Topic: Recycling sweetie wrappers? Blue Peter, eat your heart out

[Hyacinth]

I was just looking at the blurb on the back of a tin of Quality Street...handy hints for the use of the tin (using as a toy tin or even ::) storing sewing stuff ((shurely a mistake, should be SOWING stuff - Ed)).....but to the magic wrappings of coloured tinfoil/cellophane? No mention of using the cellophane paper as stained glass windows for a house made out of shoe boxes or using the coloured foil to cover other made stuff 8)....oh no! Instructions that the foil can be put in the recycling box for cans and the magically coloured paper can  be composted.

Pioor, poor deprived kiddies :'(

[Grandma]

Oh, Hyacinth - how you've turned the clock back!

When I was a young'un - (I wasn't allowed near scissors even then) - mum used to cut out fan shapes from cornflake boxes and then cut small holes in them. Then - (and this is the magic bit!) - I was given all the cellophane sweet papers, cut into little bits, and a pot of cow gum and I and stuck them over the holes and made the most beautiful butterflies! Probably 63 years ago - and not forgotten!

I wonder if the today's youngsters will remember their Christmas treats 60-odd years on?   

[jennym]

What lovely memories you brought back with this.
Messing about with coloured sweet wrappers was something I enjoyed as a small child too, used to like watching little silver cups (like trophy cups) being made from the silver foil from sweet wrappers, I could never get them quite as perfect as my dad did. Think Rolo wrappers were used, for the gold foil. One thing that always delighted us was when he wrapped up the last 2 rolos in gold foil and gave them to me and my sister "for later on". They were precious then, sweets. The other thing I remember is a Mars bar being cut carefully into slices ., like slicing bread, and shared out. I swear the mars bar tasted better sliced.
Try telling a child that nowadays, they think you're barmy!

[emmy1978]

I absolutely agree Hyacinth-my family are told every year to save me all their wrappers. I was putting out our decs last week and my favourite moment was,  as always, when i found the box of stuff the girls have made over the years-lanterns with cellophane 'glass'-the houses with stained glass windows, cotton wool snowmen, glittery stars-I just love it.
Now they are getting older they make less stuff and I take most of them into the nursery (children!)
If anyone lives near a children's centre or nursery I recommend you take your wrappers there-they will be appreciated as there are never enough resources and foil and cellophane are like gold dust!!!!
Poor children who live in homes where this precious material is THROWN AWAY!!!!!  :'( :'( :'(

[Borlotti]

I still slice my mars bar, IT DOES TASTE BETTER.

[GrannieAnnie]

Which reminds me: get out of storage the little white wooden church that my husband's grandfather made him as a child which his great-grands later added some colored cellophane wrapper windows to since it has an electric light in it. The added colors glow from those wrappers! :)