From the Food Ingredients First Website

Adults Say Candy Is A Welcome Guest During The Holidays
Kids Share Candy Cane Munching Strategies

9/12/2002 It`s that time of the year again! Bells are jingling, turkeys are roasting, families are mingling and everyone`s toasting a joyous holiday season. According to a recent National Confectioners Association survey, candy and chocolate are welcome guests during holiday celebrations, from stuffing stockings to filling candy bowls, and of course, hanging those traditional candy canes on the Christmas tree.

Eighty-nine percent of 1,000 adults surveyed said that candy plays a role in their winter holiday celebrations. Filling candy dishes with festive candies topped the list of how candy was enjoyed, with 72 percent of respondents sharing this holiday tradition. Giving or receiving a box of chocolates was also very popular, with 70 percent noting this as an anticipated holiday activity. Sixty-three percent of the surveyed adults also said they either give or receive holiday stockings stuffed with candy and other goodies.

The winter holidays of Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza create the third biggest "candy holiday," in sales for the confectionery industry, with only Halloween (number one in sales) and Easter being bigger. More boxed chocolates are sold between Thanksgiving and New Year`s Day than any other time of year. Also, more than 150 million chocolate Santas will be made for the season, along with 1.8 billion candy canes.

When it comes to candy canes, kids have some definite ideas on the best way to eat them. The National Confectioners Association recently surveyed 500 kids ages 6-11 years old to get the scoop on the best way to enjoy a candy cane. Most kids -- 54 percent -- say they eat their candy canes by sucking on them. Biting/crunching candy canes came in second, with 24 percent of boys and girls saying this is the best way to devour a candy cane, and 19 percent noted that licking the candy cane was their preference (2 percent didn`t know, 1 percent said "other"). Boys were nearly twice as likely to crunch their candy canes than girls (31 percent vs. 17 percent).

No matter how kids and adults enjoy their favorite holiday candies, one thing is certain -- they are a welcome part of the celebration, according to Larry Graham, president of the National Confectioners Association and Chocolate Manufacturers Association.

"Candy is a fun food that has always been a part of special celebrations," Graham says. "Best of all, eaten in moderation, candy can fit any healthy lifestyle while adding pleasure to our lives."