MILWAUKEE — Forget haunted houses or creepy decorations, Halloween candy might be the scariest item this year.
“It is ridiculous. It went up $3 for just those Costco bags,” said Kramer Brown who lives in the Bay View neighborhood in Milwaukee.
“Everything is so expensive right now, unfortunately,” said Olivia Slapczynski who lives in Bay View.
“We went to Target or somewhere else to just start looking for candy and it was outrageous,” said Joe Dreher who also lives in Bay View neighborhood.
Kramer, Olivia, and Joe live on one of what they consider one of the busiest Halloween streets in the city, Clement Avenue, just down the block from the A&J Haunted House that draws hundreds of visitors. So they have to prepare for a lot of trick-or-treaters.
“I counted last year we had about 700 kids,” said Kramer.
Candy for all those kids really adds up, especially this year. According to the Bureau of Labor, candy prices are up more than 13 percent since last year. University of California Los Angeles supply chain expert Professor Christopher Tang says candy is so expensive because of the cost of ingredients and because it is mainly made in the U.S.
“The labor cost has gone up a lot because of inflation. The workers need to have a higher income so that they can survive,” said Tang. “All the ingredients from wrapping paper to the basic ingredients like sugar, and also the cocoa beans that we have imported from Africa. So as a result, every single ingredient, element, and the wages are going up.”
He says the good news for Wisconsin is the costs aren’t as high as other parts of the country because so much candy is made or distributed in the Midwest.
“Therefore, the less miles deliveries from the warehouses to the retailers,” said Tang.
According to the National Retail Federal, the average household spends about $30 on candy and will likely have to spend $35 this year. However, from our unofficial survey of the neighbors on Clement Avenue in Bay View, they spend on average $200 a house. And while some are trying not to spend more it doesn’t always work out.
“If I could give advice, it would be to not get chocolate candy because is so unreasonable,” said Kramer.
But Kramer said he didn’t follow that advice because he likes chocolate. And Olivia says the extra money is worth it.
“Halloween here is just so heavy. How can you not be involved?” said Olivia.
If you are looking for ways to save Tang says to buy in bulk. He says small packages of candy cost between 75 to 80 cents more per ounce this year compared to last year. Bigger bags, like those are the three to five-pound bags, were only up about 35 cents per ounce this year.
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