It’s safe to say a lot of kids are excited for Halloween because they’ll be hauling in a boatload of candy. Well, it turns out parents are equally excited, for the exact same reason.
A new poll of parents with kids ages three to 15 finds:
- Two-thirds have stolen candy from their kids after trick or treating.
- The average parent will eat over a third of their kids’ treats.
As for how they’re likely to snag that candy from their kids…
- 49% hide the candy, hoping their kids will forget about it
- 43% tell their child some of the candy went missing
- 41% “inspect” the candy, and then hide some
- 40% sneak a few pieces without their child noticing
- 37% pretend the candy went bad.
Hiding candy seems to be the most popular strategy when trying to steal Halloween candy from kids, with 59% of parents admitting they’ve actually hidden candy from their children. Of those who’ve hidden candy, they say the best places to do so include:
- In their bedroom (57%)
- behind other food in the kitchen/pantry (54%)
- On top of the refrigerator (53%)
- In the car (51%)
- In their office (46%)
- And if stealing candy doesn’t work, many parents have a surefire way of making sure they have Halloween candy to enjoy. The poll finds 63% of parents buy extra candy on purpose so they have leftovers for themselves.