you that full size candy bars are bad, and now we’re saying fun size are scary, too? Well, it’s partially true. Eat more than two or three fun size candy bars and you’re treading on calorie thin ice. For example, three fun size Nestle Crunch Bars pack 210 calories. How many people stop at one or two? Remember to exercise self-control because fun size doesn’t mean you can toss those little nuggets into your mouth like popcorn.

Halloween tricks

When you find these in your plastic pumpkin, you’re left scratching your head and asking, “Why?”

Anything homemade

It’s lovely and thoughtful that the woman who lives in the house five streets over — the one who never comes out and who nobody knows — bakes homemade cookies, but let’s get real. It’s 2011. Parents don’t allow their kids to eat treats from people’s homes on Halloween if they don’t know the person. We know it’s unlikely those sugar cookies are laced with rat poison or razor blades, but still…

Toothbrushes

The dentist is the only person allowed to hand out the tools your kids need to scrub chocolate off their teeth after they munch through a bucket of Halloween candy. And even then, it’s questionable. Other losers? Pencils and stickers. For kids five and under, those might be pretty cool, but for the rest of the trick-or-treaters, they are bummers.

Lame candy

Nothing is more disappointing than reaching into the candy bin and coming up with a roll of Smarties. Sure, there are a few of us who love those chalky discs that look suspiciously similar to small calcium tabs, but most kids toss the Smarties back and try again, hoping for something with flavor. Other candy that gets the thumbs down: jawbreakers, Pez and candy corn.

More on Halloween candy

The “skinny” on Halloween candy
What to do with leftover Halloween candy
Creative ways to cut down on Halloween candy consumption