Step aside, Reese's pumpkin—there's a new candy shape in town.
Sure, it’s only August, but there is one thing that a lot of people already have on their mind: Halloween. It certainly feels early, but I’m always a fan of dreaming about crisp fall weather. And I’m not the only one who is thinking about fall. In fact, I was able to attend a virtual Hershey’s Halloween preview last week to get the details on what they’re most excited for this year. I learned a lot!
For instance, Hershey started launching Halloween-themed wrappers in 1952. The brand simply printed a cardboard band with a Halloween design on it, slipped it around the candy bars, and then were able to remove it from any unsold candy after the holiday. While I think this is a smart business move to reduce waste, it probably meant that you couldn’t buy bags of candy at 80% markdown on November 1.
1991 brought in fall foil colors for Hershey’s kisses: orange, gold and brown instead of the typical silver. In 1993, Hershey’s debuted its most popular Halloween shape of all time: the iconic Reese’s pumpkin. These fun novelty shapes have become one of the most celebrated aspects of Halloween candy. And in an exciting development for Halloween 2025, Hershey’s is releasing a brand-new Kit Kat shape.
What is the new Hershey’s Halloween Kit Kat shape?
This year, Hershey’s is launching a new Kit Kat count! It’s a vampire-shaped Kit Kat, and it’s one of the most unique shapes the brand has ever released. According to Shawn Houser-Fedor, senior director of product development, it took awhile to get the count shape just right. “The process was: how do we take the two- or four-finger Kit Kat and get that shape and detail?” she said during the preview. The answer? By using just one big wafer. “The wafer is twice the size of the single wafers, which gives the count incredible detail.”
“One big wafer” is a huge win for anyone who just bites directly into their Kit Kats without breaking them apart. I’m a rule follower, so I always break apart the fingers. But now, I don’t have to. As a lucky recipient of a bag of Kit Kat counts prior to Halloween, I can say that this is definitely an upgraded Kit Kat experience. It’s all that chocolaty wafer flavor that you love, just super-sized.
What else is new from Hershey’s Halloween collection?
While the Kit Kat count might be the most innovative shape release this year, there are also some other honorable mentions. Firstly, there is a new Pumpkin Spice Latte flavored variety of Hershey’s Nuggets. These taste exactly like sipping on a chocolate-flavored PSL.
If you prefer gummy fruit snacks over chocolate ones, then I also have great news. Hershey’s partnered with Shaquille O’Neal to make SHAQ-A-LICIOUS XL Gummies, which are individually-wrapped giant gummy candies shaped like Shaq’s head. According to Houser-Fedor, Shaq was very involved in the development of the shape and flavor of the gummies: “He truly was the biggest kid in the candy store during that process.”
There are two new fan-favorite collabs as well. One celebrates the 75th anniversary of Peanuts and “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” with Reese’s pumpkins—now available in a mini size for the first time. The mini pumpkins come unwrapped in a resealable bag, so they’re more of a treat for you to enjoy throughout the season rather than on Halloween.
The other collab is with Harry Potter. There’s Hershey’s Cookies & Cream candy bars (my long-time favorite option) printed with different characters. There’s also Hershey’s bars that you can unwrap to get “sorted” into different Hogwarts houses based on the color of the inside of the wrapper.
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