Monday 26 October 2009

A Quarter Of - all the old retro sweeties !



"A Quarter Of sells over 700 varieties of sweets including traditional favourites like Wham Bars, Anglo Bubbly, Black Jacks, Chelsea Whoppers, Fizzy Cola Bottles and Flying Saucers. The website instantly transports you back to your childhood with its treasure trove of sweet delights, reminiscences from memory lane and good, old-fashioned service. " Awww it all takes me back to the days when you could get a bag full of sweets at the school tuckshop with the 5p left over from your dinner money !!

Needless to say the girls were very excited when I told them their job for the morning was being sweet taste-testers ! Unlike when it's time to tidy their rooms, I didn't need to ask them twice - funny that ! As it's almost Halloween, we were trying out all the spooky-themed sweets.



The girls loved everything, and their feedback for every single item was "lovely - tastes nice" ! The long jelly skeletons went down well with the girls, and I loved the fact that despite being mega-stretchy, they didn't make your fingers all sticky. That means less tears at hairbrushing time !! Having never seen the jelly fangs before, I had to show them how to use them to maximum effect (cue lots of giggling ! ) but as you can see from the photo, they soon got the hang of them ! The white chocolate mice were delicious - but I was slightly disappointed that they didn't have the gruesome red insides that they used to have when I was a kid ! The girls loved the "terror eyes" gobstoppers but I have to admit, I'm showing my age now, I came out with that classic parent-line that always used to make me roll my eyes and go "Yes, Mum !" - "You be careful you don't swallow it whole or you'll choke !" I was just slightly concerned about the size of them, so maybe not one for really small children. The popping candy was, as always, a huge hit - I remember the urban legends about that one ! (If you're too young to know what I'm talking about, playground rumours had it that if you ate popping candy, drank coke and didn't burp or fart, your stomach would explode !!! )



They say everything seems smaller than you remembered as a child - well, I was actually amazed at how many sweets you get in a quarter. Then, after scrutinising the packaging, I worked it out. We've gone metric so you're buying a quarter of a kilo (250g), whereas in the olden days, it was a quarter of a pound, less than half that ! But that's ok because I'm a grown-up now so my mum can't tell me off for eating too many sweets any more anyway !!

As an adult, I guarantee that you'll find all your old favourites on there - sweets that have long since disappeared off the shelves and probably out of your memory until you see them in the online store ! For me, it was traffic light lollipops and foam shrimps ! They also have some fantastic ideas for wedding favours - personalised sweets or individual dinky retro jars. Definitely much more funky than the usual sugared almonds ! The bumper "boxes and jars of nostalgia" in the gifts section are also great for Christmas - they even sell sweets by decade, with the classic sweets from the 60s, 70s or 80s ! Love it !!

As it's geared to the adult sweets market, they take their labelling seriously, and you can search for gelatine-free, gluten-free or even sugar-free varieties. So there really is something to tickle everyone's taste buds.

Even if you don't like sweets (and who doesn't ?), you can go here just to have a chuckle at their list of "child of the 80s" memories ! I'll definitely be back and I'll be spending more than my old 50p pocket money, that's for sure !! (The prices are very reasonable though and start at £1.83 for 250g.)

star rating : 5/5


1 comment:

  1. You will also like www.britishcandy.com, take a look at the retro sweets hampers!

    ReplyDelete

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