Childhood Sweeties
By GreenMoo
@GreenMoo (11834)
August 15, 2011 10:35am CST
When I was a kid my Mum used to give me 10p and I'd be able to choose from the penny sweets selection in our local newsagent. Some were even less than a penny, so I was able to get a decent selection of sweeties for that 10p. You took a silver foil container to put your selection into, then the lady at the counter would count them and pop them in a paper bag for you.
I used to really like the foam sweeties, the more psychedelic the colours the better. And those ones with the sharp sour sweet sugar stuff on the outside, like cola bottles and the like.
To be honest, I still like much the same things! You can't get many for 10p any more though, and it's been a long time since I've seen a newsagent which will allow children to select their own.
Do you have favourite sweets from your childhood? Do you still enjoy them occasionally now? Can you even still buy them, or have they disappeared?
4 people like this
9 responses
@p1kef1sh (45681)
•
15 Aug 11
I loved aniseed balls. The bigger the better. Close to my school in Shinfield there was an old fashioned sweet shop where you could buy a big bag of gobstopper sized ones for a penny halfpenny. I recall when we went "metric" in 1971 my penny chews went up to 1p - or 3d!!!! I haven't seen an aniseed ball in years. In truth I haven't tried to find one. I'm not sure that I'd like them now. I also used to buy winegums and try to get drunk!!!! That was a futile exercise!!
3 people like this
@GardenGerty (157545)
• United States
15 Aug 11
There was a store where you could get six nickel treats for a quarter, and I do not even remember there being any sales tax. At the time, most candy bars were a nickel. I really liked to get nechho wafers, and I saw them recently in a store for a history site. I liked something I thing was called chick a stix, a stick of candy rolled in toasted coconut. I liked cherry mash as well. Bubble gum was a penny a piece. Firestix was a nickle, so was a big flat piece of taffy.
@sudiptacallingu (10879)
• India
16 Aug 11
There was a kind of round orange lozenges, you could get four of them for one rupee. Then there were smaller white ones which we used to call lizard eggs LOL…also even tinier ones with fennel seeds inside them. Only the fennel ones are available now and are still a favourite of mine (I even fight for them with my son)
I specially liked the orange one…it looked exactly as round and bright as the rising sun
1 person likes this
@163Mandolingirl (1052)
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16 Aug 11
It is so nice to hear about rupees again, Sudipta! I lived in India for 3 years. I can remember the sweets but I don't recall any of the names. Some of them had very unusual and unique flavours that I've never tasted since. Shame!
@danishcanadian (28953)
• Canada
15 Aug 11
I was raised on good European chocolate, and it was always a treat to me, when my grandparents would come back from Denmark with a big bag full of Danish stuff for me.
2 people like this
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
15 Aug 11
no, never got candy at a newsagent... because we didn't have those here - did get it from the 5 & dime, but we don't have those any more either...
I used to love SweetTarts, but they've changed the flavors, and my fav was lime, but now the green is something nasty like apple or melon...
2 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (45484)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
15 Aug 11
When I was a kid, I used to be able to get three black balls for a penny. Sometime in the late eighties, I saw some at a candy counter. They were sold by weight. So, out of curiosity, I had the person behind the counter weigh three of them and see how much they would cost "now" (then). Came to 11 cents, I think, almost quadruple the price. Heaven only knows how much they cost now.
1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (45484)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
15 Aug 11
Yeah, I can remember agonizing for minutes over what to spend a single penny on.
1 person likes this
@163Mandolingirl (1052)
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16 Aug 11
Oh for Woollies' 'Pick and Mix'! I used to spend hours, when my Mum was off doing something more important, deciding what to put in the little striped bags. I was never disappointed, the way I am now, with my selection. Some of the modern sweets have no flavour, and as for some of the chocolate, yuk! I had a 'Rolo' the other day. It was NOTHING like I remember!
1 person likes this
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
21 Aug 11
Mom was right , the palette does change! I used to Love Three Musketeers candy bar. It was the first candy bar I liked. Then I moved on to other chocolate candies. Well fast forward to earlier this summer, I thought I should revisit the Three Musketeers. well one bite and I went Yuck! I now prefer pure milk chocolate. Three Musketeers Bars have creamy chocolate like middle.I guess I can't go home again!
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
22 Aug 11
i wasn't sure these made it to the U.K. so I added a picture. I thought my palette hadn't changed but I guess it has!
@GreenMoo (11834)
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22 Aug 11
I've never heard of those ones, but I guess they're specific to your country.
My palette hasn't changed too much where sweets are concerned. There are some kiddie sweets which just taste of chemicals these days, but I still like lots of the jellies and sweet/sour ones. If anything, my palette has broadened as I'll now enjoy grown up sweeties as well :-)
@bounce58 (17387)
• Canada
19 Aug 11
There is no newsagent where we live, but this summer, my kids have been going back and forth to their cousin's house which is just a block a way from a 7-11. Aside from the usual slurpees that the kids get, they also get these sweets which are shaped like a coke bottle and is half pink, half light blue. I think it's 20 pieces per dollar.
I didn't like sweets so much when I was growing up.
@changjiangzhibin89 (16533)
• China
17 Aug 11
How interesting that was!It seems to me that you still preserve traces of childishness.I can imagine how you stretched your 10p.however It purchase less than you used to do.I wonder why you bought sweeties from newsagent?
@GreenMoo (11834)
•
17 Aug 11
In the UK, where I spent my childhood, the newsagent is where you buy sweets. You can buy them in supermarkets and petrol stations and all sorts of other places too of course, but at that time newsagents were the only shops which generally let you choose your own selection.
1 person likes this
@changjiangzhibin89 (16533)
• China
18 Aug 11
I get it,but I am surprised that people can buy them in petrol stations.
