Iconic Halloween Candy Born in the 80s

If you grew up in the 1980s, candy was both a treat and an adventure. Walking into the corner store or the gas station you were met with a rainbow of wrappers, but that rainbow was smaller than the one kids enjoy today.

Much of today’s candy that feel timeless didn’t exist in the 1970s and early 1980s. When I think back to my early days of trick or treating it amazes me how much of today’s candy was missing from my sack.

The staples Snickers, Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Hershey bars were around for decades. There were new candy making it’s way into Halloween buckets.

Twix was introduced in the United Kingdom in 1967, Skittles hit the European market in 1971, both finally made their way to America in 1979. Whatchamacallit (one of my favorites) and Reese’s Pieces was introduced in 1978.

In the neon soaked, fast-paced 1980s, the candy industry exploded with innovation. It wasn’t simple chocolate bars; we got new textures, wild flavors, and inventive packaging. We were the lucky recipients of a massive sugar influx. Let’s look at the the iconic candies that first hit shelves in the 1980s.

🍬 Iconic Halloween candy of the 1980s

1980

Big League Chew

When this was introduced it was an instant favorite. Playing little baseball every kid wanted a pack of Big League Chew in their back pocket. It’s what the players in the Major League did and Little Leaguers wanted to do the same. I loved Big League Chew as a kid.

Big League Chew is still around today. It comes in multiple flavors and even offers individually wrapped gum, which isn’t as cool as the pouch filled with shredded gum. It’s still a big hit with young baseball players too. My son and his teammates always wanted big league chew, even in High School.

1981

Skor (Hershey)

A thin buttery toffee covered in milk chocolate. I was neve a fan of the Skor bar. I’m not a fan of the crunchy toffee on the inside. Hershey created the Skor candy bar to compete with the Heath bar.

Interestingly, Hershey bought the Leaf Candy Company, the makers of Heath bars, in 1996. Both candy bars are still available.

1982

Runts (Willy Wonka)

Runts are a crunchy candies in the shape and flavor of fruit, originally produced by the Willy Wonka Candy Company The original flavors were banana, orange, lime, strawberry and cherry.

Runts are sold in boxes but I don’t think I’ve ever bought a box. I used to by runts in those 25 cent vending machines. Drop in a quarter, spin the handle and out comes a handful of runts.

1983

Nerds (Willy Wonka)

In 1983 Willa Wonka Candy Company introduced one of the best candies of the 80s, Nerds.

Nerds are basically small colored, sugar crystals with an intense tart, fruity flavor. Nerds are sold with two flavors in each box and the real genius behind Nerds is the dual-chamber box. Each box has a separate compartment and opening for the flavor, so they never mix, unless you want them too.

Nerds had a slow roll out in 1983 with the original flavors of Grape and Strawberry (purple and pink) and became available nationwide in 1985. My favorite flavor was the Wild Cherry and Watermelon combo.

There are numerous spin-offs of the original candy, Sour Nerds, Nerds Gum Neon Nerds, Nerds Jelly Beans, there was even a Nerds Blizzard at Dairy Queen. Nerds Gummy Clusters were introduced in 2020 and with the help of online influencers put Nerds back in the social light and sales exploded.

Peanut Butter Twix

In the mid-80s they Twix added a new twist by creating a new bar. They removed the caramel, added peanut butter and called it the Peanut Butter Twix.

It was a great tasting alternative to Twix. (Nothing can beat the original though). Peanut Butter Twix was a loved by all and sold well. It was a staple in the candy aisle until 1997, when it was unceremoniously discontinued. It made a short come back in 2000, but was discontinued again in 2007. It was replaced by Twix PB, which has also been discontinued.

1984

Cow Tales (Goetze’s)

This is a simple candy, a caramel tube with creamy filling. I love anything with caramel and Cow Tales is no exception. They are still available in various flavors.

Summit Cookie Bars (Mars)

Summit Cookie Bars were two wafers covered in peanuts and then covered in chocolate. They were sold in a two pack, like a Twix but were a failure, almost from the start. Mars tried different individual packaging, different promotions but nothing caught on. At one point they even offered them at KFC along with the meals.

Summit Cookie Bars didn’t make it out of the 80s. After lackluster sales production was stopped and the Cookie bar is history.

1985

Sour Patch Kids

Sour Patch Kids are essentially gummy bears covered in sour sugar flavor. Created in the 1970s they didn’t see mainstream success until the 1980s.

Instead of a bear shape, like Gummy bears, they have a human shape. They were originally branded as “Mars Men.” They rebranded to Sour Patch Kids in the 80s and that’s when the candy took off.

Sour Patch Kids are still a huge hit at Halloween or anytime of year. The brand branched out with gum, ice cream flavors, cereal and most recently a Sour Patch Kids Oreos in 2024.

AirHeads

AirHeads are stretchy taffy bars in bright colors and lots of flavors. I don’t remember ever having an Airhead as a kid, not sure I even saw one until the mid-90s.

These aren’t my favorite candy, but my kids (and lots of kids) love them. There are over a dozen flavors and they now offer gum,mini-bites and Airhead Xtremes, a sour version.

Bonkers

Bonkers was a chewy fruit squares filled with tangy center. There were all kinds of flavors, peach, apple, chocolate, vanilla, orange, grape. The one thing I remember the most about Bonkers are the ads…they were Bonkers!

In the late 80s Bonkers partnered with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and offered TMNT stickers in every pack of Bonkers. As the 80s marched into the 90s Bonkers started to fad away. Sales dipped and by the late 90s Nabisco discontinued Bonkers altogether.

In 2012 Leaf Brands bought the Bonkers trademark vowing to return Bonkers to the market. As of 2025 Bonkers is still gone and we continue to wait.

1988

Bubble Tape (Wrigley)

Wrigley is a gum dynasty. In 1988 they rolled out a new gum, not in sticks but as a long six foot roll in a plastic dispenser. It was a great concept. Sometime you don’t want a full stick of gum and sometimes you want to chew on six feet of gum!

At one point they offered the Mega Roll, 10 feet of gum. Bubble Tape, officially called Hubba Bubba Bubble Tape is still around today and a favorite of all gum chewing kids.

1989

PB Max (Mars)

PB Max was a peanut butter treat with a cookie base and crunchy oats and cookie pieces on top all covered in milk chocolate.

Did the PB stand for platinum blondes, portly ballerina, pure bliss? No, it stood for peanut butter.

PB Max disappeared about as fast as they appeared. The Mars company discontinued PB Max in the mid-90s. Was it poor sales, nope. According to a former Mars executive PB Max was discontinued due to the Mars family dislike of Peanut Butter. Which begs the question, why make it in the first place?

I loved PB Max, it was like a crunchy Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Of all the discounted miss PB Max the most.

That’s look at some of the candy born in the 80s that we all loved and miss. What were your favorites? Did you ever have a Bonkers or PB Max bar?

Enjoy your candy and have a great Halloween!