Mars Created a New App That Lets Kids Virtually Trick-Or-Treat for Real Candy
The porch light might be off this year, but that doesn’t mean Halloween is canceled!
Candymaker Mars, Inc. has launched a new app called Treat Town Halloween, making it possible for kids to virtually trick-or-treat from home all month long!
In the app, Trick-or-Treaters 18 and under can create a virtual costume, use a map to hunt for candy, and go from virtual door to door collecting Candy Credits.
To get started, download Treat Town for your Android or iOS device, or you can use the Treat Town website to set up your account and participate from your desktop.
Every Treat Town account must be set up for Candy Giving to take part in Trick or Treating, but buying Candy Credits isn’t required to Trick or Treat. It works best when everyone participates, though – just like traditional trick or treating!
Candy Givers can decorate a virtual door that will be added to their neighborhood map and buy Candy Credits to distribute to virtual trick-or-treaters. As a Candy Giver, you can decide how to hand out your candy credits. Make your door public, or open it only for Trick-or-Treaters within your Friends & Family network.
Candy Credits cost between 9¢-17¢ each, depending on how many you purchase. They’re available in increments of 30 to 1,100, and you can use any major credit card to make purchases from $5 to $100.
Hip tip: Trick-or-Treaters who visit Disney’s Haunted Mansion on the virtual map between October 23-31 will unlock special costumes from Disney!
When a Trick or Treater has earned 12 Candy Credits, they can redeem them for an in-store mobile coupon to be used on Mars candy products.
Mars is also partnering with Walmart, Target, and Walgreens to allow Trick or Treaters to redeem their Candy Credits online and have their treats shipped directly to them. To take advantage of this option you’ll need to collect more Candy Credits, though (a minimum of 180).
Sound like fun? You can head on over here to watch videos explaining the process in-depth and to find answers to frequently asked questions.
Check out our favorite DIY Halloween costumes for adults and kids!
Novel idea from a trusted company. Guess you could buy “virtual candy” via PayPal & then let the kiddos loose! Our neighborhood is doing a Reverse Trick-or-Treat: costumed children out in their yards get treats tossed out by drivers in a Halloween parade 🤩
That’s a great idea!! We don’t get any trick or treaters in my neighborhood anymore. Wish our city would do something like this but we’re a hotspot so it’s safer for us to stay home. Indoor scavenger hunt and monster movie night
Such a great idea!
We only had 6 trick-or-treaters last year, pre_COVID, so we aren’t even bothering to turn on our porch light this year. I loved Halloween as a child and this makes me so sad.
Same. We had exactly six the last time we handed out candy. It was so anticlimactic.
We get less than 10 as well, live on the end of a dead-end street.
Miss having a ton of trick or treaters, but you get to be the hero now by giving out full size bars! haha
We’re going to set up a folding table outside and spread out the goodie bags so kids can take a bag without touching everything.
Yes, you’d have to show your kids movies like Hocus Pocus to show the amount of kids that used toTrick or Treat. I absolutely loved to go running around from door to door as a kid! Plus, with all that exercise, it was OK to have a few pieces of candy!
I am very torn this year. I live on one of those streets that every kids goes to. On years with good weather it not uncommon for us to have upwards of 500 kids. While I can figure out safe ways to give out candy I worry about my 6 year old going out.
500??! Wow, and I thought we had a lot at about 200 kids. But I love it. I moved from a neighborhood in Northern VA where I was lucky to see 10 or 15 kids on Halloween.
We love it but with all the candy it gets expensive quickly.
We live in southern AZ. Since 2008, I’ve never had less than 800. Last year, 1,200. That’s one per!!! 😆
We’re just going to drive around to “trick or treat” at a few relatives’ houses this year–normally, we’d make a couple of stops then head through my sister in law’s small circle of neighbors. We’re adding in a couple of stops we don’t normally make (usually just send photos to them) to make up for it.
I thinking about doing this. It seems like the candy companies are thinking if they don’t come up with some ingenious ideas they will lose out on millions of $$ that would normally be spent on candy.
Geez, another screen for kids to look at. Glad I’m not a fear monger and my kids will trick or treat as normal.
Such a sad comment 😞 guess we all know which news channel you watch (Fox Spews cough cough)
Because CNN, NBC, MSNBC, AND ABC are soooo reliable 😑
Such a sad and hateful response to her comment. Sad people cannot disagree without being so spiteful 🙁
You clearly don’t know anyone who has died or become permanently disabled from COVID. This virus is real and l hope no one you care about ends up on a ventilator.
Glad I don’t know too many people this ignorant.
I sincerely hope you don’t make someone sick or kill them with your clear ignorance…I’ve known dozens of sick and a long time coworker who passed away from it horribly.
We are planning to hide candy throughout our house for our boys to find. Kind of like the Easter bunny. Maybe a spooky ghost will leave the candy behind or something.
We are doing something similar. I bought clear plastic balls like the kind used for vending machines and I’m going to fill them with candy and a mini glow stick and place throughout our backyard. I bought a fog machine and will play scary music while my boys hunt for the candy.
Our local Rotary club came up with a safe outdoor option for kids to trick or treat and it was approved by our local health department, so working on getting others involved to help
That seems like a lot of headaches for some free candy imo. I despise trick or treating for many reasons, but have always taken the kids, last year the weather was bad and I convinced my daughter to stay home and watch Halloween movies with me. She had already gotten a chance to dress up at a Halloween party the week before, so I stopped at the store and bought her favorite candy and we had a wonderful time! She’s already requested to do the same this year.
My neighborhood is hosting standard Halloween. And yes I do know someone who died. Was a teachers husband. It’s ok to have a difference of opinion. I respect all. I just wish others did.
I agree with you knight2boys. Let’s respect differences in opinion. This site is supposed to be helpful and fun. We have all been affected by Covid!
My neighborhood is also doing standard trick or treating…as a lot of neighborhoods are doing and I think that it is a personal choice for which you should not be attacked for making.
Our neighborhood is doing the same
I’m planning to put up baggies of candy on my tree by the sidewalk…unless cases get too high. There’s an outbreak in the elementary school
So you have to buy candy credits??
I’m not a screen person nor a video game person, but I actually like this idea! If I understand it correctly, it sounds fun! I’m going to look into it. Thanks!
You’re welcome, Sarah!
We usually go to a carnival that a local church does each year to keep kids safe. I am sure it is canceled this year so I am turning our garage into a carnival with games,prizes and treats. My daughter is soooooo excited! We live in the country so I usually don’t decorate( not much traffic to see it,lol) but I decorated a little nook on our front porch and the kids thought it was so funny and cool. We are making the best of it:) Who knows,may be the best Halloween yet and become a tradition.
Anyone looking to keep the tradition of trick or treating alive and well…just wear your gloves, masks and place the candy directly into goodie sacks (not on countertops or laps etc.) When you pass them out, put on a fresh pair of gloves and drop the goodie sack into their buckets. Or, you can always go DIY and try to create a candy chute, too. There are definitely ways to keep the candy safe and encourage the kids to get some exercise and off those screens. For those not concerned with crowded streets, consider going a bit earlier this year and of course, add a quality mask to the costumes this year and mini bottles of sanitizer are the accessory 🙂
Why wouldn’t you just buy candy IRL instead of virtual candy credits where you need to go to the store to buy the candy anyway? It seems like a fun app for kids, but confusing and kinda vague. We are going trick or treating as normal, only with the addition of face masks. The virus doesn’t live on surfaces, and you won’t be that close to someone and it only a few seconds. My kid is in school all day anyway – much greater chance of germs there than trick or treating.
The virus does survive on surfaces from a couple of hours to 9 days.
We have 5 kids and we are going to do an inside candy scramble!
What a fun idea, Lynne! Thanks for commenting!