Halloween candy kind of sucks. It’s so boring and it gets all the hype, but what’s so great about it? Reese’s Pumpkins? Sure, you can pick up multiple-pound bags of Kit-Kats and Snickers but it’s the same candy you can get all year, just small. Like I said, boring.
Let me instead turn your attention to Easter. This more subdued holiday is actually the second-biggest chocolate-buying holiday in the US behind Halloween (all those chocolate bunnies, man). But Easter also has the opportunity to be creative. I look forward to Easter for two candy-related reasons: Cadbury Mini Eggs and Starburst Jelly Beans. They are the only candy worth waiting all year for.
Cadbury Mini Eggs
Starburst Jelly Beans
While I gravitate toward the Mini Eggs, I would be remiss not to mention the classic Creme Eggs. Cadbury Creme Eggs are so universally associated with Easter that they have their own recurring, vintage seasonal commercial a la the Hershey’s Kisses Jingle Bells or the M&Ms meeting Santa Claus—the roar of a lion attempting to cluck like a chicken is ingrained into my brain. The Mini Eggs are such a big part of Easter for me that I easily justified buying a 2 lb bag and eating them like one of those tri-flavored popcorn tins—a handful at a time. They’re crunchy and satisfying to eat, and you can really never go wrong with Cadbury chocolate. They’re basically what M&Ms could be if they tried a bit harder.
Easter is also a time for people to consume Jelly Beans, an entire category of candy that almost solely revolves around the spring season. It’s estimated that Americans can eat nearly 16 billion Jelly Beans on Easter. But I’m not talking about just any Jelly Beans, Starburst Jelly Beans. These take everything you like about both candies and combine them into an addictive snack that has been a part of spring for as long as I can remember (there were always at least two bags in a cabinet during Easter for my mom). You can eat multiple flavors at once and not feel like your TMJ is acting up like you would with their namesake.
Candy isn’t what Easter is about, unlike Halloween or even Valentine’s Day, but there wouldn’t be a dedicated aisle of it if it wasn’t an integral part of the holiday. Yes, Reese’s Pumpkins are as much of an impulse purchase at Duane Reade as a pack of gum in the month of October. And perhaps the category of Easter candy is bogged down with the sticky sweet residue of Peeps, which are just about as hated as they are loved. Don’t let that cloud your judgment, because there’s so much more to Easter candy than artificially dyed, chicken-shaped marshmallows. It’s been harder these days to get my hands on my favorites—I’m about a 15-minute walk to the closest Walgreens—but to be honest, I’m thankful these candies only come around once a year. The best candy is the kind you can’t get all the time.
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