Shrinking Candy

[mrodgers]

We buy fun size candy all year long for the kids lunches and as a small treat. Nothing has shrunk in the last couple years.

The fun size of today use to be the minis or bite size of yesterday.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I grabbed a Snickers and a Twix last night. I had to do a double take when I opened the Snickers thinking it was the Twix - so skinny! Snickers used to be kind of fat - what happened??

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

No more Reeses' peanut butter cups for me since I discovered the dark chocolate ones Trader Joe's sells.
Tiny but you'll never go back!!

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

I just kinda mean from a kid's perspective when trick-or-treating. Mini's are even worse, and they seem more common now.

We gave out 'full size' bars, and they are definitely smaller than they used to be. The Hershey's bars can't make two full smores anymore!

 

[RamblingMad]

How much smaller can they get? This year is ridiculous.

 

[disneychrista]

We gave out 'full size' bars, and they are definitely smaller than they used to be. The Hershey's bars can't make two full smores anymore!

Really? One full size Hershey bar makes 4 Smores at my house.

 

[DLgal]

How much smaller can they get? This year is ridiculous.

What are you talking about? Seriously, they are the same size they have been. Please provide an example of this "tiny candy" you are referring to.

 

[amylevan]

We buy fun size candy all year long for the kids lunches and as a small treat. Nothing has shrunk in the last couple years.

Not sure what brands you are buying, but the ounces of fun size Twix and Kit Kat have definitely gotten smaller. And there is a new smaller size Reese’s peanut butter cups that I have never seen before in our mixed bag this year (bigger than the foil wrapped ones, but smaller than the usual singles). The 2 pack of Reese’s is something like .1 ounce smaller, so I assume all the Reese’s are smaller.

I don’t believe that the Twizzlers or sour patch kids that we have are any different, but there were less in the bag.

 

[DLgal]

Not sure what brands you are buying, but the ounces of fun size Twix and Kit Kat have definitely gotten smaller. And there is a new smaller size Reese’s peanut butter cups that I have never seen before in our mixed bag this year (bigger than the foil wrapped ones, but smaller than the usual singles). The 2 pack of Reese’s is something like .1 ounce smaller, so I assume all the Reese’s are smaller.

I don’t believe that the Twizzlers or sour patch kids that we have are any different, but there were less in the bag.

I don't know. We buy the giant bags from Costco with the Hershey/M&M Mars mix (M&Ms, Peanut M&Ms, Snickers, Milky Way, Reeses PB cups, kit kat, almond joy, 100 Grand) and the sugary mix with air heads, sour patch kids, Starburst, Haribo gummies, warheads, sour punch straws, and Swedish fish. All the candy is the same size it has always been. My kids didn't get any candy that was any smaller than they are used to. My son ate a PB cup tonight and it was the same size as I always remember them to be when individually wrapped (the short thin one, not the foil one).

The only thing I've noticed over the last few years is that the bags have LESS in them. But the fun size candy bars we always buy still have the same nutritional information they have had for a long time. I log my food so I know how many calories they are.

 

[tzolkin]

I don’t believe that the Twizzlers or sour patch kids that we have are any different, but there were less in the bag.

I think there are also fewer in each individual package. My son mentioned yesterday that the little baggies of sour patch kids only had like 3 in them. Things like skittles have seemed the same. There may be the same number of packages in the larger bag to hand out, but there are fewer candies in each little packet.

 

[luv2cheer92]

I don't know. We buy the giant bags from Costco with the Hershey/M&M Mars mix (M&Ms, Peanut M&Ms, Snickers, Milky Way, Reeses PB cups, kit kat, almond joy, 100 Grand) and the sugary mix with air heads, sour patch kids, Starburst, Haribo gummies, warheads, sour punch straws, and Swedish fish. All the candy is the same size it has always been. My kids didn't get any candy that was any smaller than they are used to. My son ate a PB cup tonight and it was the same size as I always remember them to be when individually wrapped (the short thin one, not the foil one).

The only thing I've noticed over the last few years is that the bags have LESS in them. But the fun size candy bars we always buy still have the same nutritional information they have had for a long time. I log my food so I know how many calories they are.

I'm just as confused. I buy a lot more candy than I'd like to admit, and have for a long time. Everything I buy is the same size.

 

[DLgal]

I'm just as confused. I buy a lot more candy than I'd like to admit, and have for a long time. Everything I buy is the same size.

Thank you. I thought I was going crazy for a minute.

 

[DLgal]

I think there are also fewer in each individual package. My son mentioned yesterday that the little baggies of sour patch kids only had like 3 in them. Things like skittles have seemed the same. There may be the same number of packages in the larger bag to hand out, but there are fewer candies in each little packet.

Okay, just to "research", I opened up 3 little bags of Sour Patch Kids. Each one had exactly 6 pieces inside. 30g by weight. One serving is 2 bags, 110 calories. Same as it has been forever.

 

[dcassetta]

The problem is that when they change the size of Reese's Peanut Butter cups/eggs/pumpkins, it changes the flavor dynamic. Usually not in a good way

A little OT, but we love when the holiday shapes come out. I think the chocolate/peanut butter ratio is better in the pumpkin/tree/egg shapes.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Here’s my skinny Snickers. I probably should’ve taken another pic from the side to show how flat it was, too, but I’m not opening up more ’cause I ate those ones last night.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I’m guessing that maybe supplies in certain areas had some holdovers or something.

 

[mrodgers]

What are you talking about? Seriously, they are the same size they have been. Please provide an example of this "tiny candy" you are referring to.

I have a whole bowl at home of KitKat and Reeses Peanutbutter cups both "fun size" and "mini size". They are definitely smaller. Peanut butter cups use to be a bag of a single cup rather than a 2 pack you buy individually, but the full size 2 pack are also smaller thinner cups.

Stuff like the little Whopper packages, they still are 3 in a package, but the individual balls are smaller, but not sure if they are smaller than a full size because they are the mini or if all sizes of a Whopper ball is smaller. Same with the little boxes of Milk Duds. Still 4 and sometimes 5. I know it still has sometimes 5 because I gave everything else away first, which wasn't much with an expected 25-30 kids and I only got 6, so I ate the Milk Duds (one of my favorites) and was surprised to find 5 of them in the little box with some of them.

 

[mrodgers]

I’m guessing that maybe supplies in certain areas had some holdovers or something.

I'm wondering how old the folks who say it hasn't changed are. They may not have been paying attention when they were young when we were buying "fun size" as a much larger product for our children.

Trying to see if I could find pictures of what "fun size" use to be and what it is now, I came across this discussion from 2008 with people complaining and discussing how much smaller the candy bars are now.

https://www.fluther.com/22026/did-fun-size-candy-bars-get-smaller-or-did-we-just/

 

[elgerber]

I didn't hand out candy, but we went to MNSSHP and got a ton of the mini snickers. They were definitely smaller than years past. I mentioned it to my husband when I opened the first one.

 

[Meriweather]

Not candy, but my most hated shrunk thing is tuna cans. There’s barely enough for one sandwich. Come on, they used to be 8 Oz and now they are 5 !

I bought tuna today. 7 oz in a can. Listed as one serving....to me that is a lot. I get 2 out of it