REVEALED: Why fun size candy bars became the go-to treat on Halloween - after years of children being given FRUIT on the spooky holiday

  • Trick-or-treaters were given fruit in the early 20th century before candy took over the holiday in the 1920s
  • During the Great Depression in the 1930s, Curtiss Candy Company debuted 'junior' versions of candy like Butterfinger and Baby Ruth
  • In the '60s, Mars, Inc. followed suit, and they became more popular due to a new focus on health and weight loss 

By CARLY STERN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Published: | Updated:

On Halloween, kids get especially excited by those rare houses that give out full-size candy bars — so how did smaller, 'fun size' candy become such a staple of trick-or-treating?

As it turns out, nearly a century a later, children still have the Great Depression to blame for mini-me versions of their favorite sweets.

According to Time, the first mini candy bars — called 'junior' size at the time — debuted in the 1930s as a way to make the holiday more affordable, and they've stuck around ever since.

Small but long-lasting! Fun size candy bars debuted during the Great Depression, and are still a Halloween go-to nearly a century later

Small but long-lasting! Fun size candy bars debuted during the Great Depression, and are still a Halloween go-to nearly a century later

It first became popular to hand out candy in the 1920s. But the Great Depression hit in the '30s, making it harder not just for people to afford sweets, but for companies to make them as well.

'By the 1930s, the candy-bar universe was kind of struggling because of the Depression,' Susan Benjamin, author of Sweet as Sin: The Unwrapped Story of How Candy Became America’s Favorite Pleasure, told the magazine.

'Sugar was hard to get; people couldn’t afford luxuries.'

Curtiss Candy Company, which sold Butterfinger and Baby Ruth, debuted 'junior' candy bars, which were smaller than the original ones. 

'Most likely it was because they wanted them to be affordable,'  Benjamin said. 'You don’t feel like you’re really putting yourself out there financially and it isn’t a problem to have during the Depression.'

Curtiss Candy Company, which sold Butterfinger at the time, was the first to come out with 'junior' candy bars
Kids used to get fruit in the 1920s

Innovators: Curtiss Candy Company, which sold Butterfinger at the time, was the first to come out with 'junior' candy bars

Other candy companies eventually followed suit. Mars, Inc. debuted its own 'junior' versions of Snickers and Milky Way in the '60s, but eventually dubbed the minis 'fun size.' 

These 'fun size' candy options were particularly popular at the time given the US's new fixation on nutrition and weight loss. 

More and more companies followed that lead, and now just about every brand has some smaller individually-packaged portion, which are especially popular around Halloween time.  

And any children disappointed not to head home with a full-size candy bar can count their blessings: When trick-or-treating first started in the 1910s, it was most common to pass out pieces of fruit like grapes and oranges. 

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