“…it was twice as big and cost a nickel.” Okay, Grandma. And films cost ten cents to watch and popcorn was almost free and things were better, you were poor but happy and everything totally rocked.
I never understood what my grandmother was talking about when she would go on about her times and how little everything cost. I was reminded of all this by reading about peanut butter on So Good. I have noticed myself, in recent years, talking in a similar way, but not quite as often as Grandma did. I was just telling my lovely wife a few weeks ago, while buying a newspaper, that when I was about eight years old my parents would give me a dollar to go get a Sunday New York Times and would let me keep the 25 cents change. Of course, I never saved it, as my father suggested, but opted to buy a Snickers bar or Wacky Packages. Those were my vices at that age. It was a simpler time.
Were the candy bars bigger then? Well, as a ratio of my total body mass, they certainly were, but that’s a comparative judgment. A full-size Snickers bar felt in my hand like a giant cudgel and could almost be used as a walking stick. That was a full meal back in the day. I did not save my candy bar wrappers from the days of yore, so I cannot be sure, but I don’t think the candy bars of my youth were any bigger. I think it was just that my hands were smaller.
In addition, companies make much larger candies nowadays as well, so I suppose it’s hard to really make a fair comparison. Of course, everything is more expensive. I don’t think anything is cheaper now than when I was a kid, except for maybe buggy whips and flashbulbs.
What are the candies you remember fondly from your childhood? How do you remember them?
Giant Chocolate Bar by RHK313.
