Unwrapping the favorites: Top candies consumers are craving this Christmas

One of the best things about the holiday season, in our opinion, is the candy. Holiday candy is a little dose of joy wrapped in festive colors with fun seasonal shapes and nostalgic flavors. 

And consumers feel that magic. When we asked them what they love most about holiday candy, their answers were very consistent: they love it because of the taste, the tradition, the creativity and the way it helps mark the season. Holiday candy brings out the childlike excitement that makes this time of year feel special! 

We wanted to dive more into what consumers like and expect in their holiday candy and which ones they’re reaching for most this winter season. Let’s get into it!

1. Holiday candy is powered by emotion, nostalgia, festiveness and tradition: Consumers repeatedly link holiday candy to childhood memories, family rituals and the cozy feeling of the season. The emotional cues (shapes, colors, flavors) are as important as the candy itself.

2. The scarcity creates excitement and drives purchase: Limited-time flavors, wrappers and shapes make holiday candy feel special and worth seeking out. Consumers look forward to these once-a-year treats and scarcity fuels enthusiasm and urgency — which makes holiday editions a great way to boost revenue.

3. Price sensitivity is real: The biggest complaint about holiday candy this year is rising costs. Consumers notice (and resent) seasonal markups, which can dull the joy of holiday treats.

4. Taste still wins, but creativity matters: Classic flavors like sugar cookie and hot cocoa continue to resonate, but shoppers also reward brands that introduce fun shapes and innovative, seasonal twists. This balance of familiarity and novelty shows up strongly in the top-ranked products.

To start, we asked 450 people what they like and don’t like about holiday candy and analyzed all the responses. Here’s what we found! 

What people love

Consumers love holiday candy because it’s seasonal, nostalgic, festive, tasty and beautifully themed. It helps bring people together, offering special flavors and designs that only appear once a year.

1. Seasonal exclusivity & limited-time appeal

The fact that holiday candy is “only available once a year” came up hundreds of times as something people like. Limited-edition flavors, packaging and shapes make it feel special and something to look forward to. The limited-time nature creates a sense of urgency and gives people permission to treat themselves.

In other words, seasonal scarcity is a powerful driver of purchase and excitement.

2. Festive spirit

People repeatedly mentioned that holiday candy “puts me in the holiday spirit,” feels festive, cozy, fun, cute or comforting. Themed shapes (trees, snowmen, reindeer), festive colors and decorative packaging amplify the feeling of the season.

The look and feel of holiday candy matters as much as the taste. It’s an emotional signal that the holidays are here!

3. Nostalgia & tradition

Holiday candy evokes a strong emotional connection to childhood memories, family traditions, stockings, baking and past celebrations. It serves as a sensory trigger that brings us back to being a kid.

4. Festive flavors & fun shapes

Consumers appreciate both classic holiday flavors and new, innovative flavor combos. They like that these flavor combinations feel unique to the season.

People say seasonal shapes make it more fun, tastier or feel more special than regular candy — and are even great for decorating. 

Peppermint, mint, cinnamon, gingerbread, eggnog, sugar cookie, cocoa and holiday spice blends were flavors that were mentioned, while trees, Santas, snowflakes, snowmen and ornaments were shapes mentioned.

5. Sharing, gifting & bringing people together

People like using holiday candy as a gift, stocking stuffer or treat to share with kids and family. It helps support togetherness and make gatherings feel more festive.

Holiday candy is as much a social product as a personal treat!

What people don’t like

Now let’s turn to the dislikes. Consumers primarily dislike holiday candy when it’s too expensive, too sweet, or overloaded with peppermint/cinnamon, and when seasonal versions feel repetitive or overly artificial.

1. Price increases 

Price is the #1 complaint, mentioned frequently by respondents who say that holiday candy is too expensive, overpriced or costs more today despite being the same product as in past years. 

Some said prices are becoming unaffordable or “outrageous.” And some expressed frustration that brands raise prices just for seasonal packaging.

Clearly, consumers are price-sensitive and notice seasonal markups.

2. Too much sugar or various health concerns

Many people said that holiday candy is too sweet, too sugary or hurts their teeth.

There were also concerns about the calories and healthiness that comes with eating holiday candy — particularly from those who feel they eat too much of it during the holiday season. 

Health concerns matter — even during the holidays — and the sweetness profile can be a pain point.

3. Peppermint, cinnamon & other polarizing flavors

Peppermint complaints were extremely common. It’s a very polarizing flavor — some love it and some hate it. We also saw some people complain about not liking cinnamon, or it being overused. 

Some people also mentioned a dislike of pumpkin spice, marshmallow, artificial flavors or bitter chocolate.

4. Repetitiveness, lack of creativity or too many options

Two opposite, but related, frustrations showed up in the responses:

• Holiday candy is too repetitive, with the same flavors and shapes reissued each year

• OR there’s too much, overboard, too many choices or too many variations crowding shelves

Some people said brands aren’t creative enough, others said they’re trying too hard. Consumers want novelty, but not chaos. And it’s impossible to please everyone! 

Now let’s see what consumers are shopping for this festive season. 

For our analysis, we looked at 15 winter holiday candies: some classics that we’ve seen year after year, some repeats from the last few years, and some products that are new this year:

• KitKat Peppermint Stick (new this year)

• M&M’s Milk Chocolate Winter Blend (new this year)

• KitKat Santas

• Twizzlers Trees

• Reese’s Peanut Butter Trees

• Twix Snowmen (new this year)

• Hershey’s Kisses Hot Cocoa

• Lindt Lindor Cinnamon Swirl

• York Peppermint Snowflakes

• Lifesavers Gummies Holiday Shapes (new this year)

• Sour Patch Kids Coal

• Hershey’s Kisses Snickerdoodle Cookie (new this year)

• Snickers Christmas Trees

• Reese’s Sugar Cookie

• Peeps Christmas Snowmen

In our ScreenIt solution we asked respondents to rank the candies according to which they would be most likely to purchase.

As we see across all of our seasonal candy analyses, Reese’s came out on top with the highest percentage of first-choice picks for Reese’s Peanut Butter Trees (32%). Snickers Trees comes in second (30%) and newcomer this year Twix Snowmen takes third (29%)! As expected, these are seasonal shapes of classic and well-loved chocolate candies. That approach tends to be the most successful formula in each season.

Also unsurprisingly, some of the non-chocolate options come in toward the bottom, like Twizzlers, Sour Patch Kids and Peeps. We tend to see that while these options have passionate fans, they tend to be ranked lower than chocolate candies — which have broader appeal.

Digging a little deeper, let’s take a look at the attributes most associated with the brands. These are the products that scored highest across key category attributes:

• Great tasting: Twix Snowmen (54%)

  • Runner up: KitKat Santas & York Peppermint Snowflakes (51%) 

• Most festive: M&M’s Milk Chocolate Winter Blend (47%)

  • Runner up: KitKat Santas (46%)

• Best for gifting: KitKat Santas (41%)

  • Runner up: Reese’s Peanut Butter Trees (39%)

• Most fun: Sour Patch Kids Coal (44%)

  • Runner up: KitKat Santas (40%)

• Most unique: Reese’s Sugar Cookie (35.4%)

  • Runner up: Hershey’s Kisses Snickerdoodle Cookie & Lindt Lindor Cinnamon Swirl (35.3%)

• Most playful: Sour Patch Kids Coal (37%)

  • Runner up: Twizzlers Trees (34%)

• Top quality: Reese’s Peanut Butter Trees (34%)

  • Runner up: Hershey’s Kisses Snickerdoodle Cookie (33%)

• Pairs best with hot drinks: Hershey’s Kisses Hot Cocoa (30%)

  • Runner up: Peeps Christmas Snowmen (27%)

We often see Reese’s seasonal candy take the top spot in the “great tasting” category, but for the winter holidays, Twix Snowmen led the pack for “great tasting” (an incredible win for the newcomer this year!) edging out a tie between KitKat Santas and York Peppermint Snowflakes. Consumers gravitated toward familiar flavors wrapped in festive formats for this category.

Consumers did rate Reese’s Peanut Butter Trees highest for “top quality” though — not surprising!

With its wintery color scheme, M&M’s Milk Chocolate Winter Blend won for “most festive,” with KitKat Santas following closely behind. 

KitKat Santas won in the “best for gifting” category, while Reese’s Peanut Butter Trees ranked as the runner-up. Both candies offer that blend of recognizability and seasonal charm that are great for gifts.

Sour Patch Kids Coal topped the “most fun” and “most playful” categories — and it is certainly the most silly of the bunch!

Reese’s Sugar Cookie took the “most unique” category, with a tie for second place between the two cinnamon options, Hershey’s Kisses Snickerdoodle Cookie and Lindt Lindor Cinnamon Swirl. Seasonal flavors clearly keep shoppers intrigued and help these options stand out from the rest.

And perhaps unsurprisingly given its name, Hershey’s Kisses Hot Cocoa won for “pairs best with hot drinks.”

We also asked consumers to assess each candy on each of the key drivers of product success:

• Advantage: How much better each of the products is to other products already available 

• Distinctiveness: How different each of the products are from other products already available

• Relevance: How relevant each of the products is to the respondents

• Believability: How believable the claims of each product are to the respondents

Overall we don’t see a ton of differences in these numbers. Some of the candies do better in some areas than others, but mostly they score pretty well!

KitKat Santas and Reese’s Sugar Cookie outperform the average in 3 out of the 4 metrics — the most of all the candies.

KitKat Santas, Snickers Christmas Trees and both Reese’s options are the most believable of the candies, likely because these brands have long histories with seasonal candy and are known for their seasonal shapes and flavors.

KitKat Santas, Reese’s Sugar Cookie, Hershey’s Kisses Hot Cocoa and Twix Snowmen were seen as the most advantageous of the candies. 

And as we often see in our seasonal candy analyses, outperforming the average on distinctiveness isn’t easy. Most of the top candies scored in line with the average. The three that stand out are Reese’s Sugar Cookie, Lindt Lindor Cinnamon Swirl and Sour Patch Kids Coal. Many of these scored well in “most unique” and “most playful” categories, so it makes sense they would do better in standing out from the rest.

This analysis has certainly put us in the mood for festive candy! Time to try every single one of them. How did your favorite holiday candy do in this ranking? 

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