One Question Quiz
Image: Getty Images/Tina Tiller
Image: Getty Images/Tina Tiller

KaiOctober 31, 2018

Real kids reveal New Zealand’s hottest Halloween treats

Image: Getty Images/Tina Tiller
Image: Getty Images/Tina Tiller

What to offer trick or treaters to ensure you’re the most popular house in the neighbourhood, according to kids.

Whatever your feelings about Halloween, you can’t deny it’s now a part of our children’s lives. So you have several options: 1) Throw yourselves into it with great gusto by decorating your house, dressing up and stocking up on the most sought-after treats; 2) Forget about it and then panic when there’s a knock at your door and offer the kids something inappropriate like that expensive block of 82% dark chocolate you got from Farro, a glass of syrah or a vitamin C tablet (that last one actually happened); 3) Be a curmudgeon and refuse to participate, thus risking some serious trickery.

It’s clear the best option here is 1, so if you haven’t already, make a stop at the supermarket or dairy on your way home tonight and get some treats.

But what to choose? Confectionery aisles can be overwhelming. Luckily, some of New Zealand’s most dedicated trick-or-treaters have given us the scoop.

ALEXANDER (8)

What’s the ultimate trick-or-treating treat? Lollies shaped like footballs.

What’s the worst treat you’ve ever got at Halloween? I think I got a toothbrush once.

What are you dressing up as? A gangster.

Do you have anything else to add? Football is amazing.

ARCHIE (11)

Ultimate treat? Chocolate, especially Whittaker’s Creamy Milk.

Worst treat ever? A lolly with gelatine in (because I’m vegetarian). But I gave it to my friends.

What are you dressing up as? I haven’t decided yet.

Anything else to add? I love a good haunted house.

ASHA (10)

Ultimate treat? Once I got an ice block, that was good. I hope I get a TNT lolly — they’re really sour.

Worst treat ever? Once I got a chocolate that was very, very, very, very past its best before date.

Dressing up as? Hear no evil (a monkey).

Archie, second from left, and friends

EDDIE (6)

Ultimate treat? I hope I get a one hundred thousand quadrillion lollies and I want to eat them all and a ninety hundred and seventy eight lollipops and I hope they’re gummy bears also gummy trees and that’s all.

Worst treat ever? The worst thing you could get on Halloween would probably be a punch in the eye ball. The worst thing I’ve ever seen on Halloween was a real zombie that punched me in the eyeball. It was pretty bad when my mama gave me a cherry tomato.

What are you dressing up as? A bubble.

Anything else to add? I love Halloween because I get to eat 100 lollies. [Mother interjects: no, you can have two lollies.] I’ve eaten a thousand lollies so you don’t even know.

HAM (3)

Ultimate treat? A dragon.

Worst treat ever? A crap lolly. A not tasty lolly.

What are you dressing up as? A flower.

Anything else to add? *Dinosaur noises*

HUGO (6)

Ultimate treat? Fruit Bursts.

Worst treat ever? Pizza.

What are you dressing up as? A human butcher.

IGGY (5)

Ultimate treat? I like every lolly in the world. I like those ones that are like a marshmallow but except they have colours inside and it tastes really good. 

Worst treat ever? Those square ones, with the black stuff in the middle. Liquorice allsorts! They make me feel like I’m gonna puke. They make me feel like I’m going to explode and puke at the same time. 

What are you dressing up as? An old man knight.

Lily, Tom and Hugo

IMOGEN (9)

Ultimate treat? Once I got a whole big chocolate block. I hope I get Fruit Bursts.

Worst treat ever? Once I got a chocolate that said it was a caramel one on the wrapper but actually it was filled with this weird chocolate paste.

What are you dressing up as? An evil nurse.

ISLA (10)

Ultimate treat? Once I got an ice cream in a cone and once I got fudge. I hope I get Mini Moro bars and Crunchie bars, and also Fruit Bursts.

Worst treat ever? Fruit. And muesli bars.

What are you dressing up as? An evil doctor.

Anything else to add? Halloween lollies like eye balls look cool but taste gross.

LILY (7)

Ultimate treat? Doughnuts. Cookie and cream doughnuts. Or a Lime scooter and a thousand trips to the Warriors.

Worst treat ever? I don’t know.

What are you dressing up as? A zombie patient.

Anything else to add? The kids at school are talking about getting diseases from lollies that aren’t wrapped.

LUCY (2¾)

Ultimate treat? A lollipop and some gummy bears and maybe an ice cream.

Worst treat ever? [It’s Lucy’s first time.]

Dressing up as? A witchy with a vampire cape and a spell [mother: she means wand.]

Anything else to add? Can I have some grapes?

Eddie and Lucy

MAE (5)

Ultimate treat? Turkish delight.

Worst treat ever? A circle lolly that’s purple and white.

What are you dressing up as? Blood witch.

Anything else to add? Halloween is cool.

MAX (7)

Ultimate treat? Let’s see… there’s a type of biscuit that’s a lot like a lolly. Those ones that are covered in chocolate and they’ve got kind of like a honey stuff inside. Oh yeah, Toffee Pops! And white chocolate, it’s sooo good. It’s so sweet and it’s got so much sugar. 

Worst treat ever? I don’t really like jet plane lollies too much right now. 

What are you dressing up as? Han Solo.

ROBYN (9)

Ultimate treat? A ginormous chocolate bar. I think a Crunchie.

Worst treat ever? Raisins.

What are you dressing up as?  I’m dressing up as a werewolf/Dementor. A Dementor is something from Harry Potter. These flying things that suck your soul out of your body.

Anything else to add? My plan for getting heaps of treats is to go to rich neighbourhoods. I think there will be heaps and heaps of candy. And we’re going to go early so we can get the best candy as well.

SAM (7)

Ultimate treat? Kit-Kat

Worst treat ever? A Brussels sprout. [Interviewer questions veracity of this statement; further pondering follows.] OK, one of those lollies you get on the plane.

What are you dressing up as? A doctor covered in blood.

Anything else to add? I like scaring people.

Vivienne and Robyn

TESSA ROSE (5)

Ultimate treat? Lollies.

Worst treat ever? Don’t know.

What are you dressing up as? A skeleton.

Anything else to add? A scary dance party!

TOM (8)

Ultimate treat? Mini chocolate bars, or Coca-Cola.

Worst treat ever? I don’t know

What are you dressing up as? A pig hunter.

Anything else to add? I love Halloween.

VIVIENNE (4)

Ultimate treat? Candy and chocolate. Every candy I just don’t care.

Worst treat ever? Liquid.

What are you dressing up as? I’m dressing up as a witch. 

Anything else to add? I love the candy. And I love scaring people. Because they scream.

Keep going!