Soaring Price of Halloween Sweets Spooks American Shoppers; Perth Gran Who Hands Out Home-Made Tablet Says She’s Been ‘Recession-Proof Since 1971’
Chocolate costs more than ever in the US. In Perth, the guiser economy runs on sugar, butter and grannies.
Halloween sweets in a bowl: in America, an investment. Photo: ToyahAnette B, “Trick or treat in sweden”, via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Shoppers in the United States have been shocked by the rising price of Halloween sweets this year, with chocolate costs in particular causing what one report called a “spooky” surprise at the till.
In Perth, a grandmother from Craigie who has handed out home-made tablet to guisers for more than 50 years says she is unaffected. “Sugar, butter, condensed milk and a bit of elbow grease,” she said. “It’s cost me about the same since 1971. The only thing that’s gone up is my dentist’s bill.”
Her tablet is well known in the area. “Kids come from three streets away,” said a neighbour. “They tell her a joke, she gives them tablet, they get a sugar rush and go home and do their homework in about four minutes.”
Perth shops say chocolate prices are high here too. “A big tub of chocolates is a big decision now,” said a shopper in Letham. “I bought one for the guisers on Saturday and ate it on Friday, so I suppose that’s my fault, not the economy’s.”
The Perthetic notes that the tablet economy may be the future. The grandmother says it’s not the future, it’s just “how things should be”.
The real story: Halloween treat prices (BBC News)
Letters to the Editor
The views expressed are those of the reader, and frankly that's on them.
-
I make my tablet with a bag of sugar, a tin of condensed milk and a prayer. Costs me about four pounds, feeds the whole street.
— Agnes M., Letham, 1 November 2026 -
My mum gives out fruit at Halloween. Every year the kids are polite, and every year the oranges come back over the fence.
— Sam B., Perth, 1 November 2026 -
Tablet at Halloween is a Scottish tradition. So is the dentist in November.
— Linda B., Tulloch, 1 November 2026
Write to the Editor