Find the Best Deals on Halloween Candy
Ready or not, trick-or-treaters will be arriving on your doorstep as the sun sets on October 31st. Here are a few ways to be prepared with a generous load of Halloween candy without straining your budget!
Set a Goal
If you’re not prepared, Halloween candy can cost a lot of money. This can be stressful if you’re already on a tight budget. Instead of avoiding the prospect of buying Halloween candy, set a goal for how little you’d like to spend. Usually my goal is $10, and with my money-saving strategies, I generally get pretty close!
Price Per Ounce
With the different kinds and package sizes of the candy out there, it can be hard to tell a good deal when you see it. I like to use a common measurement when comparing the prices of candy, and I tend to use the “price per ounce.”
For example, there are two bags of candy, one that is 11 ounces for $2.19 and another that is 15 ounces for $2.49. The smaller bag is cheaper by $.30, but is it really a savings? When comparing them at price per ounce, the first bag costs $.20 an ounce versus the second bag at $.16 an ounce. Once you factor in manufacturer or store coupons you could use for that larger bag, the savings are even more dramatic.
Store Deals and Coupons
Use the deals and coupons at stores where you currently shop. My favorite stores on my route put out weekly ads. I’ll be looking closely at their candy sales over the next few weeks, combining any store sales and coupons with manufacturer coupons from the Sunday newspaper.
Another way to keep Halloween Candy from straining your budget is to apply any extra bonuses toward the candy purchase. Many times, drugstores and grocery stores run promotions that result in a coupon that prints out at the register when you purchase a specific amount of items – a good example of this is “buy $15 of bathroom products, get a $5 coupon,” which can be used like cash on your next purchase. I often purchase products through a promotion (I know I’ll use them and I have coupons for them) in order to get these bonus coupons to “buy” some free Halloween candy!
Go Early and Recycle
My kids are younger, so it benefits us to take them out trick-or-treating the minute the sun goes down. When we return home, the candy is dumped on the table and inspected while each person gets to pick out their favorites.
Inevitably, there is the pile of “The Candy That Nobody Wants.” Usually, there are still plenty of trick-or-treaters coming to the door, so the pile of unwanted candy goes into the bowl for us to hand out at no extra cost!
Kelly Wilson is a busy mom, freelance writer and editor for Teaching Resource Center, a Teacher Store offering high-quality, low-cost Teacher Supplies for over 25 years.
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