Vegan Halloween Candy Guide – Trick-or-Treat!

There’s no need to harm our animal friends while we celebrate a spooktacular and haunting Halloween! Though there are tons of ‘accidentally’ vegan Halloween candy options out there (like Air Heads, Smarties, Dots, and beyond), we wanted to bring you a more comprehensive list of exactly which candies are totally vegan and which ones just have a few options.

It can be daunting and sometimes frighteningly frustrating to find vegan-friendly candies at any time of year, but it seems to take it to a devilish degree at Halloween time. We’re not only searching for crave-worthy candies and chocolate that are available and affordable, but also ones that are pleasant and appealing, too. Who wants to celebrate the spooky season with terrible, tasteless treats? Not us!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIUrX9HQUEk

100% Vegan Candy Brands

If you want to step up your game this year, you can find many trick-or-treat friendly Halloween treats that are specifically made to be vegan (and often more natural, too)! Make sure to let us know if you find more brands that are completely vegan and we’d be happy to add them to our ongoing list.

• Black Forest Organic
• Dandies
• Eva’s Cultured Candy
• Seitenbacher
• Sjaak’s
• Smarties
• Torie & Howard

100% Vegan Chocolate Brands

All of the brands listed below are from companies that sell only vegan chocolate candies. You can be sure that whatever you buy on their website will be free of animal products and any alarming additives. Most of the products would be a perfect choice for vegan Halloween candy.

• Cocomels
• Go Max Go Foods
• Nelly’s Organics
• No Whey! Foods
• Rescue Chocolate
• Schmilk Chocolate
• Sjaak’s

Beware that not all chocolate is created equal. In fact, some chocolate—even vegan chocolate—is produced using child slavery and environmentally harmful palm oil.

“Accidentally Vegan” Candy & Treats

The following brands have at least some vegan candy options, but the brands themselves are not vegan (they also carry products that are not vegan). For instance, Surf Sweets has gelatin-free gummies that are clearly labeled vegan, but they also sell gelatin gummies that aren’t vegan. Read these labels closely before buying. Check out our new vegan candy guide for all vegan candy options!

Non-Vegan Brands With Vegan Halloween Candy Options:

• Airheads
• Alter Eco Chocolates
• Amy’s Kitchen
• Annie’s Fruit Snacks
• Atkinson’s
• Atomic Fireballs
• Brach’s
• Charms Blow Pops
• Compartés
• Cracker Jack Original Caramel Coated Popcorn and Peanuts
• Dots
• Dum Dum Pops
• Endangered Species Chocolate Bars
• Equal Exchange Chocolate
• Enjoy Life
• HunnyBon Sweets
• Hershey’s Oat Made Vegan Chocolate Bars 
• Jolly Rancher Hard Candy
• Jujyfruits and Jujubes
• Justin’s Dark Chocolate Cups
• KitKat (Nestle now has vegan KitKat bars available in the UK)
• Mary Jane Candy
• Now and Later Candies
• Nugo
• OCHO Coconut Bar Minis
• PEZ Candy
• Red Vines
• Saf-T-Pops
• Skittles
• Smart Sweets
• Sour Patch Kids
• Surf Sweets (gummy worms, bears, and spiders are not vegan)
• Swedish Fish
• Theo
• Twizzlers
• Unreal Candy & Snacks
• Yum Earth (gummy worms, bears, and candy corn are not vegan)

And finally, when it comes to finding ‘accidentally’ vegan candy, watch out for these specific animal ingredients that commonly make their way into candy:

• Carmine (called cochineal for the insect from which it is extracted and is included in many red dyes and colors)
• Casein (a protein present in dairy milk)
• Confectioner’s Glaze (a shellac made with bug excretions)
• Gelatin (derived from the collagen of animal bones and other parts)
• Milk (liquid nourishment made by mother’s cows for their young)
• Whey (the protein in cow’s milk)

New options are coming to life every year, so keep an eye out!

Healthy Halloween Trick-or-Treat Candy Alternatives

Want to give kids something better than candy? Start a healthier Halloween tradition! Here are some non-candy trick-or-treat items you can give away instead:

• Stickers
• Coins (a bowl of mostly pennies with some other larger coins mixed in, washed. You can invite kids to take a handful!)
• Small toys
• Packets of plantable seeds (to encourage gardening)
• Bookmarks
• Colorful pencils and erasers
• Fruit leather (made from dried fruits without added sugar)
• Energy bars (GoMacro kids mini bars, Clif bars, Lara bars, MadeGood bars, etc.)

If you’re looking for a slightly healthier option, MadeGood offers Halloween mini vegan granola bars! They are the perfect size for sharing and kid approved, plus this company is allergy-friendly so these are safe to enjoy at school and beyond. And don’t worry, they have baby chocolate chips in them so the kiddos won’t feel slighted.

Happy Halloween!

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Article written by Gina House and Michelle Cehn. Edited by Amanda Meth. Please note that this article may contain affiliate links which supports our work at World of Vegan.