Vintage SweetieHeart - My first love. And a GIVEAWAY!

Reading some blogs you'd be forgiven for thinking that the authors emerged from the womb clad in vintage Missoni, and have had the urge to collect floral china from toddlerhood; eschewing noisy plastic toys and asking Father Christmas only for a handpainted spinning top for display. Not me. I happily admit to a childhood of neon towelling socks from the market, a collection of alarming dolls in national costume and the desperate need for for a SodaStream like my friend Felicity. However, there was one area in which I was a both expert and connoisseur, and that was SWEETS.

Retro Sweet Hamper

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 no longer a penny sweets if you're very lucky, so the rise of the proper sweetshop is something which I am delighted about. Bah Humbugs' bricks and mortar store is in Ripon,Yorkshire - if you're in the area pop in and admire their latest jelly bean mosiac - but thankfully you can now get your sugar rush delivered direct to your door by the wonders of t'internet. They kindly sent me the most exciting parcel - full of Chocolate Éclairs (always carried by my late Grandad Ronnie), Blackberries and Raspberries, Sherbet Pips, bubble gum, a sweetie necklace and even the chocolate fish and chips - the boys were eager testers of those. I'm happy to report that everything tasted just as I remembered, but special mention must go to the Rhubarb and Custards - amazing - how could I have forgotten about them?

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 me one of my readers. And because they're great, they said "yeah, no problem"! How cool is that? A whole kilogram of  sweetie goodness to pig yourself share with family and friends!

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. 

Good luck!

Lakota x