The Formula That Determines How Much Halloween Candy You Should Buy
Every Halloween season, grocery store shelves become packed with bags of Halloween candies. From milky fun-size chocolate bars to boxes of Skittles and Bottle Caps, there's something out there for every kind of trick-or-treater to enjoy. But with the sheer amount of popular Halloween candy on the shelves, it can be overwhelming to make a choice. From different variety packs to allergy-friendly choices, there isn't any real guide to buying the perfect amount of candy. And with almost no way of knowing how many costume-clad kids will stop by your house on Halloween night, how can you know if you're buying too little or too much?
After the Halloween season is over, you've either left the last few stragglers of the night empty-handed or you have enough candy left over to last you for the rest of the year. It's become a part of the Halloween experience. But now, it doesn't have to be. If you dread getting it all wrong and overbuying Halloween sweets, this new easy-to-use online calculator by Mars Inc. and Shipt is just for you.
Don't know how much candy to buy this year? Don't sweat it.
According to Popular Mechanics, the Alabama-based delivery company Shipt teamed up with Mars Inc. to make an online calculator that helps you figure out how much Halloween candy to buy. Although Shipt may not be familiar, you might know Mars as the manufacturer behind popular sweet treats like M&M's, Skittles, and Snickers, per Mars. The duo's new calculator uses factors such as last year's number of trick-or-treaters, how much candy you offer per person, and even the weather forecast on Halloween night to determine the total, per Popular Mechanics.
The formula itself comes in three parts. First, it calculates the gross amount of candy you'll need by using factors like how late trick-or-treaters stay out in your neighborhood, how many come by your house, and how generous you are with candy into account. Then you can calculate how many extra sweets you'll need before the big day based on factors such as your family's "sneakiness level", the size of your household, and how many nights it is before Halloween. Finally, those results are combined to give you the total amount of candy you'll need. Now if only these two could come together and create a formula to tell us which costume to wear.