Sponsored Post¦ What’s the first sweet you think of when you hear “Swizzels”? For me it’s Drumsticks, but I love all their other sweets too. It evokes childhood memories whenever I spot them in the shop. I used to feel like I’d won the lottery when I left with a Double Dip – the pack of strawberry and orange sherberts with the iconic Swizzelstick for dipping. In the 90s, it wasn’t a kid’s birthday at school if you didn’t come home with a pack of fizzers or a fruit pop lolly. I might have just turned 30, but I felt like a big kid when it came to trying Swizzels sweets again! Yet, there were a couple of things I was worried about…
Ingredients
My first concern was that I might not be able to try most of the sweets myself and would have to get feedback from my husband and daughter. I took the assumption that most of them would contain gelatine. As a vegetarian this is a no-no. However, I was delighted to see that most of the sweets were not only vegetarian, but were clearly labelled as vegetarian or vegan too! The Squashies were the only ones I couldn’t personally eat. My 5 year old often chooses these with her pocket money, so I knew she wouldn’t mind reviewing them for me 😉
None of Swizzels’ sweets have artificial colours in, so fortunately hyperactivity isn’t a risk. Thank goodness! She bounces off the walls half the time as it is!
Flavours
I was also a little hesitative, because I actually haven’t eaten any of these sweets in years. During my pregnancy with Autumn, I had a craving for a sweet from another brand that I enjoyed in my childhood. Unfortunately, it now tastes completely different. I didn’t want to experience that disappointment from Swizzels. Sometimes things are better kept as pleasant nostalgic memories.
Swizzels sent us the following sweets to put to the test:
Fortunately, I was relieved to find that all of the sweets I’d had before tasted exactly the same as they did 20 years ago (although I think the Refreshers contained less sherbet than they used to).
We started off with some Love Hearts. With Valentine’s Day only a few days away, these are a perfect little Valentine’s gift. They’re so cute and I love to share them with people that I love. We actually had mini packets of them as wedding favours! As a child, I remember eating them until I got one that said ‘LOVE YOU’, which I’d then give to one of my parents.
Fizzers used to be my sweet of choice when it was someone’s birthday at school. However, they were always small packets and I was surprised to see them in giant form! They’re delicious and sherbety, with a shape that feels quite satisfying to hold. Parma Violets are just the same as ever and I was unsurprised to find out I’m still not a fan of them in adult-hood. They were definitely something you either love or hate! I’ll be passing the rest on to a relative who does like them and will be very pleased.
As previously mentioned, my daughter loves Squashies! She has fun biting them and pulling them so that they stretch. Plus, she describes them as “Really yummy!”
Car Journey
No car journey is complete without sweets! We took the chew bars on the road with us.
In hindsight, this was kind of a bad idea – the sweets we’d already eaten would have been a better choice. Luckily, we were armed with baby wipes to clean up the sticky mess! Arguably, that’s part of the fun anyway.
All were really good. My husband and I both wanted to try the Banana Skids as we’d never seen it in a shop before, so we shared it. It was interesting (in a good way); I got a hit of banana first and then it mostly just tasted of toffee. As for the Drumstick and Refreshers bars, they tasted just as we remembered except for the lack of sherbet.
I’m mostly a chocolate eater these days, but my foray back into the world of sweets has got me wanting to eat them more often again. I would have thought it was so grown-up and boring of me to rarely eat sweets if I was my 8 year old self looking at my life more. It’s important for us all to have fun and be a bit more childlike at times, I think. Sharing my childhood sweets with my own child has been a special experience. I’m already looking forward to our next after-school trip to the corner shop to pick up some Swizzels sweets; some for her and some for me.
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post with Swizzels for which I have received compensation. As always, all views and opinions are honest and my own.