Easter is another big candy holiday, and it’s been one as long as I can remember. Let’s face it, for candy, there’s Halloween, Christmas, and Easter – so it’s one of the Big-3.
Life Savers – Easter Treats 39-cent multi-bag – header tag file copy – 1964
Today, I’m going to showcase an assortment of pieces from my collection, in order to show you a nice cross-section of Easter candy packaging from over the years. I hope you dig it.
So, what do you do when you are a candy collector, you’ve launched a blog about collecting candy, and you’ve got five hours and ten stops in a country where all the candy packaging is different? You buy a lot of candy, that’s what.
Even though I love picking up current packaging, I have to say, things might have gotten a bit out of hand today. I’ve never bought close to this much candy in a single day. But boy it was fun.
Since I’m on the road this week, starting off on my first CollectingCandy.com field trip, I’ve been thinking about hotels and motels. It used to be, hotel and motel chains were much more distinctive than they are today. Howard Johnson’s was pretty diversified back in the day and one thing they did that distinguished themselves, was to produce a lineup of confections. They made chocolate bars, taffy, and even chewing gum. Today, I’m going to share a couple pieces out of my collection, from the “Candy Kitchens of Howard Johnson’s”.
Just a few days left before Easter, so make sure to get your goodies while you can.
Certainly one of the biggest days for candy, and for candy packaging, Easter is one we’re excited to celebrate here on the site.
For a fun Easter flashback, follow the jump to see what Woolworth’s was offering in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for the week of April 7th, 1968.
As I pointed out yesterday, today marks the opening day for Major League Baseball’s 2012 season. Tonight at just after 7pm, the Cards and the Marlins face off. So, continuing the thematic of baseball from yesterday’s post, today’s edition of Wacky Wednesdays is about Wedgie!
Not really a whole part two – just two great candy boxes which I forgot to include in my earlier posting today:
Tomorrow is the 2012 opening day for Major League Baseball. In order to mark this occasion, today’s post will showcase a number of fun baseball-related candy packages.
Leaf - Play Ball bubble gum - cellophane package - 1970's
What can you say about Razzles? As it turns out, quite a lot.
I don’t recall what my earliest memory of Razzles was, only that they seemed to be ever present in the tapestry of my confectionery youth.
I first became aware of Nestle’s Carlos V bar a year or two ago, when I saw the oddly-smallish bar at a Walgreens. At the time I wondered if it was an import or a new Nestle product, but I soon learned that it had a much richer history in Mexico.
Here’s the modern wrapper that was my first encounter with this brand:
Nestle - Carlos V - chocolate candy bar wrapper - 2012
I am a vintage candy packaging collector, but beyond that, I’ve also long been buying and collecting current candy packaging, too. It’s all a part of putting the older pieces into historical perspective. In five years all of the stuff I buy today will be vintage, so buying it now is saving me time of tracking it down later on. Believe me, in my mind – it makes sense.
Sometimes, while scanning over a candy rack, you spot something a bit older, right at retail. That is to say, you can sometimes find older candy at an out-of-the-way store, candy that’s been passed over again and again, for a few years. Or perhaps a box that was put out late, after being misplaced in the back room. I’ve had some luck in smaller New York stores and delis, finding candy that was a few years old.
Yesterday, I topped them all when I walked into a local deli, looking for a Munch bar, when I spotted what appeared to be Wonka Shock Tarts from a few years ago. I bought them immediately, figuring they were, at most, five years old. Turned out, they were a wee bit older…
Wonka Shock Tarts - these look old...
