Forget Christmas In July, M&M's Is Doing Halloween In May

Updated on 5/22/24 to clarify when the new candy is coming out. An incorrectly reported statistic from the Mars Wrigley report was also removed; 88% of Halloween candy buyers prefer chocolate in general, not white chocolate, specifically. 

You know how pumpkin spice season seems to creep up earlier and earlier each year? It used to be that the leaves had to start turning colors before visions of pumpkin pie and PSLs danced in our heads, but over the past few years, we've started to see pumpkiny things pop up in summer. Last year, pumpkin spice season kicked off in July at grocery stores including Walmart and Meijer while Costco pumpkin pies had returned by August. This year, however, thanks to M&M's, we can skip right over summer and get our pumpkin flavor fix early.

Unfortunately, we don't have the specific date for when you'll be able to purchase the new M&M's milk chocolate pumpkin pie candies, which, as you might have guessed, consist of a pumpkin pie spice-flavored filling inside of a milk chocolate shell. All we know at this point (per an email shared with Mashed) is that the Mars Wrigley candy company just announced that these new fall-flavored M&Ms will "hit shelves soon," with a follow-up email stating the treats should arrive sometime in the month of July.

It makes sense that the release date will be well in advance of the holiday, especially since M&M's are one of the nation's most popular Halloween candies. What's more, a new trend report commissioned by the candy company indicates that early Halloween celebrations are favored by the Gen-Z consumers it's now targeting. (Sorry, millennials, but it looks like you've passed your sell-to date.)

To celebrate the fact that we're now over halfway to Halloween — the actual 6-month demi-versary would be April 30 or May 1 — the Mars Wrigley candy company has just dropped, no, not a new kind of candy, but a press release. (Please try to contain your enthusiasm.) While the press release itself doesn't have information about release dates for 2024's soon-to-be-seasonal offerings, it does provide some details about the candies tapped to be part of the company's Halloween lineup.

The only flavor innovation seems to be the aforementioned pumpkin chocolate M&M's, but the Snickers pumpkins will have new packaging, while Ghoulish Green Snickers and Twix will be back. There will also be "Ghoul's Blend" bags of M&Ms that contain a mixture of plain, peanut, and peanut butter candies. Plus, gummy candies seem to be gaining ground, according to the report, so the company will be producing Halloween-themed candy bags that include both chocolate and gummy candies. Perhaps not that earthshaking of an innovation, but who knows, maybe next year we'll be seeing gummy M&Ms for Halloween. (In April.)