HALLOWEEN JUNK FOOD 2025!

It's that time of year again when the weather is colder and the sweets are plentiful! Let's dig in to the best of the 2025 Halloween season's spooky junk food offerings! Check back frequently—updates will be made as we find new items!

KOOL-AID GHOUL-AID "ZOM-BERRY"

Same ol' Ghoul-Aid with a sweet updated look. Last year, we saw the Kool-Aid man's witchy transformation—which somehow took a couple years to produce. This year, he's gone full zombie mode—complete with exposed brains and… a stitched mouth? Is he Billy from Hocus Pocus?

Anyways, yes, it's the same familiar flavor Ghoul-Aid has always been, but the intrigue comes from the many forms and faces of the Kool-Aid man. I’ll never sneeze at a chance to see him decked out in new attire, no matter which holiday. Plus, the real bonus—these pouches glow in the dark! Nothing says "I'm a functional adult" quite like spending 20 minutes in a dark basement trying to get the perfect Instagram shot of a glowing juice pouch. The flash kept ruining it, but we persevere.

Rating: 7/10 - Same great flavor, bonus points for glow-in-the-dark packaging and the Kool-Aid man's ongoing identity creativity.

HALLOWEEN OREOS

Listen, I'm a sucker for fresh new Oreos—even if they aren't anything other than Oreo flavored. The annual holiday ones are about as fresh as you can get unless you're there at the Oreo factory picking them off the production line.

But these aren't your usual orange crème Halloween Oreos. In addition to those, this year we have orange AND green crème-filled cookies with adorable characters and Halloween paraphernalia with cut-outs to reveal the green under the cookie! It's like a fun, edible scratch-off ticket, except you always win!

I tried to get a good look at each design—especially the vampire one—but I was already through a quarter of the bag trying to find them all. I'll try to rest easy at night knowing some lucky trick-or-treater will eventually uncover a fresh new vampire Oreo with a ghoulish green mouth. That is, if I don't finish the entire bag first doing "research."

Rating: 8/10 - Fresh Oreos with fun designs that'll have you hunting through the whole bag. Classic flavor, premium presentation.

LITTLE DEBBIE PUMPKIN SPICE OATMEAL CREAM PIES

Read the title again—these feel like something that probably should've happened before, don't they? Somehow, it took 65 years for the original Little Debbie snack cake to get the pumpkin spice treatment, and we're alive to tell the tale. We are so lucky—ish.

I won't lie, it was at the top of my list in the early stages of the 2025 haunting season, and I overlooked a ton of new goodies until I found these. You may be asking, was it worth the effort? I'm here to tell you—nah.

You see, the Oatmeal Cream Pie can't be enhanced. How can you make what's already perfect better? You can't. It's like trying to improve a sunset by throwing glitter at it. The cheese-colored pumpkin spice crème gets almost completely lost in the flavor of the oatmeal cookie exterior. I wanted these to be amazing, but unfortunately, they fall flat. The pumpkin spice, which smells so pungent, is surprisingly subtle. I know it’s in there but I can’t find it.

Rating: 5/10 - A slightly missed opportunity. The pumpkin spice is playing hide and seek, and the oatmeal cookie is winning.

GHIRARDELLI CHOCOLATE JACK-O'LANTERNS

One thing I enjoy about the Halloween season: regular candy takes the shape of appropriate holiday fodder. You've seen Snickers Pumpkins, Reese's Ghosts, and Butterfinger Skulls—now you get to meet Ghirardelli Jack O'Lanterns.

So, it's everyday Ghirardelli flavors packed into not-so-everyday-shaped pumpkins. I love these! I haven't done my research deep enough to determine if the Caramel Apple-filled chocolates have been around before or not. I'm gonna assume they have been. But I feel it misses the mark. I get some apple flavor, but it's so faint, you'd swear it was whispering to you from across a busy street. Maybe even from a different time zone.

Flavors aside, they're still super enjoyable, and I'll take eating a Jack O'Lantern over regular candy any day. There's something psychologically satisfying about biting the head off a chocolate pumpkin. It's festive and mildly therapeutic.

Rating: 7.5/10 - Quality Ghirardelli chocolate in fun shapes. The caramel apple flavor is shy, but the overall experience is solid.

HALLOWEEN PEELERZ

Peelerz are a bit new to me, and I'm quickly becoming much less a stranger. I've tried a few of the fruit-shaped variety ranging from peach to banana, and I really haven't been disappointed yet. The gimmick is interesting—really seems like something that would've worked in the 80s and 90s that would've been long discontinued just for us nostalgia nuts to be talking about them today. So, you peel the outer skin and expose a slightly softer inside. What's not to love? They only get better when they’re Halloween and body part shaped.

I really enjoyed the pumpkins, and the zombie heads look a lot like Madball sculpts, but the body part variety are the ones I'm mostly excited about. Some of these look entirely too anatomically correct, and it's sending me. When you tear the body parts open, you expose this red gooey center, and it is SO satisfying. It's like performing surgery, but you get to eat your patient afterward—totally normal behavior.

The flavor (Raspberry-Strawberry) isn't so bad either. They have a bit of a floral taste up front, but it mellows out into a nice balance of each aforementioned flavor. Though let's be honest, when you're eating candy body parts, flavor is secondary to the sheer joy of ripping open a gummy toe.

Rating: 9/10 - The most fun you can have with candy. Excellent concept, satisfying execution, and disturbingly anatomically correct body parts. What more could you ask for?

DUNKABOOS

I’m a simple man, slap a ghost on the package of an ordinary product and insert “Boo” somewhere over the title and I’m sold. That’s exactly what Dunkar…. DUNKABOOS did. 

These are the classic cinnamon graham cookies with orange-colored vanilla frosting. It's simple, I'll admit, but if you'd assume I'm one to say no to Halloween-themed Dunkaroos, you'd be mistaken. The flavor is exactly what you'd expect—sweet, slightly spiced, comforting in that nostalgic way that makes you feel like a kid again despite being a full-grown adult buying cookies at the grocery store.

The only thing that would elevate this experience is a little contrast. Maybe black and purple confetti sprinkles in the frosting. Maybe cookies dyed a deeper shade. But as it stands, it's a charming, straightforward seasonal release that doesn't overstay its welcome or try too hard.

Rating: 8.5/10 - same Dunkaroos with a slight makeover. I’m a sucker for cartoony ghosts and spooky puns.

CHEETOS FLAMIN’ HOT FIERY SKULLS (WEDNESDAY-NETFLIX)

Not quite Stranger Things level, but it's got that same vibe of showing up where you'd least expect it. In this case, Cheetos took their "Bag of Bones" concept and stripped it down to just the skulls, cranked up the heat, and called it a day.

The artwork is genuinely fantastic—Thing from Wednesday covered in Cheeto dust on his fingertips. Sensational. This alone was worth the price of admission.

I enjoy spicy food, but I did chew two up and spit them out. These are quite a bit spicier than I anticipated. If you're someone who can handle genuine heat without your mouth staging a full rebellion, you'll probably love them. If you're more of a "spicy lite" person, proceed with caution. These are no joke.

Rating: 7/10 - Incredible artwork and concept, but the heat level is genuinely formidable. Approach with respect and maybe have some milk nearby.

MARSHMALLOW BUTTERFINGER

Limited time only—three words that send shivers down the spine of anyone who's ever missed out on a seasonal candy. I learned my lesson with the Marshmallow Butterfinger cruising the aisles at the local Sheetz one morning. I happened upon this stand full of this peculiar new Butterfinger. Not realizing how quickly this would sell out, I waited until it was too late to purchase the following day. Now they're on eBay for an upsetting amount of cash, and I hate to admit that I succumbed to the evil that is humanity, but the reviews stop for nothing—not even candy price gouging.

This thing has become a comfort item for me at this point. White chocolate, marshmallow flavored, crispy, crunchy, peanut-buttery. All wrapped up in a package that somehow feels like it’s winking at you. This is something completely new. And it’s decent. While some might argue this strips away from what makes a Butterfinger a Butterfinger, I'm here to tell you it's a nice little evolution. Not a replacement, just a nice visit to what could be.

What's puzzling to me is this is indeed new, it's indeed limited, and as far as I can tell, produced only for the 2025 Halloween season. These are almost nowhere to be found! They didn't make fun-sized bars to hand out for trick-or-treaters, and there was barely any advertising or hype among the community. What gives? This seems like it could've been an all-star candy bar next to Witches Brew KitKats and Wolf Tracks Reese's Cups. It almost makes me like them more. Plus, what if they'd attached a ghost theme to it? Oh, the opportunities.

Rating: 8/10 - A delicious surprise that deserved way more fanfare. Limited, elusive, and somehow better for it.

STRANGER THINGS CHIPS AHOY STRAWBERRY FILLED CHOCOLATE COOKIES

Admittedly, this isn't quite Halloween-themed, but if we're able to talk about Wednesday's Fiery Cheetos Skulls, I'd say it's safe to also mention this Netflix tie-in with Chips Ahoy.

Truth is, I didn't expect to like these, let alone enjoy them. The thought of chocolate and strawberry together actually gives me chills and makes me feel a little prickly. But these were surprisingly enjoyable.

The chocolate is classic Chips Ahoy—almost brownie-like with the chewy texture of the cookies. The strawberry filling on the inside is where things get interesting. No lie, I feel like this is how I remember Frankenberry cereal tasting back in the day, before all the recipe revamps. I'm assuming that's unintentional, but I'm running with it.

Rating: 7.5/10 - A flavor combination that shouldn't work but absolutely does.

KITKAT COUNTS

Alas, KitKat joins the spooky shapes game! Let us rejoice.

It seems like such a minor detail—does changing the shape of a KitKat really transform the whole experience? The answer is absolutely yes. While we do get this adorably happy vampiric figure, the real goodness is on the inside.

There's something about the shape of these particular KitKats that's weirdly satisfying. It's like having the best part of the crunch, but bigger. These little vampire-shaped bars have no business being this enjoyable, and yet here we are. The chocolate-to-wafer ratio hits different when you're biting the head off a tiny Count.

Rating: 8/10 - A deceptively satisfying upgrade to a classic. Shape matters more than you'd think.

That's all for now, boils and ghouls! Remember, we’ll be updating this list throughout the season as we unearth more spooky snacks and creepy confections. Keep checking back to see what other new Halloween junk food we manage to track down. Your candy bowl will thank you!