31 Days of Halloween with The Kelly Society Day 13 - Halloween Candy Memories
31 Days of Halloween with
The Kelly Society
Day 13
It's John, the one who works all those ghost detector machines during the Kelly Society haunted house investigations. Anyway, since I was a teenager in the 1970's I asked Vivien if I could post about my favorite classic candy from that era.
Here we go!
So, as you can see - yes, we really did eat candy cigarettes! Not nowadays! But, back in the 70's we got them in our trick or treat bags and chewed them up. They had a sugary powder on them and tasted like soft sugar sticks. Not the best, but we gobbled them up anyway. My favorite was the red wax lips. We'd put them on our mouths and laugh and take pictures with our Polaroid camera, and then we would eat them up. Yes, they tasted sweet, but still had a hard waxy texture. What we put up with back in those days!
Something I have only seen on vintage websites and was something I really enjoyed was the Halloween wax harmonica. That's the orange waxy thing you see in the photos above, and my friends and I really did play a tune on it. We couldn't eat it, but we kept it around till Thanksgiving and then tossed it in the trash. The last item in the wax category were the little wax bottles filled with a sugary colored fluid. We munched down on the top, spit out the wax, and then drank. It's so weird to think of those candy concoctions now! But, back in the day, we loved them.
The big warning (besides razor blades being hidden in red apples) happened with Pop Rocks. When we opened the paper bag and emptied the little candy particles on our tongues, they would start popping off in our mouths. My buddies and I thought it was hysterical, but a news report came out when a kid ate pop rocks and then drank a coke at the same time, the child died. After that, our parents told us we could only put a little in our mouths at one time, and without coca cola!
All I can say is there was a lot more sugar floating around back then. The most intense were Pixie Sticks and Fun Dip (which was a pole made of sugar which we dipped into different flavored grains of more sugar). Man, oh man! It's a wonder we are all still alive and kicking.
I do have great memories of laughing, teasing, and sharing all the vintage candies from that time. Some of those favorites have prevailed and are still on store shelves.
I want to close with some of my favorite 1970's TV shows, which aired special episodes each Halloween. Some of you may know these, and some may not. But, they made us laugh and look forward to Halloween each year.
Well that does it! I want to wish all you Halloweenies out there a fun and classic Halloween. As for me, I'm going to order some vintage candy this year online and enjoy Halloween memories!
John
The Kelly Society
