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New Survey Reveals the Most Popular Christmas Candies in Each State

A recent survey conducted by the website CandyStore.com has discovered America’s favorite Christmas candies. CandyStore.com, a bulk candy website based in Los Angeles, asked its customers, candy manufacturers and distributors about their seasonal orders and preferences to narrow down America’s top holiday candies. This year, the online candy store surveyed over 16,000 people to find out the “Most Popular Christmas Candy By State.”

In total, twelve candies came out on top when surveying the fifty states and Washington D.C. While peppermint bark was identified as a preferred choice in eight different states, CandyStore.com found some other interesting results. This includes untraditional Christmas fare such as Skittles and Starburst being selected as favorite fruits flavors in various regions.

Candy canes are a top pick in two states, while dozens of other states favor chocolate-based candies. These include chocolate Santas, Hershey’s Kisses, Kit Kat, M&M’s, Reese’s Cups and Reese’s Pieces. Vanilla is not a popular flavor for candy, but Reindeer Corn makes CandyStore.com’s “most popular” list. These festive three-toned candy corns are made by various manufacturers and definitely deserve their spot on the list!

A breakdown of favorite Christmas candies state-by-state

Classic Christmas standard the candy cane was only the top pick in Louisiana and Oregon. Meanwhile, another holiday standard scored a bit higher. Chocolate Santas were the favorite of Alaska, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Dakota and Ohio. That iconic Hershey Kiss commercial is still doing some heavy lifting. Kisses came out on top in Arizona, Maine, Missouri, South Dakota, and Utah.

Kit Kats managed to get on the list, with Massachusetts and Oklahoma adding the chocolate bar as their favorite. Iowa, Idaho, Kentucky, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Virginia and Wyoming put M&M’s on the list. Meanwhile, another classic Christmas standard ranked high for several states. Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Rhode Island, Tennessee and West Virginia picked peppermint bark as their favorite. An outlier was the aforementioned Reindeer Corn, which only Alabama picked as their favorite holiday candy.

Reese’s Cup minis have apparently become a big stocking stuffer for the Christmas season. California, Colorado, Indiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington picked the chocolate-peanut butter favorite. Meanwhile, New Jersey picked Skittles and Montana zeroed in on Reese’s Pieces. Halloween favorite Snickers also has a foothold in the holidays. Florida, Georgia, New York, and Vermont picked the candy bar as their favorite.

Finally, a colorful fruit candy less associated with Christmas was a heavy favorite. Starbursts were the top holiday candy for Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, North Carolina, Nevada, and Wisconsin.

Many readers may be surprised that candy canes ranked so low. However, Candystore.com begs to differ. “Candy canes are not the universally loved Christmas candy you might think,” CandyStore.com explained. “They are often found on the WORST Christmas candy list, in fact.” According to the website, the traditional candy has a lot of issues. “People who don’t like them cite reasons like they can be messy to eat, hard to unwrap in one whole piece and, once sucked on for a while, become sharp and dangerous,” they wrote.