Emergency sweet service launches for cities rated worst for Halloween treats

A poll of 1,000 children aged six to 16 revealed Brighton is best for trick or treating, followed by Liverpool and Leeds – but Bristol, Birmingham, and London scored the lowest.

To help, HARIBO has partnered with delivery service Gopuff to launch ‘TreatLine’, where adults can buy ‘Monsters Approved’ sweets such as Sour Skeletons from the app in a bid to improve their trick-or-treat rating.

Sweets will be free of charge on 31st October in the three lowest scoring locations – with over 24,000 mini bags available to offer a fair reward to trick or treaters.

It comes after the research revealed half of adults polled admitted to drawing the curtains to pretend they’re not in to avoid trick or treaters, with those in Bristol most likely to pull this trick.

Those in Manchester were most reluctant to take their children out to collect treats, and 32 per cent of kids in Sheffield thought people locally didn’t make enough effort for Halloween.

Kids' favourite Halloween activities include trick or treating, eating sweets and carving pumpkins | Oath

Childlike joy and happiness

Phil Murphy, from HARIBO UK and Ireland, said: “To help save Halloween this year, we want to help grown-ups match the effort kids go to and reward them fairly. 

Launching the ‘TreatLine’ is just one of the ways we’re making it even easier to do this, taking pressure off adults to also have a little more time themselves to have some fun.”

The poll also revealed kids' favourite Halloween activities include trick or treating, eating sweets and carving pumpkins.

The most popular outfits to wear included being transformed into a zombie, witch or vampire according to the OnePoll data.

That’s not all - 14 per cent of adults said they’ve never taken their children trick or treating, with one in six 16 per cent having done so occasionally, while 20 per cent said the area they live in doesn’t really embrace Halloween.

More than a quarter (26 per cent) reckon they go to a lot of effort, while 45 per cent make ‘some’ – despite 70 per cent considering it an important night for the kids.

Phil Murphy from HARIBO UK and Ireland added: “Halloween gets bigger and bigger every year, and we’re helping grown-ups see the childlike joy and happiness in all the fun to be had, no matter your age."