Costumes and Candy: Trick or Treat Trivia

Yep, 41 million children don costumes for trick-or-treating. Unfortunately, there are no stats about how many college girls dress up as sexy Little Red Riding Hood. It may top the kids’ number.

In 2011, zombie was the 4th most popular adult costume thanks to hit TV shows like “The Walking Dead.” Zombie made an even greater leap from No. 22 to No. 9 on the favorite children’s costume list.

The ladies have it, with princesses being the favorite Halloween costume consistently. Witch is second favorite. Because not everyone feels the princess vibe.

There’s nothing cuter than a pug in a bee costume, but pumpkins win the top spot paws down. Curiously enough, cat and dog make the list as favorite pet costumes No. 5 and No. 9, respectively.

Back when Halloween was a brand new holiday, the Celts typically made their costumes from animal skins. They didn’t dress up to go trick-or-treating, though. Those guys dressed up to confuse wandering spirits and avoid being possessed.

Long, dark winter nights used to be very frightening, especially on Halloween. Townspeople believed that ghosts wandered the Earth on this unholy night, so they wore masks when they left the house. That way, a passing spirit would think they were a ghost, too, and leave them alone.

Jason Vorhees is the killer character featured in many of the “Friday the 13th” movies. He actually didn’t start wearing his well-known hockey mask until “Friday the 13th Part III.”

“Halloween” was the low-budget horror hit of 1978 and the prop crew had to get creative with the cheapest mask they could find -- a "Star Trek" William Shatner mask. They spray painted it white, teased the hair and reshaped the eyeholes to create the eerily iconic mask that Michael wore.

Good old Silver Shamrock Novelties is out to get the kiddies with a deadly microchip they place in every mask. It wasn’t the best of the “Halloween” movies, but it made you think twice before buying a jack-o'-lantern mask.

Poor Charlie Brown. First he screws up his ghost costume by cutting too many eye holes and winds up looking like a potato. Then, he goes trick-or-treating and all he comes home with is a bag of rocks. That kid can’t win. Even on Halloween.

According to California Milk Processors Board, a jack-o'-lantern bucket holds around 250 pieces of candy, which can add up to 9,000 calories and 3 pounds (1.4 kilograms) of sugar. Yum.

It wasn’t until the 1940s that today’s spin on begging for candy became cool. And even at that time, candy wasn’t the obvious treat. Kids often found their sacks filled with coins, nuts, fruit and toys.

In the 1970s, Halloween candy became a more popular treat because parents feared that homemade goodies like popcorn balls or candied apples could be poisoned or include hidden razor blades. We can thank paranoia for our Halloween sweet tooth.

A full 41 percent of you grown-ups can’t resist digging in to the Halloween treats before you hand them out to the kids. We can’t blame you. And we can’t understand how the other 59 percent have such restraint.

Wunderlee was the first company to produce candy corn in the 1880s after employee George Renninger invented it. In 1900, Goelitz followed suit and started producing the tri-colored treat. It still manufactures candy corn today, under the name Jelly Belly Candy Company.

October 30 is National Candy Corn Day but we don’t enjoy the tasty treat just one day a year. The National Confectioner’s Association estimates that 20 million pounds of candy corn are sold annually.

Umm, clearly it’s going to be candy corn. Didn't we just say it has its own holiday? And no one ever searched for Mary Janes -- one of the least favorite Halloween candies of all time.

Oct. 28 is the day we all shop for candy. In fact, the top five days for annual candy sales fall in October. Must. Have. Halloween candy.

Snickers was the Mars family horse. Unlike horses, kids prefer Snickers over apples on Halloween night.

Thirty percent of kids sort their Halloween candy. And only 16 percent share it. So beware of greedy and overly organized trick-or-treaters this Halloween. They’re scary.