If you think Christmas is the big candy-buying holiday, think again.
Easter ranks second only to Halloween as the top candy-consuming holiday in the United States, according to a phone survey of 1,000 Americans by the International Mass Retail Association.The survey said 67 percent of people celebrating the holiday will buy candy this year, spending $1.5 billion on Easter goodies.
That's billion. With a "b."
For the record, chocolate bunnies head the list as the favorite holiday sweet treat with 34.1 percent of those surveyed favoring them. They were followed by jelly beans, which are enjoyed by 27.6 percent of the survey respondents.
Malted eggs drew only an 8.6 percent rating, while cream-filled eggs got 8 percent and marshmallow animals attracted 5.3 percent.
Chocolate Easter bunnies are going fast at the downtown ZCMI Department Store, according to clerk Judith Todd.
"We're also selling a lot of specialty type items, too," she said.
These include "Easter corn," which is like the corn-shaped candies sold at Halloween, only in spring pastel colors.
"Another big seller is Easter taffy called bunny kisses. We've sold tons and tons of that," she said.
Candy eggs that store employees will decorate by writing someone's name on them with icing also have proven popular. But the bunnies are big.
"We even have solid chocolate lollipops shaped like bunnies," Todd said, adding that the store also carries marshmallow candy rabbits.
The survey found that more than 86 percent of families with children will buy Easter candy this year, and these families are the most likely to buy new clothing and Easter baskets, as well.
Americans plan to spend "significantly" more this Easter -- an average of $67.30 -- than they did last year, when the average spending was $41.63. And families with children said they expect to spend more than the average -- about $76.
Minon Smith, assistant manager of See's Candies in the University Mall in Orem, said she would beg to differ with some of the survey's results. At See's, she said, chocolate-covered cream-filled eggs are so popular that they are close to rivaling their long-eared candy counterparts.
"We sell more bunnies, but not a lot more. We sell a lot of filled eggs," she said.
Still, the national survey results hold true.
"We have four different sizes of chocolate bunnies, and we go through hundreds. In fact, maybe we've gone through a couple thousand of different sizes just in the last week. I do inventory in the morning so I can see how fast they go out the door," Smith said.
See's bunnies are hollow chocolate, but it is a "nice thick chocolate" that is colorfully wrapped with ribbons around their necks, Smith said.
The store also carries fruit-flavored jelly beans and non-pareil jelly beans (coated with little sugar pellets). "People come in just for those."