12 Candies From Five Below Everyone Needs To Try Once

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Five Below is, unfortunately, a chain that's outgrown its name. Much like Dollar Tree, where everything no longer costs just a dollar, Five Below stores now carry a large number of items priced above $5. On the cheaper end of the spectrum, however, is a surprisingly extensive collection of candies. Yes, the store sells the same standard candies you can find anywhere else, such as Sour Patch Kids, Haribo gummies, and M&Ms; but other items it carries aren't the kind of thing you're going to find in your average supermarket or convenience store.

Whether you're a candy connoisseur or just looking for a new, sweet snack, all of these confections are worth checking out. Some of them are imports you may not be familiar with, while others are familiar favorites in a new guise or a more extensive flavor selection than you're likely to see elsewhere. There are also a few items on this list that are all about the presentation — the edible part may taste like any other lollipop but just wait until you see what else these candies do! While not every item on this list is guaranteed to be the best thing you've ever tasted, they're all worth trying at least once, if only just for the novelty factor.

Big League Chew is a long-time favorite of mine, dating back to my son's Little League days. This shredded bubble gum was invented by a couple of ballplayers (one of them former MLB pitcher and "Ball Four" author Jim Bouton), and it now holds a place in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

While you can sometimes find pouches of Outta Here Original for sale at gas stations, Five Below carries a larger lineup that includes less widely-available flavors such as Big Rally Blue Raspberry, Ground Ball Grape, Slammin' Strawberry, Swingin' Sour Apple, and Wild Pitch Watermelon; each costing $2 per pouch.

Plain old jelly beans, the kind that only come out around Easter, range from boring to ick, but Jelly Belly has really upped the game of the world's best-known candy bean. (The only other one that comes to mind is Boston Baked Beans, though, so the bar's not super-high.) 

Boba tea beans are new territory even for this ever-innovative candy company. Jelly Belly Boba Milk Tea candies come in mango, matcha, strawberry, taro, and Thai milk tea flavors; and people who've tried the beans feel they do actually taste just like the beverages they're modeled after. At just $5 per box, this makes them a must-try for boba fans.

In Sweden, a tradition known as lördagsgodis (or, "Saturday sweets") dates back to the mid-20th century when government medical experts advised the nation's parents to limit their kids' candy consumption to one day a week. Many Swedish candies tend to be of the gummy variety, with Swedish Fish being a well-known import. Bubs is another gummy brand that has extended its reach into the American market.

Five Below currently carries four Bubs candies for $3 per bag. Each one is classified by shape as well as flavor: Sweet Ovals Banana Toffee, Sour Diamond Strawberry Vanilla, Sour Diamond Tutti Frutti, and Sour Skalle Lemon Raspberry. (Skalle is Swedish for skull, and these pink and yellow skull and crossbones candies have a cheery summertime-meets-Halloween vibe.)

Japan may be known for taking American candies like Kit-Kats and giving them a flavor makeover unique to that country, but Japanese candy itself is a thriving export. Although Calpico has yet to achieve the ubiquity of other brands like Hi-Chew and Pocky, it's bound to catch up pretty soon with tasty treats like White Chocolate Stars and Strawberry-Chocolate Snack. Five Below has priced each of these items at $3 for a 12-piece pouch.

The real holy grail of Five Below candy finds is the $5 bag of Dum-Dums Flavor Vault Lollipops. This product, which is exclusive to Five Below, contains seven discontinued flavors in one bag: blueberry donut, caramel frappé, cherry lime soda, chocolate orange, fried banana, spicy pineapple, and pickle, along with a mystery flavor. (The pickle pops are also available as a standalone in smaller bags priced at $1.50.)

If you see them at your local Five Below, don't hesitate to snatch them up right away. They're sold out almost everywhere (I've been chasing them unsuccessfully for months) and resellers are asking up to $25 per bag on eBay.

Now here's a real blast from the past — my past, that is. My dad would always buy Goldenberg's Peanut Chews when I was a kid, and sometimes he'd share from his secret stash. This Philadelphia favorite (which is somewhat like a flatter, chewier, dark chocolate version of Snickers) has been around a lot longer than either me or my dad — it celebrated its centenary in 2017. It's not always easy to find these days, but Five Below sells king-sized bars for $2.99.

Gotta love a double-duty gadget — how convenient is a rice cooker that also works as a crockpot or a colander that can function as a steamer? A candy that's also a cat toy, though ... that was not on anyone's bingo card until the Laser Pop Lollipop Projector showed up in the snack aisle at Five Below. For $2, you get a chunk of hard candy to eat, but the real fun starts when you turn out the lights, press the button on the side, and a glowing shape of some sort (like a heart or a smiley face) appears wherever you point the beam.

Meiji Chocorooms are another popular Japanese candy, although due to the crunchy baked "stems" that lie below the milk and dark chocolate "mushroom caps," some may feel these treats occupy a grey area between cookie and candy. Still, they're in good company, since the same could be said of Pocky, Twix, and Kit-Kat. No matter how you classify them, they're one fun-to-eat fungus. A 5-ounce bag will run you $5 at Five Below.

Freeze-dried candies have been a popular DIY project for a few years, but you need a food dehydrator to make them properly. Resellers with the proper equipment have been capitalizing on the trend, usually starting with some type of store-bought candy. Freeze-dried Skittles are a favorite for many people who are into the genre, but it took a few years for the brand to catch on and start producing its own version called Skittles Pop'd. Five Below sells 1.78-ounce bags of this candy for $2.99, which is less than you'd usually pay for some off-brand version.

Pickle-flavored everything has been around for the better part of a decade, at least, but Sour Punch candies has found a new way to market pickle candy. The thing is, we're not sure if Sour Punch Bites Pickle Roulette is framing "find the pickle" amongst the other candy flavors (green apple, lemon-lime, and watermelon) as a positive or a negative, since roulette games can go either way. So, too, can pickle candies, but Five Below lets you experience the thrill of the dill for just $1.50 a bag.

Back in the '00s and '10s, you could brush your teeth to the sound of pop hits from Hannah Montana, Black Eyed Peas, and Smash Mouth courtesy of a product called Tooth Tunes. Now you can do basically the exact opposite — the Amos Tasty Sounds Audio Lollipop lets you suck on a chunk of candy while listening to generic electronica or hip-hop. This fun little item is available at Five Below in blueberry and strawberry flavors and is priced at $5 each.

Vidal is a Spanish candy company that has been producing gummies since the '70s, but in 1992 it came up with a way to fill them with jelly. Five Below carries two such candies, each $1.50 per bag: Spicy Mangoes and sour Wild Raspberries. They're big, they're soft, they're covered in crunchy sugar crystals, and they're far more flavorful than any plain old gummy bear could ever hope to be.