(Guest post by The Boyfriend)
Julie and I regularly discuss and debate the major issues of the day…issues of earth-shattering importance…those that potentially affect the mental, physical, and emotional well-being of every human on the planet.
Our most recent topic: Whatever happened to the really cool toys that we used to find in boxes of Cracker Jack and breakfast cereal?
When I was a kid, I loved Cracker Jack. It was probably my favorite junk food. And as was the case for most kids, my favorite part of the Cracker Jack experience was the toy surprise inside. My sister and I would dig into freshly-opened boxes, and it was understood that the next spoken words would be, “Whadja get?”
Whenever my parents would give in to my incessant whining and consent to buy sugary “kid” cereal with a free whatchamacallit or thingamabob inside (“Be sure to collect all seven, Kids!”), within five minutes of its entering the house, I would be ripping into the box to exhume the toy.
(Aside #1: Why the hell did they always put the surprise at the bottom of the box? I must have spilled a ton of cereal while attempting to excavate toys. This always prompted my mom to swear that she would never buy cereal with toys inside again, a vow she was never able to keep.)
By the age of eleven, I had amassed a nightstand drawer full of rings, whistles, fold-up magnifying glasses, glow-in-the-dark figurines, joke books, and no end of other treasures that I had pulled from boxes of Cracker Jack and “kid” cereal.
But have you noticed that toys of that sort are a real rarity nowadays?
As an adult, I still indulge in a box of Cracker Jack from time to time. Toward the end of this past baseball season, I purchased a horribly overpriced bag of the treat while at a Reds game. The surprise? A peel-off sticker of some sort. And then I realized that I couldn’t recall the last time I pulled a surprise out of a box or bag that wasn’t a sticker. On their website, they currently boast about a series of stickers sporting the logos of Major League Baseball teams. A sticker, dear folks at Cracker Jack, is not a toy. And yes, I do know that the label now reads “Surprise Inside” instead of “Toy Surprise Inside”. That’s no excuse.
(Aside #2: There’s something that’s just wrong about the phrase “bag of Cracker Jack”. Cracker Jack should come in a by-God box. But I digress.)
A couple of Sunday nights ago, Julie and I were at the Hyde Park Kroger and did an informal, totally unscientific survey. We walked the entire cereal aisle, looking for boxes that had contained toys inside. We found one, a box of Apple Jacks. Most of the “kid” cereals had either games (mazes, word-find puzzles, etc.) on the back of the box, or they featured some sort of mail-in offer (often for DVDs).
Our conversation actually began while we were in Paris and Munich during the holidays. We were in Munich’s version of a Macy’s when Julie squealed, “Ooooh! Kinder Eggs!” I knew not Kinder Eggs from Shinola. Julie explained that they are delicious hollow chocolate eggs that contain toy surprises. They are sold widely throughout Europe and Canada. Julie has a friend who used to send them to her from Scotland.
We bought four of the eggs. During a long layover at Dulles Airport, we opened one. The toy inside was a snap-together race car, complete with decals. This was so cool! I hadn’t seen a toy of this sort in probably twenty-five years.
Back at home, we opened the other three eggs. One contained a spring-loaded bug-type critter that bounces very high when dropped onto the floor or tabletop. The others eggs contained toys that we couldn’t figure out. According to the illustrated directions, the user is supposed to blow on them, causing them to move somehow. Take a look at the directions, and see if you can help us out.
So…whatever happened to the really cool toys we used to find in boxes of Cracker Jack and breakfast cereal? What are your memories of toys pulled from food boxes?
We look forward to your comments.
