I compared Costco's and Sam's Club's Halloween-candy selections, and Sam's Club had way more variety

Costco's cheapest membership, the Gold Star Membership, costs $60 annually. My family are Executive Members, so we pay $120 a year. The Executive membership gives shoppers additional perks, including an annual 2% reward on most purchases.

As it's the start of October, I thought there might be some acknowledgment of Halloween when I entered my local store in California, but there was no reference to it, as far as I could see. Instead, I was greeted with the usual shelves of products, including coffee and cold medicine.

I went down aisle after aisle of nuts, chips, pretzels, and snack packs, but there was no candy to be found.

I passed everything from lawn decor and themed pajamas to Christmas candy before I found the Halloween selection.

That said, the Christmas items I passed definitely caught my eye, especially because they seemed like bargains to me. The advent calendar retailed for $18.99, and the gingerbread decorating kit cost $12.49.

After seeing these pumpkins on my left, I turned directly to my right and finally found what I was looking for. 

I eventually found the candy between the produce and frozen items. It was a smaller area than I anticipated — and, as I would come to find, not entirely all candy nor all Halloween-themed.

As Southern California, where I live, is a heavily Hispanic-populated region, it makes sense to dedicate some resources to Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, which is in early November. Still, I was surprised to see it next to the Halloween candy. 

The kit comes with 16 cookies for $9.79.

This Ferrero full-size variety pack comes with 36 full-sized chocolate bars, including Butterfinger, Crunch, 100 Grand, and Baby Ruth bars. It had $7 off for a final cost of $20.69, or 57 cents per bar.

This full-size variety pack came with 30 full-sized chocolate bars that were $7.30 off at $20.59, or nearly 69 cents a bar.

This Mars full-size variety box came with 30 full-sized packs. It was $5.20 off at $20.79, or 69 cents a bar.

Packed with 10 different types of mini candies including plain and peanut M&M's, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Snickers, Kit Kats, Milky Ways, and Twix, this bag of treats cost $19.99. 

With nine different candies, ranging from Twizzlers and Haribo Gummy Bears to Skittles and Starburst, this Kirkland signature Funhouse Treats bag cost $18.99.

This fun Halloween dispenser in the shape of Frankenstein's monster's head opens up to reveal Reese's Peanut Butter Cup skeletons. It cost $10.59.

The Frito-Lay Spooky Snack Mix comes in at $18.99 for 54 bags, or 35 cents a bag.

Hostess Halloween Cupcakes and Twinkies comes with 32 treats for $9.99, or 31 cents each.

This monster-mash fruit-snacks box comes with a whopping 90 pouches for $10.99, at 12 cents a pouch.

This Utz Halloween barrel of 70 Bats and Jacks-shaped pretzel treat bags for $7.69. That's almost 11 cents a bag.

Despite some fun themed items, overall, I thought the Halloween section at Costco seemed very limited, with a narrow selection of discounted items. It was also not particularly easy to find in the store.

That said, I thought the prices were really reasonable, which is typical of Costco, which allows shoppers to buy multi-packs or items in bulk — and why people like me are members.

When I broke it down, each candy bar or bag of snacks was much cheaper than I'd seen at other stores. So, despite the lack of variety, I think Costco could still be a good option for people looking for a low-cost Halloween.

The cheapest available membership, which is the Club Membership, according to Sam's Club, comes out to an annual payment of $50. The equivalent to Costco's Executive Membership is the Plus Membership, which costs $110 a year.

Even though I'm not a member, the staff at my local Sam's Club graciously allowed me to look around to see what they had for sale.

Sam's Club seemed to be embracing Halloween a lot more, placing its candy right at the entrance. 

But Costco had the better deal: Sam's Club's barrel cost $7.98 for 66 treat bags (weighing a total of 33 ounces), while Costco's cost $7.69 for 70 bags (at 35 ounces).

These Utz Halloween Mini Cheese Balls were 56 treat bags for $7.98, or 14 cents a bag.

As I walked past the entrance, I passed Christmas trees and lawn decor at first, but quickly spotted giant Halloween-themed decor that would lead into my first official aisle of candy.

While not particularly Halloween-themed, Costco's Kirkland signature all-chocolate bag was the better deal, with 90 ounces of 10 different types of mini candies for $19.99, whereas Sam's Club's Halloween Monster Bag retailed for $21.78 for 200 pieces or 72 ounces.

But Sam's Club does have more choice. It also sells the Mars Bat Bag for $29.68, or 6 cents per candy, and the Halloween Villain Bag, which comes with 230 pieces, is $24.98, or about 10 cents per candy.

This bag of Hershey's Factory Favorites cost $19.98. It contains 155 snack-size candies for 12 cents a piece.

For $29.98, Sam's Club offers a trick-or-treat mix of 36 full-size bars.

At Sam's Club, that comes to 83 cents a bar, compared to 68 cents per bar at Costco.

This bucket of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups is 375 pieces for $57.98, or 15 cents a piece.

It contains 12 pounds of chocolate. Phew! 

Other large-quantity options included an M&M's mixed bucket of 300 pieces for $59.98, or 19 cents per piece; a Twizzlers 580-piece bucket for $48.78, or 8 cents per piece; and a Snickers 350-piece bucket for $59.98, or 17 cents per piece.

Upon realizing there was yet another aisle of candy, I thought it was clear which of the two grocers had the upper hand in candy selection.

There were six each in the shapes of monsters, fingers, and mummies for $14.98.

This mega, 66-ounce bag retails for $9.48.

The pops come in the shapes of ghosts, black cats, candy corn, and pumpkins.

This 12-count Halloween Party Pack Popcornopolis, which cost $12.98, had individual packs of kettle corn, caramel corn, and cheddar-cheese popcorn.

These chocolates included Reese's milk-chocolate peanut-butter pumpkins and white-creme peanut-butter ghosts, Kit Kat Witch's Brew marshmallow-flavored creme crisp wafers, Hershey's Cookies N' Creme fangs, and York dark-chocolate peppermint-patties pumpkins.

Other candy options included tubs of M&M's candies, and value packs of Skittles and Starburst.

For $14.88, this Halloween bag features regular milk chocolate wafer bars, "Breaking Bones" white creme wafer bars, and "Witch's Brew" marshmallow-flavored creme wafer bars.

I saw pumpkin-shaped Peanut Butter Cups, in both 36 full-size pieces for $28.88 and $11.98 for 65 snack-size pieces. Another Reese's Halloween-themed option comes in 112 assortment of shapes for $21.88.

I can envision throwing the better Halloween party or being the go-to house for candy with Sam's Club's wider selection of treats.

If you're looking for traditional full-size factory favorites of Hershey's and M&M's or spooky-themed snacks like Frito-Lays or fruit snacks, Costco would be the way to go. In many cases, it had better prices too.

However, because of its wide variety of themed items across multiple aisles, I have to give the edge to Sam's Club.