In October, my grocery store is always a dependable venue for the Halloween basics: candy, typical decorations, pumpkins ---and then they'll have one obscure item.
The Phantom-Brand "Halloween Bag of Tricks" was 2009's black sheep--- which means I had to buy it. And I did. And I held onto it. For a special time.
That time is now.
Take a look at the packaging scan.Three sets of Halloween things. So much possibility. So much promise.
Let's start with the bottom and work our way up.
On the very bottom you get a box of "Halloween Snappers: Scary, Trick Noisemakers!" Featuring a purple guy who looks like Marvel Comics' Black Panther with a hood. He must be "The Phantom" because in the upper left hand corner of the box it says "Phantom Brand."
Spoooooky.
The box itself is orange with a black haunted house silhouette and some flapping bats.
Opening the box I realize that they're just "Snappers." Those little white tissue paper twisted things, packed in sawdust that, when dropped or thrown, make a snap noise on impact.
Same ol' snappers... different box.
What could they have done different?
How about black, white and orange tissue paper?
Or green, purple and orange tissue paper.
Or how about orange tissue paper with little jack o' lantern faces on them and a little green at the top where the twist is (making a stem!)
THAT would make them "Halloween Snappers."
Nope. Not these. Just plain ol' white.
Hmmmm... this sounds familiar.
But, hey, the box is different.
Maybe the inside is too?
This box features purple Black Panther-guy again and a gray ghost on the left side of the box. Most noteworthy, of course, is the bright smiling jack o' lantern in the middle with yellow stars (or are they snaps?) twinkling around it.
I opened up that box and--- well, well, well and surprise, surprise: white snappers.
Not black or orange or any other Halloween color snappers.
Just white.
They're essentially champagne-bottle-poppers that people tend to use on New Year's Eve... except pumpkin shaped.
My question of course was: would the tiny streamers inside be black and orange? Or perhaps have tiny bat or skull confetti?
Only one way to find out. -POP!-
(See pic left).
Nope. Plain ol' multi-colored streamers.
Fool me once "Bag of Tricks"... wait... I think I get it now.
I purchased something called "Halloween Bag of Tricks" and that's EXACTLY what I'm getting. Huh. Brilliant.
As for a review: the product worked well.
The snappers snapped. The poppers popped. The packaging was attractive and Halloween themed. Grade: A.
As for it's "Halloweeniness," though the outside of the packages were Halloween-themed, the interior products were just the same snappers and poppers you can find around New Year's or the 4th of July. Grade: C+.
As I mentioned, these were purchased during the 2009 Halloween season and I've never seen them again so I don't know if they were a test-market thing, or if it was the random thing that Kroger decided to order in amongst their Halloween wares.
Question for the readers: Have you ever seen this product or a similar one?
How about you or your kids ever received these types of noisemakers in your trick or treat bags?
6 comments:
As a Canadian kid, whenever we ventured south on a road trip, I bought snappers to play with and bring home with me since it wasn't something readily available back home. Certainly not for kids to buy.
I loved to play with them, but would be surprised to find it handed out in trick or treat bags. I associate it with things like sparklers...or even cap guns...and I would never hand that over to someone's kid who I didn't know, and didn't have permission from their parents. While the items themselves are pretty benign, you never know what will make a parent nervous. Or outraged.
You know... I feel stupid because I've never even given thought to using those poppers on ToT night or anything like that. They are the perfect cheap scare for the little kids. Drop some from a window from upstairs or something and POP-POP-POP-POP out of nowhere. Almost a guarantee to get somebody to jump and stop and look around in confusion of where it came from
Ghoul Friday: EXACTLY. It's one thing to buy snaps for yourself or older kids, but giving out small explosives to kids on Halloween? MmmmmmmNOT the best idea.
Necropolis: When I was a teen a friend did that very thing to me and I jumped 3 feet off the ground. It was a dark night and he had them in his pocket.
Wow...I had no idea that they sold Halloween Fireworks! I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for any around these parts! Thanks for posting that! :o)
Yes, that purple guy is indeed The Phantom of Phantom fireworks. I have always preferred the fireworks from the Phantom stands, when 4th of July rolls around.
Sucks that they were underwhelming, but given their niche nature, I could forgive them for repackaging normal fireworks with Halloween labels. Frankly, I'm impressed with the pumpkin poppers, I wouldn't even expect that much.
And since I'm new here I'd just like to say: I see you're using "Creaky Frank" in your blog logo. You've got good taste in typefaces my good man.
Wendy: You're welcome.
Mantan: Ahhhh someone fluent in the ways of Mr. Phantom.
As for "Creaky Frank" font, I have to give full credit to artist Tom Whalen who designed the Halloween Addict logo.
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