I'm hitching my horse to the post today at Willow Manor. She inspired me to get a bunch of little Cracker Jack "toys" out of an old tin and scan them. They're all made from paper. None of the wonderful toys from the 1960s and earlier. These all date from the late 1980s to early 90s. I used to go into Costco and buy a bunch of boxes. Eat the box in about 5 minutes and think "Now why did I do that?"
Click on the images to see them larger.
The toys do not stack up to the wonderful plastic animal toys from long ago. I was at an antique store many years ago and the owner had a bracelet that was packed with hundreds and hundreds of the little gems. I didn't ask her what she wanted. I knew I couldn't afford it. But she didn't know what they were. I wish I'd spoken up and said I'll give you 20 bucks for it. I might have gotten it.
Like I said, Willow at Willow Manor has written nicely about the history of the crunchy salty sweet treat. I haven't had any in a very long time. I wasn't even sure they made it anymore.
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I came over from Willow's place and started singing the moment I read the title! *smile* Love your collection. I imagine the one or other surprise was a bummer for the kid who found it. ;-) I wonder if anyone ever used the tiny "Assignment" notebook (gosh, does anyone still remember the "notebook" of old?). Thank you for sharing these treats!
ReplyDeleteThank you Merisi. I have a little old tea tin full of these things. I always loved them because they were miniature books. The little assignment book was always a favorite. The really crummy things that kids are supposed to attach to their shoelaces, well that's when I gave up on Cracker Jacks. They started sticking crummy stickers in the box.
ReplyDeleteThere used to be a Japanese rice candy called Tomoe Ame which was a two part box. The larger blue box had the rice candy and the smaller pink box attached to it contained a toy. I remember buying those a lot as a child in Hawaii. Alas, they are now as crummy as Cracker Jack toys.
We have no crackerjack culture over in Scotland. So I have never tasted crackerjacks or sampled the free gifts. The nearest we got was the breakfast cereal gifts and they were always pretty poor, although they were made of plastic. My boys loved the Kinder Eggs with their tiny machines to make up. Interesting to see your collection.
ReplyDeleteYou mean to tell me nobody ever hid a surprise in a haggis????
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