Vintage doesn't get better than this...
Aah, sweet sweets. So many of my childhood reminiscences involve them in some way that it's a wonder I've got any teeth at all, but I do - in fact when Bah Humbugs wondered on Twitter whether anyone would like to review some of their range of retro sweets, I almost bit their hand off. One of my very earliest clear memories is of going to the village post office with my mum, and the lady in there slipping me some of those white chocolate fish and chips in a paper bag just because I was cute. Sadly my knack for this seems to have lessened over the years. [Does anyone still have a local post office that sells sweeties? Highlighter pens, tax discs and cards 'To a lovely Nanna' just don't quite cut it]. I progressed from here to be being allowed to the corner shop with my 10p pocket money - it was the 80s - where I would carefully decide on the appropriate mix of pink shrimps, white mice and flying saucers. By the time the 90s rolled round and I was blagging the child benefit money from my mother, I'd graduated to the hard stuff; the jars from behind the counter, sold by the ounce. Nirvana, cider and black and white bon-bons got me through those difficult teenage years.
Anyway, at the time they were just sweets, but nowadays they're retro sweets - which as we all know is vintage's funkier little sister, and hence I was at the cutting edge! I'm often to be found bemoaning the fact that very few newsagents or corner shops sell much more than an uninspiring range of chocolate bars, maybe some
Yes, and a few more of those please...and a little more...keep going...
[Ok, so I'd eaten most of the chocolate éclairs by the time I took this photo]
Bah Humbugs is also just the place for birthday and Christmas presents - who wouldn't be thrilled with a jar or hamper full of all their childhood faves? There's 'Grandpa's Old Favourites', mint or fruit themed ones, and my personal choice the retro sweet hamper. And because I love you, I asked Bah Humbugs if they wouldn't mind giving one of their retro sweets hampers away to
So, if you'd like to win the hamper as pictured at the top of this post:
- Please be a follower of Faith Hope and Charity Shopping - by Google Friend Connect, RSS, Bloglovin, Networked Blogs or email (state which)
- Leave a comment telling me your favourite sweet - whether now or as a kid.
For a further entry, please follow @FHCShopping and @bahhumbugs on Twitter and tweet the following "I've entered the sweet giveaway from @FHCShopping to win an amazing retro sweet hamper by @bahhumbugs! http://tinyurl.com/bmq47tj"
Small print: Sorry, but this time the giveaway is UK only, due to postage weight. The winner will be chosen at random on May 31st from all who fulfil the terms of entry, and the prize will be fulfilled by Bah Humbugs.
Lakota x
Ooooooh. Ohhhhhhhhhh. Weeeeeeeee!!!!!!!! That is my utter excitement as sweets is the language I am most fluent in.
ReplyDeleteI lost six teeth to Wham bars, something I am still very proud of due to the fact the tooth fairy made me very rich after that little lot fell out.
Wham bars. Fizzy, pink, what is not to like.
I also loved Liquorice Comfits. Those torpedos in neon colours. Divine!
Oh and I rocked those fluorescent socks too. The business!
x x xx
I'm a happy follower!
ReplyDeleteMy favourites were always flying saucers and refreshers
I loved refreshers! I have a soda stream cheaper than buying a bottle of coke or lemonade so works out cheaper in the end!
ReplyDeleteWe must be a similar sort of age. I used to go to the newsagents for a 10p mix up.
ReplyDeleteI used to love Spangles and Black Jacks. Do you remember Pacers? Bleurgh.
I follow on GFC.
C
xxx
Happy gfc follower. I used to adore highland toffee. A small bar was 5p. Ioften ran out if cash and thus still owe my best friend about a million quid!
ReplyDeleteohhh Yummy! Please do enter me in this give-away pls :) I am a follower..
ReplyDeleteThe good ol' 80's, I would love walking down to the shop and buying a bunch of 1 cent-10 cent candy (I grew up in Canada). My favourite ones were the cinnamon lips (not sure if they sell them over here in the Uk or not?).
The nice thing was when I moved over here, I got to try out a whole new selection of sweets we never had over in Canada. I love the rhubarb and custard sweets over here the best..those are very more-ish!
Magie x
Shrimps all the way! Yum Yum Pigs Bum!
ReplyDeleteI follow via GFC as athyn vixen and my fave sweets were black jacks and fruit salads.
ReplyDeleteI also had a particular liking for Old English Spangles and wonder does anyone else remember icebreaker choc bars which bits of mint looked like bits of glass- i presume why they stopped making them? Athyn x
Deletethis is my ideal prize, please enter me!!!! I follow of GFC, and have tweeted the thingy and follow bahumbugs etc
ReplyDeleteMy favourite sweet? Tough question. I used to love nerds and dweebs but as a classic I'd say fizzy cola bottles.
Keeping my fingers crossed cos I really want to win!
tweeted from @countrygirldoes
I'm a merry follower. Sweets...so much a part of childhood fillings n'all. I was always partial to Kola Kubes, a choking hazard if ever there was. Now I like Sherbert Lemons which Ieat until the roof of y mouth corrodes. Yum.
ReplyDeletexxxx
Via GFC, I loved penny drumsticks, hard to start with then all gooey towards the end, but you had to pull like mad to get them off the stick.
ReplyDeleteFollow follow follow!
ReplyDeleteAnd Rhubarb and Custard! All the way x
Ooooh sweeties :) my favourite sweets......well If I exclude chocolate my favourite sweets are pear drops, I can't get enough of that chemical taste LOL
ReplyDeletePs. I am a happy follower :)
OMG my childhood in sweetform :) My first tastes of freedom were heading to the village shop to buy sweeties - Toffos (chocolate,strawberry or banana) or Texan bars were my favourites - though to be honest the sweeter & more highly coloured the better!!
ReplyDeleteFlying Saucers!
ReplyDeleteI got 10p pocket money too, my favourite sweets then and now were sherbet dib dabs. I also loved the white chocolate mice and drumstick lollies. Strawberry bon bons, cola cubes, drumstick lollies, pear drops, and liquorice laces also hold fond memories, I follw with GFC. Great review, Lakota, I loooooove retro style sweets. Em xxx
ReplyDeleteOmg, we so would have bonded over a love of sweets as they've been a theme of my life also! We've a massive shop that sells retro sweets here and I only just managed to not buy some today!
ReplyDeleteMy favourites? Well the good old candy necklace and those alphabet sweets were tied as favourites as a child...but then I got older and strawberry bon-bons became top favourites, although have to admit, pretty much all of the sweets you've pictured are on my favourites list!
I follow via gfc x
Hey Lakota,
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing giveaway! You're very generous! I would love to take part - I'm a follower but not sure which way I follow - just on blogger!
And my favourite sweet as a child was chewy cherries! I just love the flavour - although now I can't have them because I am vegetarian :(
Any sweeties I can't eat will be shared with my new husband and nieces - so they won't go to waste! xxx
I follow youuuu (RSS)
ReplyDeleteMy favourite sweets? Argh, how to narrow it down? I've always loved jelly beans and dolly mix though.
I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited by this post!!! WOo hoo!!! Sweeties!!! Penny sweets!! There's still a place near me that sells lots of penny (2p, 3p or 5p now) sweets, so I still manage to get some of these!!! What a cool post! I think my favourites of the oldies have to be either shrimps or those jelly rings!
ReplyDeleteForgot to say I follow by GFC (I think? Whatever that blogger followering thing this?) please may I enter?!
ReplyDeleteOMG Hubba Bubba's completely forgotten about these!! You could never have too many hubba bubba's as they were always more expensive or weighed alot, but they were pink chewing gum with a red sauce in the middle and blew amzingly big bubbled - until the strawberry flavour went and they went a bit hard lol. My old psot office used to do the same - the only place you can get anything similar without going to retro sweet shop is the Spar shop.
ReplyDeleteGreat giveaway! Haribo's Pah! Fruit Salads will kick their ass anyday! (I was reminising about these the other day on my blog as my nail olish reminded me of them lol!)
Jenni x
bowsbanglesandbakes.blogspot.co.uk
My post office doesn't sell proper sweets anymore, but my local newsagents does even if it is a meagre selection! I only saw the tail end of retro sweets, but the ones that really remind me of my childhood are pear drops, mmmm! I'm following via GFC (as talbsx) - enjoy your hamper! xxxx
ReplyDeleteMy favourite sweet now is probably reeces pieces or peanut brittle as a child I had a liking for jazzies (? is that right, I wanted to say razzles but i'm sure that's wrong, those white choc buttons with sprinkly bits) and anything vaguely medicinal tasting (winter mix, aniseed balls, cough candy twists)
ReplyDeleteMmmm
(I follow via gfc)
Pink shrimps are in my top five list of all time favourite sweeties, followed by Parma Violets, Lovehearts, sherbert and Black Jacks. Mmmmmm, happy days....
ReplyDeleteBy far it has to be the drumsticks! Loved those as a kid xxx
ReplyDeleteSweets, thats my kind of retro too! My mum ran a sweet shop when me and my sis were kids-can you imagine! We used to raid the store room when we were off school sick and went to work with her, my sister grabbed sherbet pips and cherry lips, me bonfire toffee and cough candy twists.ahh those were the days! I follow with gfc i think, and though i'm not in the uk i know my niece would jump for joy if her naughty aunt wangled a kg og seeets to land on her doorstep, if thats allowable x
ReplyDeleteOh this post has filled me with nostalgia, I too was a child of neon socks and spanish costume dolls with strange vacant eyes. And sweets (from Mrs Doris's).
ReplyDeleteMy favourite sweet was probably flying saucers, although I also loved sherbert pips.
I just recently discovered Tesco choc-a-block. It's my current modern fave!
I follow in google.:)
following on Bloglovin
ReplyDeleteI love winegums
Oh, and I don't know why, but blog this reminded me of cola cubes (or were they Kola Kubes?)! I haven't seen them for ages! In fact the old sweets are all coming back to me: pink shrimps, black jacks and many more!
Wooo hooo - this giveaway is my dream come true, and I'm eligable! Favourite sweet is a toughie... I think it may have to be lemon sherbet but it is so hard to say for sure.
ReplyDeleteAaaaah! I am a total sweetie nut! I remember the days of the 10p mix with great fondness. I am totally up for this competition. I couldn't pick a favourite sweet though, what a choice. I love pick n mix. They used to have one in Littlewoods :)
ReplyDeleteI have issues with marshmallows, I could eat them every day.
ReplyDeleteI'm such a terrible sweet addict, but luckily still have all my own teeth. More sweets please! xxxx
Being an old bird, my days of trotting to the newsagent for a comic and sweeties were the 70s, you seemed to get a lot for your money in the good old days!
ReplyDeleteI loved buying a quarter from the big jars behind the counter (pear drops or lemon bon bons please) but the mixed bag was always the best treat. Fizzy things - Refreshers, and anything sherbert-y. Sherbert fountains looked the best, but I don't much like liquorice so sherbert dibdabs were a favourite.
I'd follow you anywhere, Lakota sweetheart, via GFC! xxxx
Now then! From my corner shop I used to buy gummi bears (4 for a penny) becuase your money went further and chewy pear flavour cigerettes. They also did these orange flavour chews with dinosaurs on the pack (not Chewitts though I liked Chewitts too)But my favourite sweet by FAR was milk gums, but proper milk gums with cornflour on the outside not those nasty things Haribo do!
ReplyDeleteWe used to be obsessed with Wham bars at school, no idea why......
I love a good sherbert: dib dabs, fountains and of course double dips. I used to love the wee edible stick that came with the double dips but it usually broke in half just before the sherbert was done, meaning that you'd have to line up the two open ends and hope the remaining sherbert poured into your mouth and not down your top. :D
ReplyDeleteI'm a follower via GFC -Susan McCrae.
I follow you via google friend connect!
ReplyDeleteI used to love those white chocolate mice, I once bought a whole £1s worth of them, that's 100 mice, I did eat them all in one go and I did feel sick afterwards, you can still buy them but I can't eat them anymore cos I'm vegan :(
Hi I am a follower on GFc, thanks for the great giveaway.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite sweets are the chewy kind like wine gums and pastilles but my absolute favourite is swedish fish.
Swedish fish? I don't know those - do tell!
DeleteThey are like a wine gum but with a slightly different texture, not as chewy. They aren't sold in any shops here but i buy them online. They used to be sold in ikea but i haven't seen them in there for ages.
DeleteOOo Twiglet has reintroduced me to Refreshers - proper lovely. I also love floral gums,remember those?
ReplyDeleteTwiggy x
oh Bah Humbug I miss out Oh well lucky we have a lolly shop that sells UK yummies :)BTW my grandad loves Humbugs and bulls eye lollys xx
ReplyDeleteHappy to not be included in the giveaway (in Ireland)teeth and midriff not up to it.
ReplyDeleteAll i can add is..........Cola cubes.
Oh nostalgia! Thank you for the memory jog, I remember my brother and I popping into the local Spar shop picking out our penny sweets, my favourites were those little chocolate covered bananas, and chewy teeth. My brother liked milk bottles. Chocolate fish n chips a firm favourite too! What fun! If I were to win this, it would be for my dear ol mum in the UK who's birthday it is in a few weeks. She loves sweeties as much as I! x
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletefollowing with Google Friend Connect.
ReplyDeletemy favourite sweets are Skittles Crazy Sours. i love sour sweets even more than the sweet ones! i also dont have sugar in my tea! i guess i must be sweet enough<3!
Oooh, lovely giveaway! Funny how sweets get us all nostalgic. Being a few (cough!) years older than you, I can just remember getting sweets for an old penny or even a halfpenny. I seem to remember getting four pink shrimps for a penny. I also used to get 2 ounces of sherbert pips. Bless that old newsagent. Can you imagine anyone measuring out 2 ounces of anything for a child nowadays? Well, actually, yes, maybe a gram, but that's a whole other can of worms. Anyway, I'm rambling now. It's very hard to pick a favourite, (I love so many of the ones already mentioned - parma violets, refreshers, cola cubes, texan bars, not to mention milk bottles, sweet cigarettes, fruit salad chews, those enormously long toffee bars, etc. etc.) but I might just pick floral gums, because hardly anyone else remembers them, and they lasted for ages, because they stuck to your teeth like glue.
ReplyDeleteFollowing (avidly) on Blogger/GFC.
Sweet Lakota,
ReplyDeleteI love English sweets!
That was the first thing Buddy introduced to when I got here.
My fave would have to be the flying saucers and white choc fish and mice.
Well the choc eclairs too but choc makes me sick.
My fave Childhood would be peeps,lemon heads and boston baked beans., space dust, fun dip. Mexi fave candy is besitos and so many more hat surely gave mi migraines.
I follow this blog.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite candy var as a kid (since overall sweets, how could I choose one) was Whatchamacallit. The name was 25% of liking it and the taste the other 75%.
I don't mind that I can't enter this glorious giveaway, your description of people being "born vintage" and you growing up with a sweet tooth had me in stitches. When does your book come out? Hmmmmmm??? xoxoxoxoxo
ReplyDeleteOooooh what a wonderful giveaway! I just love these sweets :) my favourite when I was little was a 10p mix, you got a bit of everything! I am already a follower of your sweet blog and would love to enter. Have a wonderful weekend
ReplyDeleteBee happy x
Have a delicious day!
sherbert fountains! I saw them in tesco the other week and ate 4 in two days.
ReplyDeletefollowing your blog via GFC...
ReplyDeleteOoh I love thinking back to my childhood and my favourite sweets, but there is only one that stands out and always has done, I would buy some nearly everyday on my way home from school, It was the iced chocolate cups in the different coloured foils. They were just soooo creamy and cold when bitten into..mmmmm, I can taste them on my tongue when i think about them... I still buy them today and everytime I bite into one it takes me back 20 years...
Thanks for a fab giveaway x
Parma Violets! They always made me feel like a sophisticated lady
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous Blog Lakota!!! Thank you so much for bringing our sweets so alive!!! Sadly Spangles are no more, however they remain the sweet that i get asked the most for. I DO wish they'd bring them back as i know that they'd go down a storm again!!
ReplyDeleteApart from those, i think that we pretty much stock all the other sweets your readers are requesting - Kola Cubes, Candy Necklaces, Bon Bons, Drumsticks, Rhubarb & Custards, Sherbet Fountains,Space Dust,Milk Bottles, Bananas, Candy letters....they're all at http://bahhumbugs.com
Swedish Fish - are these salt liquorice i wonder?
I'm delighted that this blog has brought back so many happy childhood memories! thank you, Lucy (aka Ms Humbug)
Black jacks and fruit salads were some of my favourites, we used to get 3 for a penny. We could also buy sweets for half pence each, like shrimps, bananas, bubblegum and mice. Those were the days...
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, the sweet coconut tobacco sweets and coconut mushrooms...I need to win this :)
I follow via GFC.
Have a lovely day!
Barrina x
woah! You got to review sweet - the BEST thing ever!! Complete sweet addict here (think ive paid for many of my dentists skiing holidays). My fave as a child was the white choc fish and chips - loved those.
ReplyDeletePlease enter me into this giveaway, ive never wanted to win anything so much in my life! :o)) Scarlett x
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI loved Wham bars even though the sherberty bit at the top made my tongue bleed. There's also the element of danger that it might pull a filling out.
ReplyDeleteI follow you via GFC :)
I love gelatine type sweeties - wine gums (Lidl's are cheap and fab), jelly snakes, American hard gums. Also not from the penny tray but does anyone remember iced caramels (pink and white heaven) and those sweets that were shaped like a peanut (aka groundnut) and had chopped up bits of peanut as a filling?
ReplyDeleteMy favourite was that sweet that you put into your mouth and it crackled. Was it called Frizzy Pazzy? Space dust? Fizz whizz? I used to think I was such a comedian standing by the radio and pretending it was crackling while pouring a load in my mouth!
ReplyDeleteJust about to go to Twitter for another entry. I'm @magatha28
This is sooo cool Lakota, I love sweets much more than chocolate. My favourite sweet is licorice , I just adore it xox Penelope
ReplyDeleteps. I am following with GFC x
Fabulous giveaway! I'm already a follower :-) And I've tweeted.
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten all about white chocolate fish n chips...I so loved those! My favourites were the chocolate tools and bazooka bubble gum! Yum! @mamamakes
Ive finally got back on twitter and tweeted this yummy giveaway :o) Scarlett x
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little (a very long time ago) I spend my holidays with grandparents who lived above the sweetshop they owned! How lucky was I. On every step of the staircase leading up to the flat was a large box of sweets from which Grandpop would top up his supplies in the shop. Guess what - I used to help myself every time I went upstairs and usually more frequently than that. Actually, boring though it seems now, my favourite then was white chocolate buttons, perhaps because there were so many in the box I (mistakenly) thought my handfuls could not possibly be noticed. Also loved pineapple cubes and flying saucers. My teeth survived pretty well but not my weight!
ReplyDeleteWow, what a giveaway, enter me please. I follow via GFC.
ReplyDeleteI loved wham bars, black jacks and those little squidgy mushrooms you used to get in 10p mixes. I also loved thoses packets where you got 2 types of sherbert and sweet shaped like a big lollipop stick - can't for the life of me remember wht they were called though!
Naturally I left the womb clad in Jean Varon but I did have a thing for Flying Saucers and all their neon sourness!
ReplyDeleteI'm more of a savoury lover but I do know a man who'd sell his soul for a shedload of E numbers & sugar and would love me forever if I won this. xxx
I love flying saucers. but i am actually a complete chocoholic.
ReplyDeleteOh it has to be space dust. I can remember the first time I had it and those lovely explosions in my mouth.
ReplyDeleteI follow via GFC - robertfox24
ReplyDeleteI used to love chocolate bananas, not the marshmallow ones, they were nicer than those
Twitter - @bloomingfox
Facebook - Kirsty Fox
Email - robertfox24 [at] aol [dot] com
I follow both on Twitter and have tweeted - @bloomingfox
ReplyDeleteFollowing on Network blogs Jane Townson
ReplyDeleteMy favourite sweets are pear drops
my favourite sweets used to be the pink and white mice
ReplyDeleteRhubarb and custard are my totally fav's. mmmmm
ReplyDeleteFollowing on GFC as Samantha, @totallydot on twitter, followed both & tweeted msg
Oh Yummy, yummy!
ReplyDeleteMy favourite sweet as a child was the false teeth. You know the ones where you would stick under your top lip and pretend to be Esther Rantzen?
Loved them.
Madison xxx
Amazing giveaway! My favourite sweets have to be foam shrimps and bananas!
ReplyDeleteI follow your blog with GFC and have tweeted (@ladybugsays)
Following you on GFC, I follow both you & @bahhumbugs on twitter & I've tweeted @meedja.
ReplyDeleteAnd my favourite sweets? Well right now I maintain that peppermint cremes are the only thing that stand between me and complete insanity, so I guess they win.
I follow via GFC, and I've always had a thing about Parma Violets...nom nom!@goriami
ReplyDeleteI've tweeted as @goriami
ReplyDeleteFollowing on GFC: Rubiah
ReplyDeleteI've always loved Parma Violets, I still eat them now.
Following on GFC. I love sherbet dib dabs!
ReplyDeleteTweeted too x
ReplyDeleteOoooh, swoon!!! Lemon bonbons, fruit salads, cola bottles, sherbet dabs.... I could go on for hours! Thank you for such a delicious giveaway, if I'm lucky enough to win, I won't be sharing with anyone. :) :) I'm following you by email, glad I found your blog.
ReplyDeleteAddicted to cola bottles and flying saucers. Please count me in.
ReplyDeleteAire & Angel
I love green jelly sweets. Ooh and those giant strawberries (the ones you get in pick & mix at the cinema). When I was younger I loved things like sherbet pips xx great giveaway
ReplyDelete