It's no trick the cost of Halloween treats is creeping over inflation. But not enough to scare shoppers

Suzanne Parnell smiles like a jack-o'-lantern when she talks about Halloween.

Thehomeowner, who lives in New Westminster B.C., about 20 kilometres southeast of downtown Vancouver,saysshe has been decorating her property for 34 years, going so far as to describe herself as "The Wicked Witch" of the city's west end.

In 2022 more than 1,000 trick-or-treaters knocked on her door, braving a lawn full of skeletons and spidersin search of candy.

With all signs pointing to asimilar stream of children and parents this year, she's stocked up, purchasing 1,350 full-sizechocolate bars ahead of Tuesday's festivities.

But whileParnell and her husband haveembraced an over-the-top approach even building their own decorative stockades, electric chairs and guillotines she admits the cost of many Halloween staples, including candy, iscreeping and crawling ever higher.

"The prices have gone crazy," she said, revealing she's spent roughly $1,000 on candy so far."You do need to monitor your product and try to get the best deal."

Consumers across the country tell CBC they've noticed the cost of candy is up, for both the full-size chocolate bars favoured byParnell andthe boxes of smaller "fun size"sweets.

Flyers archived on the shopping deal blog Smart Canucks betweenOctober 2022 and October 2023 show,for example, the price of Nestle's popular 50-piece box of chocolate outpaced inflation by as much as 17.5 per centatsome of Canada's major grocery chains, including those owned byLoblaw Cos. Ltd.,Metro Inc., Empire Company Limited, and western-Canada based London Drugs.

Theprice of confectionery products, including regular chocolate candy bars, was up 9.5 per centyear over year in September, according to Statistics Canada. So Canadians might expect that a box of fun-size chocolate bars priced at $6.99 in 2022 would cost about $7.65 now.

Instead, some retailers are selling it for $8.99.

The price hike comes as the major grocery chains face increased public and political scrutiny over the rolethey play in Canada's food inflation. Earlier this week MPsvoted unanimously to have the company heads return to Ottawa to explain their plans for stabilizing food prices.

WATCH | Dealing with the tricky rising cost of Halloween treats:

Spooky increase in Halloween candy costs

10 months ago

Duration 2:01

Keeping trick-or-treaters happy this year will cost more than usual. The CBC's Belle Puri shows us how much prices have risen and what some are doing to ensure it won't stop their Halloween fun.

In a statement, Loblawsnoted that candy and chocolate makers had increased their prices significantly due to higher costs for ingredients likesugar and cocoa, making it more expensiveto produce and therefore more costly for grocers to get on store shelves.

"We're doing everything we can toprovide our customers the best possible value, including price promotions and regular pricing," the statement said.

Metro Inc. declined to comment, insteaddirectingCBC to Michael Graydon, the president and CEO of Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada, an industry association that representsfood, health andconsumer product manufacturers.

According to Graydon, while some factors driving inflation in Canadaare highly visible to the public, others such aslabour shortages, overly burdensome regulations and the country's"highly consolidated grocery marketplace"are more behind the scenes.

"In the long term, Canadian foodmanufacturers, retailers and governments must address constraints that have for too long contributed to our uniquely high costs of doing business,"he said in an email.

Walmart Canada told CBC via email thatit'son track to sell"over four thousand tonnes"of Halloween candy this year.The company saidit has held its price onNestle's50-piece box of chocolate "to make it easier for customers to welcome trick-or-treaters on a budget."

CBC also contacted Empire Company Limited, which owns Sobeys, Safeway, IGA and FreshCo, among others,but did not hear back before publication.

Halloween back in full force after pandemic

Like Parnell, Calgary residentAshley Cardinal has spent several years carving a Halloween-sized niche for herself.

Since 2016 she has handedout full-sizechocolate bars to trick-or-treaters. She toldCBC she used to do more, including providing hot chocolate for cold parents, but thatbecame too expensive after the pandemic.

Still, she's not considering a switch to smaller candies.

"With just chocolate bars, it feels like an attainable cost," said Cardinal, adding that she's willing to spend as much as she does because Halloween is an "interactive" holiday that lets her connect with her neighbours.

"There's two holidays people can get gung-ho and excited about," she said. "Halloween and Christmas."

Meanwhile, industry insiderssay Halloween has seen a return to prominence after a few quiet years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rob Felix, senior vice-president ofmerchandising for London Drugs, says this yearlooks like it's going to be thebiggest they've had since 2018.

"People have this pent up demand to do some of the things that they normally did four or five years ago."

Like others, Felixacknowledges that prices have jumped, in part because of increased costs surrounding candy manufacturing, but he notes retailerscycle through promotions, with some deals occurring weeks before the event.

Some parts of Halloween'recession proof'

Retail adviser David Ian Graysays certain aspects of Halloween are recession proof.

"For things like bowls of candy, the price is up, but the total cost of that is something most are able to manage," he said.

New Westminster resident Kam Shergill says he expected the cost of Halloween candy to go up given Canada's high cost of living, but still plans on buying his usual amount.

"It's more expensive but it won't impact thekids from my standpoint," he said.