Celebrating 10 Halloween Designs That Turn Seasonal Fun Into Shopper Choice
Halloween is one of the few times a year when shoppers go looking for packaging that's different. Familiar brands show up in orange and purple, with ghosts, pumpkins, and seasonal names, and picking up a few treats becomes part of getting ready for the holiday.
That makes the aisle crowded. A Halloween pack has to get noticed, be easy to find, make the product look good, and give shoppers a reason to choose it over the bag next to it.
For this edition of the PackPower Awards, we evaluated 30 Halloween designs across candy, chocolate, snacks, and even ranch dressing. Fruit Roll Ups Halloween took first place with a PackPower Score of 76, ten points clear of the next designs. Behind it, the leaders earned their spots in very different ways. Some won on being noticed and found. Others won at the moment of choice.
What are the PackPower Awards
The PackPower Awards recognize packaging that combines creative excellence with measurable effectiveness. Powered by PackPower Score, the awards spotlight designs built to perform at shelf, not just look good.
PackPower Score is the single number prediction of a pack's sales performance. Behind that one number is a deeper diagnostic system grounded in 23 detailed KPIs and Behaviorally's 4S Framework: Being Seen, Being Shoppable, Being Seductive, and Being Selected. Together, these pillars show how a pack attracts attention, helps shoppers find it, builds appeal, and supports the final choice.
2026 PackPower Awards: Halloween Edition
Fruit Roll Ups Halloween led with 76, and two designs tied for second at 66. Four designs tied at 61 for the last three spots, so we broke the tie on Being Selected, the pillar closest to the purchase decision. Reese's, Hidden Valley Ranch, and Kit Kat Witch's Brew made the cut. Sour Patch Kids Zombie, at 46 on Being Selected, just missed.
The leaders didn't win the same way. Snickers Pumpkin and Nerds were easy to see and easy to find. Oreo and Reese's were harder to locate but strong once shoppers found them. Even a strong overall score can hide one weak pillar. General Mills and Hershey were the only companies to place more than one design in the top 10.
General Mills did it with two fruit snack packs built on the same idea, and Hershey with two very different brands, Reese's and Kit Kat Witch's Brew.
Across the set, Being Seen was the floor. Every winner scored 69 or higher, with an average above 73. Being Selected was the ceiling. The winners averaged 56 there, and only Oreo and Reese's cleared 60. Halloween packs are earning attention, but most lose ground at the final step.
Winners
Candy
1. Fruit Roll Ups Halloween
PackPower Score - 76
This is still unmistakably a Fruit Roll Ups box. The green logo sits in the middle, a red roll-up unfurls behind it, and the Screamin' Strawberry flavor is called out right below. Halloween comes in around the edges: a deep purple background, a ghost, a couple of goofy jack-o'-lanterns, and a “Glow in the Dark Jokes on Every Pouch” badge up top. The heatmap's hottest areas are that badge and the logo with its flavor callout, so shoppers take in the seasonal hook and the brand together.
It's the only design in the set to score above 80 on three pillars. Trust came in at 92 and Unique at 87, a rare pairing. Shoppers saw it as new without doubting what was inside. Being Selected, at 56, is the one place even the best pack in the set has room to grow.
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2. Fruit by the Foot Mini Feet Bloody Mummy
PackPower Score - 66
Fruit by the Foot wraps the entire box in lime-green mummy bandages, with two eyes peering out from the bottom. It's a simple idea, and it covers every inch of the pack. The heatmap concentrates on the top half, where a yellow “No Colors From Artificial Sources” band sits above the logo, with a second hotspot on the Bloody Mummy Cherry Orange flavor name.
That yellow band matters more than it looks. It's a claim for parents on a pack made for kids, and Trust came in at 84, one of the highest in the set, with Better Than Other Brands at 82. The mummy earns the attention, and the claim makes the case to the person paying.
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3. Nerds Spooky Gummy Clusters
PackPower Score - 66
Few packs on this list are as easy to spot. The pouch is solid bright orange, the Nerds logo sits in its familiar blue burst, and a big gummy cluster takes up the middle. Ease to Find scored 83. Attention spreads across the logo, the cluster, and the Nerds characters in witch hats on the right.
What the pack doesn't do well is explain itself. Easy to Understand scored just 24. The product description, tangy and crunchy outside with sweet and gummy inside, is there, but it's in small type tucked around the cluster, and the only nod to the Halloween edition is a small “spooky” in the lower corner. Shoppers find it fast. They just aren't sure what's different about it.
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Chocolate
4. Snickers Pumpkin
PackPower Score - 64
The wrapper does what a seasonal Snickers should. The logo stays at the top, the orange background reads as Halloween from across the aisle, and the bar itself is shaped like a jack-o'-lantern. Second Look Rate at Shelf reached 85. We tested two Snickers Pumpkin designs, and this one came out ahead.
Appetite is the problem. Being Seductive came in at 47. The pumpkin shows only a smooth chocolate shell, with none of the peanuts, caramel, or nougat people buy Snickers for. The heatmap points the same way: its hottest spots are the calorie badge and the net weight at the bottom, not the pumpkin. A cutaway showing the inside could make a real difference.
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5. Reese's Assorted Halloween Chocolate
PackPower Score - 61
Reese's shows exactly what's in the bag: peanut butter pumpkins, ghosts, and bats, with one pumpkin cut open to reveal the peanut butter inside. That honesty pays off at the moment of choice. Being Selected scored 68, tied with Oreo for the highest among the winners, and Buying at Shelf reached 74.
Finding the bag is another story. Being Shoppable came in at 44, and Ease to Find at 13, the lowest of any winner. Instead of one strong brand block, the Reese's logo appears three times, once on each mini wrapper, and the heatmap splits attention between all three. One dominant logo would make the bag far easier to spot without losing the product shots that sell it.
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6. Kit Kat Witch's Brew
PackPower Score - 61
Witch's Brew goes all in on its theme: lime green and purple, a cartoon witch, a bubbling cauldron, and Kit Kat bars coated in green creme. Unique scored 84 and Second Look Rate at Shelf 83. On the heatmap, attention locks onto the Kit Kat logo and the Witch's Brew name.
Purchase Intent, though, scored 37. The flavor, crisp wafers in marshmallow-flavored creme, is spelled out in small type under the name, so shoppers are left looking at green Kit Kats without knowing what they'd taste like. The theme gets them to look. A clearer flavor story would give them a reason to try it.
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Cookies
7. Oreo Spooky Colored Creme
PackPower Score - 63
Oreo puts its Halloween idea on the cookies themselves. They're embossed with monster faces, the creme glows green, and orange goo drips along the bottom of the pack. A “Spooky Colored Creme, Same Great Taste” line reassures anyone wary of the color. Shoppers who found the pack liked what they saw. Being Seductive scored 68, and Being Selected matched it, tied with Reese's for the highest among the winners.
Finding it was the hard part. Being Shoppable scored 45 and Ease to Find 35. On the heatmap, the cookies and the copy beneath them pull nearly all the attention, while the big Oreo logo at the top barely registers. On a busy seasonal shelf, that costs sales. The cookies are working. The logo needs to pull its weight.
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8. Nestlé Toll House Scooby-Doo Cookie Dough
PackPower Score - 62
The Mystery Machine rolling through a purple haunted scene gives this pack a Halloween story most cookie dough doesn't have. Being Seen scored 75 and Second Look Rate at Shelf reached 85. On the heatmap, though, the hottest areas are the Toll House badge and the “Makes 20 Cookies” callout on the left, the practical details shoppers check before they buy.
The cookie is the weak link. It's small and pushed into the upper left while the van takes over most of the front, and Taste scored just 34. Shoppers get the theme and the brand, but not much reason to crave what they'd be baking.
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9. Hostess ScaryCakes
PackPower Score - 62
ScaryCakes is a great seasonal name, and the pack leans into it. The red wordmark fills the center, a “Trick or Treat Pack” banner runs across the top, and the background is a purple night sky with bats, an owl, and a jack-o'-lantern. Purchase Intent reached 64, so shoppers like the idea.
Being Selected fell to 44, though, and Buying at Shelf to 37. The heatmap spreads thin across the box with no strong focal point, and the cupcake, the only image of the frosting and creamy filling, sits in the bottom corner where it gets little attention. The product that would close the sale isn't where shoppers are looking.
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Condiments
10. Hidden Valley Spooky Ranch
PackPower Score - 61
Ranch dressing is the surprise in a lineup full of candy and cookies. Hidden Valley's limited-edition Spooky Ranch comes in a black bottle with a purple cap and a haunted purple label, finished with a jack-o'-lantern and dripping green lettering. It looks nothing like a typical dressing bottle, and the heatmap shows attention staying tightly on the label, mostly on the logo and the Spooky Ranch name.
It's also the most balanced of the tied packs, with no pillar below 55 and a Second Look Rate at Shelf of 81. Halloween isn't only for the candy aisle. When the occasion fits, a seasonal pack can earn its place anywhere in the store.
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What Makes an Effective Halloween Pack Design?
Keep the brand, change the costume. Every winner kept its master brand intact and brought Halloween in through color, characters, and a seasonal name. Fruit Roll Ups did it best, pairing Unique at 87 with Trust at 92.
Give kids a reason to ask. Glow-in-the-dark extras showed up on three winners: both fruit snack packs and Oreo. A small hook like that turns a familiar product into a Halloween one.
Make the brand easy to spot. Oreo and Reese's both convert well once found, but their Ease to Find scores came in at 35 and 13. In both cases attention pulls away from the logo, toward the cookies on Oreo and across three separate wrappers on Reese's.
Show the product, and make it look good. Scooby-Doo's small cookie scored 34 on Taste, and Snickers' chocolate-only pumpkin left Being Seductive at 47. The packs that sell hardest, like Reese's, show what's inside.
Put the product where people look. Hostess earned interest, with Purchase Intent at 64, but Buying at Shelf fell to 37 with its cupcake pushed into a corner.
Explain the twist. Nerds scored 24 on Easy to Understand, and Kit Kat Witch's Brew scored 37 on Purchase Intent. Both put their product story in small type. A seasonal flavor needs to be as easy to read as it is fun to look at.
Halloween isn't just candy. Hidden Valley Ranch earned a top spot next to chocolate and cookies. When the occasion fits, seasonal design works beyond the treat aisle.
Why Seasonal Design Testing Matters
Halloween gives brands a short window and a crowded aisle. Once a pack is on shelf, there's no fixing it, and this year's results show how a high score can still hide a specific problem, whether it's findability, product clarity, or the final push to purchase.
Testing early turns those problems into clear questions before launch. With myBehaviorally, brands can test seasonal ideas, see which pillars are carrying a design and which are holding it back, and use heatmaps to check whether attention is landing where it should.
Halloween gives brands plenty of room to have fun. Knowing how shoppers respond tells you which ideas to take forward.
Ready to Maximize Your 2026 Seasonal Impact?
Seasonal packaging is too important to leave to intuition. Test your upcoming event, or holiday designs with the PackPower Score. Identify where emotional resonance can be strengthened, where clarity can be sharpened, and where conversion barriers can be removed. The brands recognized in this year’s PackPower Awards demonstrate that disciplined, insight-led design drives performance. Make your next seasonal launch one that wins at shelf and in market.
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