We’re kicking off our week of Easter coverage with a fun look at all the flavorful variations of Hershey’s Eggs currently available on shelves as well a glimpse into packaging for the same, going back to the 1980’s. So make the jump to check out everything we’ve got on Hershey’s Eggs, past and present!
The earliest Hershey Eggs piece in my collection comes from the 1980’s and is an 8-ounce package for Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Eggs:
Hershey’s – Hershey’s Solid Milk Chocolate Eggs – 8oz Easter candy package – 1980’s
That package would have been filled with individually-wrapped, egg-shaped pieces of chocolate. I’m fortunate to have a Sunday circular coupon ad that shows what a full package of these looked like:
Hershey’s – Reese’s – Easter Circular ad and coupon – Easter 1988
Only a year later, the look of the Hershey’s Solid Milk Chocolate Eggs packaging would change, while the candy-coated variety packaging would remain the same:
Hershey’s-Reese’s – One-Stop Easter Shopping – Sunday newspaper circular coupon – Spring 1989
Hershey’s-Reese’s – One-Stop Easter Shopping – Sunday newspaper circular Hershey’s Eggs close-up – Spring 1989
As you can see Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Eggs and Candy-Coated Chocolate Eggs have been a staple for a generation and I’d bet that many readers have childhood memories of them. Jumping forward a bit into the 1990’s, I have a smaller package for the candy-coated variety that features a new graphical flower design:
Hershey’s – Candy Coated Milk Chocolate Eggs – 1.58 oz Easter candy package – 1995
Early on, the packaging for Hershey’s Eggs was mostly transparent, allowing the foil-wrapped contents to do most of the work of catching consumers’ attention. But as time went on, more of the package was becoming opaque with distinctive graphics added, though a window was still left to showcase the contents. The flower-theme design on that 1995 pack was largely carried over into the early 2000’s with flowers and an illustrated Easter bunny included on the 11 oz package size:
Hershey’s – Hershey’s Candy Coated Milk Chocolate Eggs – 11oz Easter candy package – circa 2006
A different look was used for Hershey’s Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate Eggs at the time:
Hershey’s – Hershey’s Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate Eggs – 11oz Easter candy package – circa 2005
By the end of the decade, Hershey decided to up the color palette for their Hershey’s Egg packaging, as you can see in the following two examples:
Hershey’s – Candy Coated Milk Chocolate Eggs – 1.35 oz Easter candy package – 2011
Hershey – Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs – 8oz Easter candy package – 2011
For 2013 a new unifying packaging design would be introduced across Hershey’s Eggs lineup, giving each a distinctive color background as well as an illustrated spring bloom revealing what the contents looked like. The look was carried over this year and I made a concerted effort to pick up an example of each variety package – I found six altogether and here they are:
Hershey’s – Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Eggs – 8oz Easter candy package – March 2014
Hershey’s – Hershey’s Candy Coated Milk Chocolate Eggs – 8oz Easter candy package – March 2014
Hershey’s – Hershey’s Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate Eggs – 10 oz Easter candy package – March 2014
Hershey’s – Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Covered Almonds Eggs – 7.1 oz Easter candy package – March 2014
Hershey’s – Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Creme Eggs – 8 oz Easter candy package – March 2014
Hershey’s – Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Eggs – 10oz Easter candy package – March 2014
Hershey’s Egg-shaped Reese’s offering even got the unified packaging design:
Hershey’s – Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs – 10 oz Easter candy package – March 2014
That’s a total of seven different packages – it’s quite the variety. But it’s not all of them in this style.
As a collector there are instances when I’m shopping that I will consider purchasing an item for my candy collection, but instead I leave it on the shelf. Many times I’ll have the opportunity to go back and get that piece later in the season or even the following year but that’s not always the case.
Last year I was at my local Target store and noted an unusual flavor of Hershey’s Eggs I’d never seen before – Candy-Coated White Chocolate. I’m pretty sure they were a Target store-exclusive as I never found them anywhere else. I assumed that being a new flavor, they’d return this year in wider distribution but they never did – not even back at Target – so my collection remains incomplete.
And while I didn’t buy those white chocolate Hershey Eggs that day, I did snap this photo so at least I can remember what they looked like:
Hershey’s – Hershey’s Candy Coated White Chocolate Eggs photo at Target – Spring 2013
I love the fact that the package colors for the While Chocolate Eggs are sort of an albino version of those found on the rest of the line, and the addition of the yellow chick is a nice touch. I’m kicking myself a little for not picking up that package last year – but all I can do is hope they bring them back for Easter 2015.
That’s everything I’ve got on this year’s Hershey’s Eggs, though I have one last piece to share. Apparently up north, Hershey Canada brands their small candy coated Hershey Eggs as Eggies. I picked up a pack the last time I was up in Canada and here it is:
Canada – Hershey’s – Eggies – candy coated milk chocolate eggs – 42g candy package – 2012
Hershey’s Eggies – great name.
And that’s everything for day one of our week-long Easter coverage. See you next time!
