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Traditional Sweet Shop Packaging

12 commentsWritten on March 31st, 2009 by Packaging Supplier
Categories: Nostalgic Packaging, Packaging Supplies, Paper Packaging
Tags: brown paper bags, Packaging Supplies, Paper Bags, Paper Packaging

It is easy to remember with great fondness particular parts of childhood, a simple example is a trip to the local sweet shop. Traditional Old Sweet Shop

There was always a ‘Mrs Allan’s sweetshop’ or a ‘Mr Thomas’ sweetshop’ as we called them, nearby. There was a gentle tinkling bell as you pushed open the door full of excitement with a sudden need for sugar, when you were greeted by a wonderful sickly sweet aroma. a mixture of sugar and fruits. Eyes were immediately drawn to the huge and towering shelves, behind the simple counter, that were brimming with jars and jars full of sweets. Lovely lovely sweets! Any Childs idea of heaven!

The little, dare I say it ‘sweet’ old lady or man would take your order

‘a quarter of sherbet lemons, and a quarter of humbugs please’

And weigh it out on the Avery scale pan, and then they’d pour them, expertly into a little perfectly sized paper bag, no matter how many sweets you bought, they always had the perfect size bag. If you were lucky you got one off those pink candy striped paper bags.

A Candy Stripe Paper Bag

Once the treats were paid for and the goods handed over, the run home to eat all your favourite sweets was all that mattered.

There are so many fantastic sweets and chocolate treats of yesteryear that are no longer available, many no longer produced at all. A return to tradition as far as confectionery and sweet shops are concerned would give future generation’s similar memories to the ones we have and all hold dear.

I say bring back;

•   Parma violets
•   Sherbet pips
•   Kali
•   Gobstoppers
•   Sugar mice
•   Dolly mixture
•   Flying saucers
•   Red laces
•   Jelly beans
•   Pascal’s kola cubes
•   Sherbet dips
•   Bassetti Liquorice Sticks
•   Black Jacks (and Fruit Salad)

Without delay!!

Sweets have been around for far longer than many of us realise.

It wasn’t until the 17th century that boiled sweets (that were made using sugar beet) were first introduced to England, and not until the 19th century that sweets were available to all, this was due to industrialisation.

Some of the oldest sweets were used for medicinal purposes, although not all sound particularly appetising, Aniseed balls were believed to be a cure for indigestion in medieval times, and Egyptians candied nuts and fruit with layers of honey.

Chocolate is even older than sweets, dating back to the Aztecs. Although not chocolate as we know today, they drank undiluted liquor from fermented cacao beans, creating the very first hot chocolate drink.

So when did the little perfectly sized paper bags arrive?

One of the very first references to a paper bag dates back to the 1600′s, but paper bags were not known to the general public back then.

The industrial revolution was in full swing when paper bags became more commonly used, although it wasn’t until around the 1870′s that new machinery to manufacture the bags was invented and around the same time new designs were developed and made.

Back in 1817 the cardboard box became available in England, a couple of hundred years after the Chinese had invented it, and until the rise of the paper bag, was a popular means of easy store easy transport containers.

The wide use of paper bags coincides in history with the availability of sweets to the general public. Remember the white sulphite paper bags you used to get in the sweet shop? You always ended up with a small bag of sugar you could dip your wet finger in.

Traditional White Sulphite Paper Bags

Perhaps little ‘sweet’ Mrs Allan or Mr Thomas were the last in generations and generations of sweet-makers and paper packaging specialists, resulting in the fond childhood memories that seemed to show us a glimmer of what heaven could be.

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