Guess what arrived in the mail as my very first Birthday gift??? The biggest box of Retro ’80s candy I had ever seen!! Thanks to my oh-so-hip in-laws, I was the recipient of an assortment of popular candy from my childhood. I tell you, I was tickled pink by all the memories that came with this thoughtful gift.
Here are some of my favorite ones that emerged:
- Getting a goody-bag of treats for the 90 minute drive home every time we visited Grandma (we always politely overlooked the fact that some of the candy was quite stale)
- Spending entire afternoons biking to Snyder’s Drug Store with the neighbor kids to pick out a treat (we could peruse their selection for hours, I tell you)
- Begging my mom to let me try candy cigarettes (as you might imagine that was a big, fat N-O)
- Enjoying a candy necklace on a perfect summer’s day
- Buying Laffy Taffy’s for 1 cent at the Campground store and then getting them stuck in your teeth
I had forgotten how many good memories were associated with candy! Do share a few of your favorite stories that these images spark! I segmented the items I got into two categories: the favorites are on the top and the “just ok” ones are on the bottom.
Which ones were your top picks? Any you’d forgotten about? I want to see some discussion going on this!
PS- Just in case you were wondering, I had to share the joy of this much candy with the kiddos in my life. I picked out a few of the most unique ones for Norma to take home to her daughter (Pop Rocks, Candy Necklace, Fizzies). Can I just say that those were a HUGE hit with 2 year old Norland!
Then, after getting my fill of sugar, I took the remaining ones to Friendship Home and used them as prizes for my Birthday Bingo game. I couldn’t stop laughing as they spit out the Atomic Fireballs and Good ‘n Plenty’s after trying them for the first time. I love knowing that the response to those candies is universal! :) Definitely an acquired taste…
Hi Sarah, advanced happy birthday ;)
I like Nerds and pop roxx ;) laffy taffy is ok too, have you tried local candies? What do you think of them? ;)
To this day still crazy mad for Good N Plentys – they are amazing paired with heavily buttered popcorn (Paired??? I’m making it sound like fine wine and food!!) Anyway – my greatest candy memory is of these soft cinnamon sticks that used to be made in a little candy store in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The shop was across the street from the elementary school I attended, and we all used to walk over there after school.
My dad was an officer in the Air Force so I spent my childhood moving around every two to three years – then I married a guy who had the wanderlust, just like me, so good thing the Foreign Service was in our life plan! Never did find anything as good as those cinnamon sticks though! Don’t get sick from eating all that sugar!!! Hugs.
You are hysterical that you separated them into separate photos!
My favorite childhood candy memory is definitely Clove chewing gum … that stuff was divine and it’s been AGES since I’ve had any!
Aren’t packages from home just the best? I was reminded when I got my last package (containing my favorite Girl Scout Cookies) that I need to be better about sending our OWN packages back HOME … and not just expecting our loved ones to send them to US!
I do NOT enjoy those strange jelly things that you suck out of the plastic. The texture is so weird. That may be the only one I’ve had. What else should I try?
Such a great story Chris – I can totally picture it in my mind! Have you ever gone back and tried to find them?
That’s a fair point Naomi. I’ve done a pretty good job thus far but I need to be careful not to slack off over time… Clove chewing gum, huh? Not sure I’ve had that…
Oh that’s like gelatin with something in it, haha, that’s not actually a filipino candy.
Ask Norma to get you pastillas, macapuno balls, langka, ube candies, they’re all in rustans sweets section
you can also try native delicacies like bibingka, sapinsapin and Biko or rice cake. They’re sold in mall groceries, I think SM makati has them or better yet try eating them in Travel Cafe in greenbelt 5 ;)
Oh Sarahlas,
You’ve done again. My parents owned a grocery store when we were in middle and high school and we had penny candy up the wahzoo there. There is hardly a piece of candy I didn’t like then and, of course, it was all free for us. I just discovered laffy taffy, but I thought it was a new candy. So glad the hip
in-laws or is it out-laws got something you liked, even though they mixed up your birthday day. Love you thissssssssss much. Joyce
Loved Nerds too! Also, my sister and I were big fans of Fun Dip. We were able to get that once and awhile when we went to watch our Dad play softball league at night. Sugar on a candy stick…can’t get much better than that!
Dude, I totally forgot Fun Dip. That was definitely a hit in our family too…
Joyce- It was a really cool gift. I have friends that even mentioned that they’re going to copy the idea! Way to be an original! XOXO
I’ll work on it John. The only ones I’ve seen before are Bibingka, although I haven’t tried it. I think I tried some coconut concoction that looked like a flat pizza pie (it had rings with different flavor layers).