Sometimes Foodie: Ranting & Retail Therapy

I trick-or-treated-myself to clearance candy. A LOT of clearance candy. Even by my standards.

Originally I wanted to find some pillows and décor, but it was slim pickin's. That's what you get when Christmas items roll out on October 1st. (RIP Thanksgiving, you're problematic, but I love your food.)

Upon reflection, Christmas isn't to blame. (Although I will make angry Instagram Reels about winter products encroaching upon my spooky season.) No matter what seasonal-flavor you subscribe to, it's all the same consumerism, and our consumer-clock is completely out of whack.

Back to school sales were popping up as early as June, when some kids were still in school. Halloween was rolling out in July. Christmas by the end of September. Forget Daylight Savings, this is what needs adjusting! Sticking with a Christmas metaphor, we're opening our gifts too early. By the time the actual event rolls around, we're celebration-fatigued and the magic is gone.

How do we get it back? At some point, will we skew so far that we loop back into appropriate seasonal time frames? Like when something is so lame it's cool? Probably not. And I definitely can't control when the Pumpkin Spice Lattes or Mariah Carey anthems hit the masses.

Spotting skeletons on shelves in July is bittersweet. I'm spooky-season through-and-through but I also love summer, and if I want the "good" Halloween stuff, I need to grab it before the end of August or I'll have nothing come October! The justified fear of missing out because I didn't conform to accelerated consumption stops me from attempting a more appropriate self-imposed timeline.

I am but one little blogger in a sea of nonsense on the internet, and I am screaming into the void, "let us savor our seasons!" But I don't know how to make it stop.

Dramatics aside...here's what I bought on the clearance racks this year.

Nearly all of the candy is from Walmart, where it was 50% off the day after Halloween, but there is some Target sprinkled in there as well. (Which was only 30% off.)

Fruity Candy: I grabbed another bag of the Favorite Day Gumballs that I loved. (Highly recommend getting these!) And I got 3 of the same fruity variety bag from Walmart. I also grabbed another Cotton Candy flight to bring with me to Thanksgiving, and a big pack of Skittles and Starbursts for 50% off for absolutely no reason at all. At that point I was a woman posessed by sugar.

The fruity variety bags contain: Chewy SweeTarts, Laffy Taffy, Mini Gummi Bears, and Big Chewy Nerds. I love using Laffy Taffy as a little bonus gift for my Etsy Shop orders, so I scoop it up whenever I can. Plus, you don't see Chewy SweeTarts too often, which are vastly superior to classic SweeTarts, so that was a bonus for me. The other two items I could probably do without. Normally I am a gummi bear fan, but the lack of strawberry or lime in the mini Black Forest variation leaves me wanting, and the Big Chewy Nerds are just okay in my book. I prefer classic Nerds in boxes.

Chocolate Candy: This is where I went off the deep end. My rationale is that I plan on using a lot of this in my Christmas baking and cookie boxes this year. Here's what I got...

2 Variety Bags of: Reese's, Kit-Kat, Heath Bars and Whoppers - the latter two are great additions to chocolate chip cookies! Which is what I mainly plan on using them for. The Kit-Kat bars I'm pretty meh about. Classic Kit-Kat has gone downhill, maybe I'll find a way to use it in my baking as well. As for Reese's, they're top tier. What I don't devour, could possibly end up in fudge or in peanut butter cookies come Christmas.

A Mid-size Variety bag of: Reese's Pumpkins, Hershey's Bars, Classic Reese's, Kit-Kat, and Almond Joy. Half the bag are repeats of the other mix. Hershey's bars make for good baking fodder, and the Almond Joys? They're going right in my mouth. Coconut in general deserves a lot more love!

A Jumbo Variety Bag with: Reese's Pumpkins, Kit-Kat Bars, Reese's Miniatures, Hershey Bars, Rolos, and Whoppers. Again, a lot of repeats, but mainly of winners. Kit-Kat is the only meh item in the bag for me.

Then I got stand alone bags of 100 Grand and Butterfingers for my personal snacking. (Love them!) And two bags of Milk Chocolate Dove Promises in the shape of pumpkins. More chopped up cookie additions!

Cereals: Halloween cereal was also on sale, so I grabbed a few boxes. I grabbed two that I know I like, which was the Chocolate Lucky Charms and Halloween Crunch, but I did take a risk and get Carmella Creeper.

She's a pretty big deal. The first female monster to be added to the line-up! Sadly, I'm not in love with her character design and I'm pretty sure I'm going to hate her cereal. It's caramel apple flavored, and bright green. Green apple is my least favorite flavor, so I was going to skip this one but I can't resist a clearance box.

As for the design, she's cute, very Monster-High-looking, but she doesn't fit in with the other characters. The core trio are very cartoony, simplistic, and they each have a unique shape. (Count is very angular, Boo is rounded and blobby, Frank is big and square...) Carmella is very humanoid, and her outfit has a lot of textures and details. Plus she has like, a job? She's a DJ? None of the other monsters have an obvious hobby or a job. An easy fix would be for everyone's box to have a music-themed design this year. Imagine Frank in a furry light pink bucket hat with thick gold chains and sunglasses. Or the Count going all Elvis. That would tie in with the musical Monster Mash branding and help Carmella fit in. It doesn't have to be canon forever, just a one-off. Stay tuned for when I crack into this and see if all my hesitation was warranted!

I got some seasonal swag for my fur-children too. There is a tombstone scratcher for my girls, along with some Halloween themed mice, and a bunch of dog treats for the boys. We already cracked into them and survey says...the Boo Bars are a no-go. They smell like cinnamon graham crackers to me, but neither pup will touch them. Bummer. The Greenies are a winner, but inside the pumpkin package they're just normal greenies.

The only non-food or pet items I purchased were this stack of Mugs from Walmart (which I broke my "no more mugs"-rule for), and these two décor items from Target. I actually bought two of the bat lanterns whole price earlier this season, so I happily scooped up a third for 50% off (even though it is slightly damaged), and I got a third Jack-o-lantern light. I grabbed two of these last year and they're really stinking cute. I just wish it was remote operated instead of a switch.