Do you remember eating Pez candy out of a flip-top dispenser as a kid?
I do. I mostly preferred English candy as a child – and still do today – but Pez was a cherished staple of my American childhood.
Pez is such an enduring pop culture icon. The little candy bricks, so sweet and flavorful. The Pez dispensers, so unique and fun to play with.
I had no idea that Pez was invented in Austria, of all places. It just seems like such an American phenomenon! Today, all the Pez candy distributed worldwide is made in Connecticut.
I recently rediscovered my love for Pez thanks to my all-time favorite candy store, Buckeye Candy Co.
While stocking up on some pre-Easter necessities, I fell in love with the Voldemort Pez dispenser from the Harry Potter series. One look at that little bald head, tiny “dark mark” and adorably grumpy face, and I simply had to have him!
Pre-Voldy, the last Pez dispenser I bought was Sully from Monsters, Inc. many years ago. I bought it for Z, since our family has a special connection to that movie and its characters.
As a child, I can remember having a C3P0 Pez dispenser as well as a Wonder Woman one. I fondly recall the painstaking process of placing the candy bricks into the dispenser one at a time with my little-kid hands. Some people are able to finesse a whole sleeve in at once, but I have not yet mastered that skill.
Sometime in my 20s, I got myself a purple, skull-topped Pez dispenser but I lost track of it years ago and it may have ended up in a garage sale. Thankfully, I found it again on eBay recently and had to get it out of sheer nostalgia.
I was thrilled to also rekindle a love of Pez in Z this Easter after finding the perfect grumpy Care Bear dispenser for her. Now, we each have two dispensers and a good assortment of replacement Pez candy.
You simply never know when you’re going to need a combination fidget toy, small plastic companion, desk decoration and mini treat dispenser!
Ahh, the magic of Pez. So fun in childhood… and still simply wonderful to this day. My love for Pez is only enhanced by the letter z in its name. One of these days, I need to blog about my lifelong fascination with the letter z.
Are you a Pez fan too, and what’s your favorite dispenser of all time? I’d love to hear your Pez stories in the comments below or over on Facebook or Instagram.
