This thread open to all..let the topic(s) take you where they may.

Not seasonal..not dependent on a sunny day... or a good mood ( or a bad one for that matter)

Somewhat dependent on your memory....and we know how those morph 😏😆

Share!

This morning I was thinking about birthday corsages.
I am not sure if this was a Brooklyn thing..
An Italian thing....
A family thing...
Or just a fad of the time...but it lasted my growing up years during the 50's and 60's

Each birthday ..and I believe it had to start during a period when we were old enough not to choke on the parts .. or get stuck with the pearl-topped straight pin fastener... We girls got a birthday corsage... It was BEAUTIFUL! Sometimes it would contain a fresh pink rose bud..surrounded by ribbons and chiffon.. Sometimes there would be a small toy tucked in the ribbons. The corsage always contained candy held tight by pipe cleaners (DID THOSE THINGS ACTUALLY CLEAN PIPES???) that matched the number of our years. Birthday number 14 held small dog biscuits...to recognize the age of "puppy love." The corsages ended when we hit 16 --that glorious corsage was heavily laden with 16 sugar cubes. It was a rite of passage and the italian moms would shed a tear when that one was fastened. I can still see my very favorite corsage in my minds eye...brightly colored and heavily sugared gum drops...a silk yellow and black striped bumble bee...a flower..and a beautiful chiffon bow. I was likely 10 or 11. I am 63 now.....alas, the time for birthday corsages long gone...but I think I may resurrect the custom for my three granddaughters.

And...who can forget these? No matter how many years pass.......
Pinned to a coat...no matter how shabby...we all felt like Christmas Angels.

Oh my..these photos are making me sad instead of glad.

I guess I am missing my mom and Christmases past.

Those are all lovely photos. I would love to have one of those pins to wear on my coat at Christmas.

My grandmother always had ribbon candy during the holiday.


And she loved these fruit slice candies.


She had the most wonderful recipe for cuccidati (excuse spelling). For the past few years my daughter, cousin & I get together and use her recipe and make cookies.

I recognize those!!!! But, not the name.
My aunts Dora and Annie used to feed me those. Wow.

Also the ribbon candy..what was that flavor? It was not cinnamon..it was not clove...it was a spice with heat.. So good ...and there was the tin of smaller christmas hard candy.. Also a few had that spicy one

It may have been ( center photo ) the red with green stripes....

I loved it and hated it!

This was my christmas "cookie"
Struffoli

I never heard of Struffoli but they sure look good!

I didn't like those striped candies either. But I did love the purple waffley ones.

Oh Rosie,
The corsages are awesome! How grown up you must have felt each year.
Never had an ornament pinned to my coat either. What a great thing!

Julie,
My Grandma had a candy dish. It was seasonal and I loved to find the hard Christmas candy in it. The ribbons could shred your tongue after a while.

YUM on the cookie pictures!!

One of my favorite candys were the necklaces. I usually got one after swimming lessons. I don't think I could wear that sticky wet string around my neck now but if you were careful they lasted a while.

Slo-Pokes were another favorite. My sister and I always chose them to pass out to the class on our birthdays.

Sally,
I grew up in the borough of Brooklyn in NY. And in NY ..the "neighborhoods" tended to be all Italian or all German or Irish etc., with an exception here and there....pro or con..we all tended to have the same experiences. Growing up, it would not have entered my mind that the corsages weren't a standard in everyone's house..or at Christmas, the struffoli were not being rolled on every counter. Sundays, the family gathered for a pasta dish and a meat. Everybody's brothers got arrested together... The daughters all found boyfriends at about the same time. If we got caught smoking..every mother gave us a crack as we walked home ( they were waiting on their ' stoops' ) and issued a warning about what waited for us when we got to our actual house and faced our biological mother!

The world was very small back then...😊

I remember those necklaces...the came later in my life and were around when my kids were small...also those horrid little pink and white and yellow and blue dots stuck to strips of paper.
I have never heard of a slo poke

Julie...I remember the purple waffle candies at Christmas...

and also a tannish blond...I think those had peanut butter in them...those were not Christmas fare tho.

Oh and those HORRID Banana..sort of a peachy yellow. Soft.. I think they are still around but the banana is really artificial -- worse than I remember.

A standard in my mom's purse was gum and the multicolored ( primary colors not the new fruit stuff) lifesavers

Struffoli are a family must for the holidays, but we mostly called them honey balls. And my mother always liked the spiced hard candy for Christmas but they are getting harder to find.

Rosie,
I love your small world!

Laughing, and the paper would sometimes come off with those dots. I'm not sure of the smell of them. I have the double Bouncing Bett and it smells just like an old candy to me. I thought maybe the dots.

I loved the foot long banana taffy! Flat and it could be chewy or you could snap off a piece.

Ahhh, a whole roll of lifesavers to yourself and if you didn't want the green one you managed to take the next one and stuff it back in the roll.

They could last all day if you sucked on them and that's why we chose them for our birthday treat.

Slo Poke:
The Slo Poke was billed on its wrapper as a “delicious caramel,” even though it’s presented like a lollipop. I wouldn’t quite call it a caramel, as it was not at all sticky, and its chew was much softer and long lasting than that of caramel.

NJBob said:Struffoli are a family must for the holidays, but we mostly called them honey balls. And my mother always liked the spiced hard candy for Christmas but they are getting harder to find.

BUT WHAT was that spice?? Not clove..not cinnamon..

billyporter said:Rosie,
I love your small world!

Laughing, and the paper would sometimes come off with those dots. I'm not sure of the smell of them. I have the double Bouncing Bett and it smells just like an old candy to me. I thought maybe the dots.

I loved the foot long banana taffy! Flat and it could be chewy or you could snap off a piece.

Ahhh, a whole roll of lifesavers to yourself and if you didn't want the green one you managed to take the next one and stuff it back in the roll.

They could last all day if you sucked on them and that's why we chose them for our birthday treat.

Slo Poke:
The Slo Poke was billed on its wrapper as a “delicious caramel,” even though it’s presented like a lollipop. I wouldn’t quite call it a caramel, as it was not at all sticky, and its chew was much softer and long lasting than that of caramel.

Yes!!!! I know those. It had sort of a chalky feel to me too. I don't think they were called slo poke in NY and the chocolate taffy was lighter in color...like a yoo hoo dink color.
We never had a foot long taffy.

You may have to be catholic I think to get this... ...but the material of the host..the wafer? Well back in the day..there was this candy...( two for a penny) two cup shaped wafers..maybe the size of 50 cent piece..sealed together and formed a sort of saucer shaped hollow..was filled with tiny colored candy balls..the two wafers popped apart easily. And, aside from the curved bulge in each...it did look and taste like the Holy Eucharist....I used to pull those apart-- eat the little candy seeds -- and then play "mass" where I would dispense the 'host ' and prayers and take up collections (to support my immense Super Girl comic habit )

It was astounding ..now that I think about it .... I really had a thriving congregation for a girl. We kids were sinners! Well, the nuns at St. Sylvesters heard about it...( I think it was that weasel up the street Frankie Sabatello and his nosy gossip mother) ...well...if the nuns heard....my mother heard......OH there was HELL to pay!!

That's a great story Rosie and yes they do taste like the 'Holy Eucharist'

Sally I think Bouncing Bett smells like smarties candy or sweet tarts.

One of my best spring memories was getting to take the crown of flowers in for the blessed mother at May procession time! We had a lilac bush so that's what mine was made of. I grow lilac for that reason alone the memory smell is incredible.

Rosie, that's so funny! I used to play 'host' with those wafers also!


I personally loved those paper dots. So much candy on one piece of paper. I always went for the bulk packaging - necco wafers, smarties (still one of my favorites). And mary jane's, those were good too, once you softened them up a bit.

Sally, I remember slo pokes - my brother's favorite. Maybe Rosie is thinking of a sugar daddy?


Rosie, I have been googling all over the place. I am not familiar with the flavor, but could you be thinking of horehound?

smiley said:Rosie, that's so funny! I used to play 'host' with those wafers also!


I personally loved those paper dots. So much candy on one piece of paper. I always went for the bulk packaging - necco wafers, smarties (still one of my favorites). And mary jane's, those were good too, once you softened them up a bit.

Sally, I remember slo pokes - my brother's favorite. Maybe Rosie is thinking of a sugar daddy?

Yes! Those are the devil's play things! Ha! Funny, I don't remember those colors. Maybe my mother beat the memory out of me!

I remember Sugar Daddy too..we had those in the theater on Saturday.,, they lasted! But, the smaller lollipops I am thinking of with a taffy top ..were likely inexpensive. In NY we had a shop ( sort of like today's dollar stores) ...called John's Bargain...I bet mom got those there. Strawberry, Chocolate ( more a pale mocha) and banana.

I remember everything but the corsages. We never had those, would have LOVED them tho
Maybe the taste was the fake cinnamon Cassia, it was used for cinnamon because it was cheaper

No the spice was nothing like cinnamon. I will ask my sister -- she KNOWS EVERYTHING! 😆😝

Not horehound?

remember these?



mmm.. but not the green ones..

No...not horehound..but .i do love that..

This was the candy with that flavor...the RED with THE GREEN stripe.

Alao here is that purple waffley one




Oh I sure DO!

I inhaled when I should have exhaled and almost killed myself on those powders! There was one with a dip stick...and do you remember FIZZIES??

Also, you remember the wax lips, mustach, teeth, finger with red nail polish, and orange HARMONICA?

That was was sooooooo good and chewy.. Could almost stretch it...now..it shatters ...no flavor...feels BAD in mouth.