There's always been a system.
For years and years, there's been a system.
And around this time of year, that system takes on extra meaning.
Now, I'm not talking about the opening of the NHL season, rather something far more important. Halloween candy.
As the temperatures dip into single digits, my thoughts inevitably turn to mini 3 Musketeers. And Twix. And Mars bars. And lollipops. And those chalky Rockets thingies.
For nearly two decades now, I've had to purchase supplies for the array of ghouls and goblins in our neighbourhood. Given they have always been legion in number – some years approaching 350-plus little ones (and big ones hiding behind their costumes) – it is a responsibility I take seriously.
Always a solid supply of the 'good' candy (that is, the stuff I'm happy to snag some of for myself), your legacy brand mini chocolate bars and/or tiny bags of candy. Never the pretentious full-sized bars. Never the candy apples or homemade 'treats' or cans of pop or juice boxes.
But everything had to adhere to the system, which was my own version of a Halloween salary cap, in sporting terms.
It was pretty straightforward. Keep the cost as close as possible to 10 cents per unit.
So if I was getting 350-400 trick-or-treaters, at two treats apiece, that meant somewhere in the vicinity of $70-$80 (give or take the one or two 'early' boxes that were gobbled up in-house).
For years, it was no problem. The last few years, I've had to cheat a little. In order to stay under the cap, I've had to supplement the high-end treats with the much-cheaper bags of lollipops or 'bargain' bags of treats. And that was fairly easy as well. Good costumes and the tiniest ghouls got a pair of chocolates. No costumes or obvious 37-year-old candy fiends got the lollipops or nasty toffees.
And, of course, repeat visitors who thought they might fool my photographic costume memories might get a treatless air drop.
But 2025 has presented a problem. Whether it's inflation or tariffs, Big Chocolate greed or whatever, there's pretty much zero chance of staying under the cap. Of course, I could make the trick or treaters deal with the overage costs by cutting down on the two-treat minimum, but I refuse to do that. Fear not, there will still be chocolate in this house. My own skimming will be the first cutback.
I first realized the budget would be blown when I was in a grocery store and saw a box of 100 'good' treats. In thee past, it might have been $9.99 or so. In recent years, maybe edging up to $14.99. Mix in the lollipops and the 'cap' was still doable.
But this box made me recoil. $32.99. Seriously? 33 cents apiece for a tiny chocolate bar? Ouch.
Curious, I popped into a different store. Same box of 100, $34.99. What is happening?
I don't even think my usual method of waiting until the morning of Oct. 31 to head out to by the candy at a reduced rate will work this year.
I was able to get a couple of 'cheaper' boxes via some regular weekly in-store deals, but even those came in between 15 and 20 cents per unit. And I'll continue my frugal quest to stay under the cap (anyone who finds any bargain boxes, let me know your source) but it isn't looking good.
I've watched the price of everything slowly rise, almost to the point of craziness, and mostly just quietly grumbled. But my mini Snickers are the line in the sand.
PQB News/Vancouver Island Free Daily editor Philip Wolf welcomes your questions, comments and local story ideas. He can be reached via email at [email protected]; by phone at 250-905-0029 or on Twitter @philipwolf13.
