Christmas Confectionery: A Glorious Return to the Sweet, Sticky Magic of the 70s and 80s

 Ah, Christmas Confectionery — even saying the words feels like pulling open an old Quality Street tin lid and being hit by that unmistakable perfume of sugar and nostalgia. It wasn’t about counting calories back then, or whether something was vegan, gluten-free or blessed by an angel of dietary moderation. No, in the seventies and eighties, the season was about abundance. Bowls of sweets so full they creaked under their own weight. Aunties who arrived armed with fudge and fondant. Grandads who claimed the toffees were “for their teeth” and then ate half the tin. The world felt warmer, simpler — sweeter, in every sense.

And now, that warmth is back. The new age of Christmas confectionery has found its way home: fizzy, chewy, chocolatey joy that would make any kid of the 80s grin like they’d just unwrapped a Raleigh Chopper. Here are ten sweets that capture that golden glow of childhood Christmases — the ones you ate cross-legged by the fire while Top of the Pops blared and someone spilled advocaat on the carpet.

1) Christmas Sweets

This is where the story begins. The full orchestra of festive flavour. Monmore’s Christmas Sweets range isn’t just a selection — it’s a memory reawakened. Cola bottles dusted in sugar like fresh frost, jelly Santas that squish like snow underfoot, and chocolate treats that gleam under the fairy lights. This is the sweetshop version of Morecambe and Wise on Christmas Day: familiar, funny, and absolutely unmissable.

• Think: Christmas confectionery, retro sweets, holiday treats, nostalgic chocolate.

2) Blue Mix

If you remember corner shops with jars stacked to the ceiling, you’ll recognise this kind of brilliance. The Blue Mix is a vivid collection of fizzy and chewy sweets — one kilogram of sugar-spun joy. It’s the kind of bag that would’ve lasted a whole week in 1978, or an evening now if you’ve still got that childlike lack of restraint. This isn’t fancy. It’s fun. It’s everything that made the sweet counter the happiest place on earth.

A variety of chewy, fizzy blue sweets. 1kg. *Contents May Vary.

3) Candy & Co Liquorice Carnival

There was always one family member who swore by liquorice. “It’s good for digestion,” they’d say, before disappearing with half the jar. This Liquorice Carnival is that exact jar reborn: a grand Victorian spectacle of fruit flavours and liquorice swirls that feel right at home on a walnut sideboard beside a bowl of tangerines and a half-finished sherry. Big, bold, and proudly old-fashioned — just how Christmas confectionery ought to be.

An assortment of fruit flavour and liquorice candies in a large Victorian style jar. 1.6kg. The perfect nostalgic gift.

4) Christmas Mix

Every house had one of these bowls — the unlabelled treasure trove of chewy, fizzy shapes that somehow refilled themselves overnight. The Christmas Mix captures that same chaos: snowmen, stars, and bells jostling together like relatives round the telly. There’s something wholesome about it. No branding, no fuss — just the universal language of sugar and smiles.

A variety of chewy, fizzy Christmas-shaped sweets. 1kg. *Contents May Vary.

5) Pick N Mix Advent Calendar

In the old days, an advent calendar meant pictures of donkeys and shepherds, and if you were lucky, a lump of cheap chocolate shaped like a camel. This modern masterpiece rewrites the rules: a Pick N Mix Advent Calendar brimming with chewy surprises behind every door. It’s the sort of invention the eighties deserved — and we’d have worshipped it like a new game console. The joy of discovery, one sweet at a time.

An assortment of sweets hidden behind 24 doors. 720g. *Contents May Vary.

6) Christmas Sweets

Back then, we called it “stocking up.” These days it’s “buying in bulk.” Either way, the result is the same: cupboards full of treats, tins that clatter when opened, and a quiet satisfaction that you’ll never run out before New Year. The Christmas Sweets selection from H.S. Wholesale is the sensible kind of excess — party-sized, shareable, and gloriously irresponsible.

7) 9 Piece Sweet Pick N Mix

Ah, the pick n mix bag — every child’s first lesson in temptation and regret. You’d fill it to the brim, weigh it guiltily, then eat the lot before reaching the bus stop. This nine-piece wonder resurrects that thrill: small enough to gift, big enough to transport you straight back to Woolworths circa 1984. A perfect pocket of Christmas confectionery charm.

8) Candycrave Vegan Fizzy Christmas Stars

It’s heartening to see modern sweets learning old tricks. These fizzy red, green and white stars sparkle with mischief — proof that being kind to animals doesn’t mean being dull. They fizz on the tongue, they shine in the light, and they look like something you’d find scattered under a tree after the best sort of party.

Candycrave Vegan Fizzy Christmas Stars 2kg. Add some sparkle to your Christmas.

9) Candycrave Vegan Fizzy Christmas Wreaths

Forget the holly and tinsel — these are the wreaths worth hanging onto. Green and red, fizzy as laughter, soft enough to bite without guilt. They bring the festive table alive, the edible answer to the question: “What happened to proper fun?” They’re proof that Christmas confectionery can be both modern and magnificent.

Candycrave Vegan Fizzy Christmas Wreaths 2kg. Tangy, festive, and downright joyous.

10) Christmas Sweets

If ever there was a range that felt like the ghost of Christmas parties past, this is it. Kandy King’s collection is the sort of spread that would have stolen the show at your nan’s house in 1976 — bowls brimming with toffees, fudge, chocolate coins, and chewy fruit delights. It’s rich, plentiful, and charmingly excessive, like the season itself.

• For lovers of Christmas chocolate, retro sweets, and good old-fashioned indulgence.

A Toast to the Past (and a Bag for the Future)

The beauty of Christmas Confectionery lies not in its refinement but its rebellion. It’s the joyful defiance of adulthood, a return to simpler pleasures — when your biggest worry was who got the last jelly baby. These sweets, from the Monmore Christmas range to the mighty jars and vegan fizzers, bring that spirit roaring back. Because somewhere between the mince pies and the carols, we all deserve a taste of the childhood Christmas we still remember — bright lights, open laughter, and sticky fingers on the armchair.

And if you ask me, that’s exactly what Christmas Confectionery was invented for.