halloween candy.

In retrospect, Halloween was the ultimate indication of the woman I would grow into. My Halloween plans were thorough, and the execution fast & dirty. My goal, first and foremost, was to hit up as many houses as possible – sometimes this included a hand-drawn route, meandering efficiently through the neighborhood, skillfully skipping houses that “treated” kids with toothbrushes or raisins. The night before, my costume all laid out and ready to don come morning, I had already chosen the largest pillowcase in our linen closet, and also pulled out a back-up pillowcase, equally as large, in the event that the first one was filled or ripped (I was optimistic back then). The trick-or-treating itself was a mad dash across front lawns, around lawn ornaments or fences, over hedges, through cobwebs, under tree limbs heavy with autumn color. By the time I got home I was out of breath and exhausted, but eager to put Tier II of Operation Halloween into action: SORTING MY LOOT. Yes, dear readers, I was one of THOSE kids, who first sorted her candy by type, so I could mentally log just how many butterfingers and tootsie rolls I had collected. Once those statistics were recorded, I launched into a secondary sorting system in which I ordered the loot by preference and determined order of consumption. And with just a cursory glance over the piles of Delicious, Medium Delicious, Okay, and Mediocre candy I could calculate approximately how long I would be eating my Halloween candy. Usually it lasted me until the beginning of December.

These days we might not be able to be quite so carefree with our Halloween loot, and our piles might be called Gluten-Free and Glutenous instead of Delicious and Mediocre. Nonetheless, use this list of some of the more popular Halloween candies, compiled by Deborah Ceizler of the Celiac Foundation, to help sort your goodies.*

Almond Joy
Altoids
Ande’s mints
Atomic Fireballs
Bazooka gum
Big League Chew Gum (Original, Grape, Strawberry)
Blow Pops
Boston Baked Beans
Bubbilicious gum
Bubble Yum gum
Butterfinger
Cadbury candy bars
Charelston Chew
Candy Corn (only some; check with manufacturer)
Chicklets
Dove milk, dark and caramel)
Dum Dum Pops
Gobstoppers
Hershey’s Kisses
Hershey’s Hugs
Hershey’s plain chocolate bars
Hershey’s Skor Bar
Hot Tamales
Jawbreakers
Jelly Belly jelly beans
Jolly Rancher products
Junior Caramels
Junior Mints
Jujus
Laffy Taffy
Lemonheads
Lifesavers and Lifesavers Gummies
M&Ms (all except crispy)
Mike & Ike
Milky Way Midnight (original Milky Way is NOT GF)
Mars Bar
Mary Janes
Mounds
Necco Wafers
Nestle Milk Chocolate
Payday
Pez
Pixie Sticks
Pop Rocks
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
Reese’s Pieces
Red Hots
Runts
Sixlets
Skittles
Smarties
Snickers and Snickers dark
Sour Patch Kids
Starburst
Spree
Sugar Babies/Sugar Daddy
Swedish Fish
SweetTarts
3 Muskateers
Tootsie Rolls and all Tootsie products
Trolli Gummis
Werther’s Originals
York Peppermint Patty

*This list is not complete and should be used only as a guide; ALWAYS read the label, even if you think the product is gluten-free, and when in doubt, call the manufacturer or assume the candy contains gluten.