Retro Sweets

One of the best ways to take a trip down Memory Lane is to munch a massive bag of retro sweets. And one of the best places to buy retro sweets is ShinyShack. If you're a child of the sixties, seventies or eighties, you're sure to recognise many of the retro sweets in ShinyShack's retro sweets category, and no doubt remember many happy childhood summers spent making dens and eating retro sweets.

Let's face it: sweets aren't what they used to be. Back in the day, when retro sweets weren't retro sweets but 'current' sweets, you'd ride up to the sweet shop on your Chopper or Grifter, leave it propped up outside without fear of someone pinching it, and browse jar after jar of the delicious goodies that we now call 'retro sweets'.

In the days when retro sweets weren't retro, there were only three television channels. Television didn't operate 24/7 like today's cable and satellite stations do, and there were no kids-only channels like there are today. We enjoyed our retro sweets in front of children's hours that were literally an hour long. And when we'd finished watching our hour of kids' TV, we'd grab what was left of our retro sweets and take them outdoors, and share our retro sweets with our friends (a Fizz Wiz for a Sherbet Fountain was considered a fair swap, in the good old days of retro sweets).

When retro sweets weren't retro, the only computer we'd heard of was ERNIE, the Premium Bonds computer which our parents took a great deal of interest in but which didn't offer any fun for retro sweets-fuelled kids. Computers that you could play games on? Perish the thought! Children of the retro sweets era could only dream of what computers might one day be able to achieve. Instead of PCs and games consoles, we played actual games, the sort where you'd fuel up on retro sweets and have more than enough energy to run around playing British bulldog, knock down ginger or kiss chase. And although we ate retro sweets and other goodies, childhood obesity was virtually unheard of, because when we weren't eating retro sweets we were running around burning off calories before the retro sweets had any chance of making us overweight.

In the good old days of retro sweets, our parents weren't afraid of dirt, mud and the odd germ or two. If we got filthy while out playing, that was perfectly normal. Ingesting a little mud with our retro sweets wasn't going to kill us, as the world of the retro sweets era wasn't as sanitised as today.  Biological washing powder? Mums of the retro sweets years wouldn't have a clue what that was. If our flares or winged collar shirts became stained with retro sweets, Mum would pop them into a bucket on the stove, and boil them until no trace of retro sweets remained. Anti-bacterial soap? Pah! In the days when we stuffed our little faces with retro sweets until we were sticky all over, a good scrubbing with carbolic or Lifebuoy was all it took to remove any stickiness from retro sweets-stained fingers and faces.

When retro sweets were king, binge drinking never crossed kids' minds. Children were proper children in the days of retro sweets. Smoking was vile, alcohol was what made your mum a bit giggly at Christmas, and as for drugs - we'd never heard of them. The only thing we had any danger of becoming addicted to was retro sweets - and we always had Mum looking over our shoulder, making sure we weren't overdosing on retro sweets or fizzy pop. And hoodies didn't exist either. The only hoods we knew anything about in the days of retro sweets were the hoods of our Parkas, which we'd place on our heads, removing our arms from the sleeves, and run around pretending to be Batman. Children don't do that these days - but perhaps that's because today's kids don't have access to the wonderful selection of retro sweets that we could munch on in the good old days of retro sweets.

Children of the retro sweets era understood the meaning of 'respect your elders'. We retro sweets-loving kids wouldn't dream of being even slightly cheeky to our elders, let alone being abusive. Elderly people could walk the streets without fear in the days of retro sweets. If we saw an old lady struggling with shopping bags we'd offer to help. There were no ASBOs in the days of retro sweets; they simply weren't necessary. If we kids stepped out of line with a neighbour we'd get a clip round the earhole, and we'd understand that we'd deserved it.  If we were asked to run an errand we'd do it without complaint; we'd be grateful for any reward of retro sweets earned from our good deeds, but if no reward was offered, we wouldn't dream of complaining.

In those days, retro sweets were as naughty as our diets got. There were no microwaves, and so there were no microwave meals. We ate real, home cooked food, served by mums in aprons, at the table with the rest of the family and with the television switched off. We were allowed retro sweets as a special treat, but never between meals; retro sweets were strictly reserved for kids who ate their greens. Do mums even cook greens these days? In the days of retro sweets there was no food wastage; we had to eat whatever we were given, with the admonition that the starving children of Biafra would be insulted if we didn't.

The days of retro sweets had their own hardships, but on the whole those retro sweets years were the happiest years of our lives. If you want to relive those happy times - times when eating your fill of retro sweets was your biggest dream and Saturday morning pictures was the highlight of your week - take a trip down Memory Lane with ShinyShack, and stock up on a selection of good old-fashioned retro sweets. The price of retro sweets may have gone up a bob or two in the past 30 years, but the happy memories created by a mouthful of retro sweets will always be free of charge.

Retro sweets in all shapes and sizes. We've got all you need for a mouthwatering trip down candy lane! Whether you're in search of Love Hearts, Space Dust, or even that childhood candy classic, Chocolate Cigarettes, you'll find something for your Retro Sweet requirements right here.