Sweet-Tooth Fix For Baby Boomers: Nostalgic Candy

wlky ^ | 10-30-03

[wheelgunguru]

Baby Boomers can't seem to grow up, at least when comes to their taste in candy.

People who want to celebrate Halloween with wax lips, Gold Mine Gum and other hard-to-find candies from their youth are finding more companies catering to the middle-age sweet tooth.

The Woodstock Candy company in upstate New York is doing a booming business, catering to the boomers' sweet-tooth.

They have retro goodies like wax lips, candy cigarettes and those candy buttons on paper. But the company is up-to-date in marketing.

Boomers can buy their sugar fix from the Web site WoodstockCandy.com.

There's also a bow to the political correctness of the 21st century. Candy cigarettes are now called candy sticks. But some old-time favorites still provide a puff of sugar when you blow through a hole in the middle.

Bridget Sweeney-Bell says people are usually thrilled to find candy from their childhood is still available. She says candy buttons, Nik-L-Nip and candy cigarettes are big sellers this year on her Web site.

Tom Scheiman stocks 2,500 items in his Cleveland candy store, 200 of which he classifies as "nostalgic."

Nostalgic candy has become a niche in the $24 billion U.S. candy business, in part because the biggest candy makers like Wrigley and Pennsylvania-based Hershey have concentrated on fewer items, especially chocolate.

That means wax lips and Atomic Fireballs can be hard to find on store shelves.

[EllaMinnow]

I'd forgotten Crispy Critters!

I'd forgotten about these, too - but the box brings back fond memories.

Notice how they've taken the word "sugar" off all the cereals? We used to have Sugar Pops, Sugar Smacks, etc.

[wheelgunguru]

Notice how they've taken the word "sugar" off all the cereals?

Really?! I hadn't noticed. When I was a kid, that was one of my major food groups (right after fat and just before salt).

[EllaMinnow]

Sugar Pops are now Corn pops, and Sugar Smacks are Honey Smacks.
No doubt because of boomer moms who think sugar is evil, and have forgotten the tons of it they ate in their own childhoods.

[katnip]

I think there was a Lefty Lime too (yuck).

I didn't like lefty stuff even back them!

[PaulJ]

I used to buy 25 cents worth of malted milk balls at the candy counter at Woolworths.

Wow! So did I! Woolworths in downtown Hartford, CT. It was my favorite treat. Twenty-five cents bought a quarter pound.(c.1966)

[wheelgunguru]

bttt

[wheelgunguru]

Do you remember, "Mother! I can do it MYSELF!"

Was that the commercial for aspirin? The mother was trying to help, the daughter snapped at her, and the mother got this hurt look on her face. Oh, boo hoo!

If that had been at my house, the mother would have cut loose with a few choice expletives and gone to the movies.

[PaulJ]

It was for Tylenol.

[EllaMinnow]

LoL. My Woolworths was in downtown Tallahassee, Florida. Did the one in Hartford have the bid ceiling fans?

It always seemed like the whole store smelled like candy corn.

[firebrand]

Yummy! Next time I go off Atkins . . .

[mafree]

I liked both Quisp and Quake too, though I can't recall the difference between them.

[mafree]

Oh I liked that candy lipstick too.

[mafree]

They still sell those at stores like Family Dollar- don't know if there's one in your area or not.

[carton253]

There really wasn't any difference in taste. Spaceman's Quisp's cereal was in the shape of a "space saucer", and Miner Quake's serial looked (I don't know how to describe it exactly) like it had been mined through. (Maybe a little like Honeycombs, but not quite)

[antivenom]

I still love all of that gum!

[mafree]

I love Violets to this day but they're not easy to find.

[mafree]

I love Lemonheads- still buy them. Didja know they now have Cherryhead, Grapehead and Orangehead? I like them all.

[mafree]

How about Funny Face powdered drink mixes.

"Funny Face is fun to drink, fun to drink for everyone"! Still, we mostly drank Kool-Aid.

[mafree]

Oh no, you can still get Swee-Tarts! Try a gas station-type convenience store or a dollar store.

[Dionysius]

Then then there were the dots of colored sugar affixed to adding machine tape. One ate as much paper as one did candy.