Tricks, Treats and Trends

What the episode covered

Rachel Abrams presented Halloween in 2026 as a changing American tradition, with segments on candy, costumes, and decorations. The register is playful but institutional, and the transcript has a visible gap around the candy and costume portions. Watch whether the spending projection, Skelly product updates, and missing unit-sales question get clarified elsewhere.

Our summary, written from the transcript. Not the speakers' words.

The episode, in order

1. 01House promotions

   The listener hears New York Times network promotion before and during the editorial material.

2. 02Candy trends

   The segment treats Halloween candy as a consumer trend story, not just a nostalgia item.

3. 03Costumes

   A named part of the episode cannot be fully evaluated from this transcript.

4. 04Halloween decorations

   The decoration segment connects a single product to broader Halloween spending and social-media behavior.

5. 05Retail spending

   That figure supports the episode's frame that Halloween is a large and growing retail event.

Sponsors named in this episode

No sponsor named doesn't mean no ads. Each row was taken from the ad break as it was read on air. The verbatim passage behind every row is checked against the transcript character for character. Short excerpts appear below.

Roles and stated affiliations

Sponsor or conflict flagged. New York Times house promotion — The recording includes promotions for Metro, Times subscription/app access, and the Book Review podcast.

Wakewire's read of interests

• Rachel Abrams: Host of the episode, guiding a seasonal Times feature through candy, costumes, and decorations.
• Kim Severson: Times food writer, brought in to explain candy trends and curate the tasting.
• Louis Lasero II: Styles desk editor, introduced as the person giving the costume rundown.
• Callie Holterman: Times reporter revisiting her prior reporting on the 12-foot skeleton and Halloween decorations.
• Aubrey Horowitz: Home Depot merchant of decorative holiday, quoted describing updates to Skelly products.
• Sarah Koenig: Host promoting Metro, a podcast from Serial Productions and The New York Times.
• Gilbert Cruz: Host promoting the Book Review podcast.

Recording limits

• The transcript has an apparent gap after the candy segment and ends mid-credit with “That's it for”.

Claims that need more support

• Kim Severson said non-chocolate candies are rising among Gen Zers, but the episode did not give a figure or named source for that demographic trend.

Claims made on air that the episode itself did not back up.

Questions the conversation didn't reach

• The episode raised how many 12-foot skeletons Home Depot sells each year, but it did not provide the number.

Topics the episode did not address. This does not mean anyone avoided them.

Are you from this show? You can ask for a correction, reply, or ask us to stop coverage on the rights page.

What was said

• House promotions

  The recording opened with promotions for Metro and a Times subscription/app offer, then later included a Book Review podcast promotion.

• Candy trends

  Severson described a shift toward non-chocolate candy, sour flavors, texture contrasts, and viral products such as Nerds Gummy Clusters and Skittles Pop'd.

• Costumes

  The transcript says Louis Lasero II would cover 2026 costumes, but most of that section is missing from the supplied text.

• Halloween decorations

  Holterman revisited Skelly, the large Home Depot skeleton, and described how people adapt it into jokes, themes, and yard displays.

• Retail spending

  Holterman said Halloween spending has risen from $10.6 billion in 2022 to a projected $13.5 billion this year, citing the National Retail Federation.

Our paraphrase, not the speakers' words.

The passages we relied on

Short excerpts, credited to the show, at most 40 words each and 150 per episode. We do not publish transcripts. We link to the episode so you can hear it from the show itself.

What to watch for

• Whether final or later Halloween retail reporting lands near the $13.5 billion spending projection cited in the episode. (After Halloween-season retail reporting.)
• Whether Home Depot product pages or company announcements continue to feature Bluetooth-enabled Skelly controls, lighting changes, movement changes, and live voice functions. (Next Halloween retail cycle.)
• Whether Home Depot or later reporting provides annual unit sales for the 12-foot skeleton. (Future company disclosure or reporting.)
• Whether Candy Store's next Halloween candy ranking keeps M&M's and Sour Patch Kids near the top. (Next published Halloween candy ranking.)