By Santee Ross, University of Montana

Halloween is just around the corner and with the holiday it brings TONS of candy.

People spend $6 billion on Halloween candy a year. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Snickers, M&M’s, Pop Rocks and (my personal favorite) Kit Kat’s are the top five candy Americans find most popular .

Yeah, all those candies are delicious but if trick-or-treaters came a-knocking on Rez doors, they’d probably hard pressed to find America’s favorites.

Of course, we don’t turn away a kid if we didn’t have Snickers because you know us Indians always offer up whatever we have. So instead they might find Indian “candy.”

Here are my suggestions for the top five Indian “candy” and what would likely be handed out on the Rez.

5. Blow-Pops/Pixie Stix

These little suckers can be found in almost any Indian household (mostly in the hands of a toddler). They taste so good and have that gum in the middle so it’s almost like a double treat! Plus those Pixie Stix are just plain colored sugar, nothing beats that to a kid.

4. Pop

Oh yea, it doesn’t matter what flavor you dig, there is always pop in an Indian house. Especially if it’s grandma or auntie’s house because they get a lot of traffic and they are the ones who feed everybody.

3. Hot Cheetos

Let's hear it for the chips that can unite many tribes.

Hot Cheetos are likely found in the teenager’s room, they hoard them because they are so good. They remind me of good times because when I was eating them I was usually with friends or family joking around.

2. Pickles

Dill is always the way to go but that’s just me. In any case Pickles are essential to any Indian refrigerator. It’s obviously our favorite snack when you see them sold at powwows and basketball games.

1. Frybread

Wouldn’t it be crazy to see the expression on a trick-or-treater when they come knocking on your door and you hand out Frybread? Frybread is one of the main food groups in an Indian diet and can almost always be found in the house. So when grandma or auntie or mom makes their perfect Frybread, that is a real treat.

Santee Ross (Hopi/Lakota) is from Lander, Wyo.