If your Easter basket isn’t full, it could be because candy inflation has outpaced your budget for peanut butter-filled chocolate eggs and Cadbury bunnies.
A price analysis of Target’s five top-selling Easter candies from 2020 to 2026 showed prices have risen 67%, while the average family of four is spending 15% more on filling the Easter basket.
Prices crept up over the study period, according to Sam Bourgi, a senior analyst at InvestorsObserver who conducted the comparison.
“It’s the classic boiling frog scenario that actually shows up in groceries year-round,” Bourgi said in a press release. “You don’t jump out of the pot because the water heats up one degree at a time. Each individual increase feels tolerable — annoying, maybe, but not catastrophic. So you adjust. By the time you realize how hot the water has gotten, you’ve already lost significant purchasing power.”
That average family spent $93 on Easter candy in 2020, Bourgi said. That budget buys 40% less candy by weight today.
In fact, to get the amount of candy they paid $93 for in 2020, families would have to come up with $155 this Easter.
And the Easter bunny hasn’t escaped shrinkflation, the study shows, as some brands that haven’t raised their prices on packages of candy have reduced the size of their bags. Cadbury Mini Eggs, for example, came in a 10-ounce bag in 2020 for the same price as a 9-ounce bag costs today.