Easter Sunday is April 20 this year, and, right on cue, the National Confectioners Association is out with its Easter candy trends press release.
The Washington-based trade group says Americans will spend $2.26 billion on candy this Easter, up 4 percent from last year. The increase is largely because Easter is three weeks later than it was last year.
The association says 87 percent of parents will buy or create Easter baskets for their kids and 81 percent of them will steal candy back from their kids’ Easter stash.
Candy and chocolate are the top choice for what goes into an Easter basket, but 24 percent of parents say their kids will get healthy snacks in their baskets, such as granola bars or dried fruit.
Among other Easter candy facts from the National Confectioners Association:
- Name brands influence 71 percent of candy purchases.
- 89 percent of survey respondents eat the ears of a chocolate bunny first.
- 66 percent prefer solid chocolate bunnies over hollow ones.
- More than 16 billion jelly beans are made for Easter in the U.S. each year.
- And the most popular jelly bean flavor is cherry.
