After The Late Late Toy Show, nothing is more synonymous with Christmas in Ireland than Cadbury Roses.  I remember that hefty blue tin about a half a foot high, the lid secured tightly with more Sellotape than your fingernails could handle.

Aldi (this post is not affiliated with them) carried out a survey, the results of which hit my inbox recently.  They asked Irish households what their favourite chocolates were at Christmas time.  43% of those surveyed said Cadbury Roses.  Lets be honest it’s not a surprise, but it did get me thinking of my own memories of Cadbury Roses.   I’ve left the top eight results at the end of this post in case you are interested in who else was in the line up.

As a kid I remember being beyond excited when my mother arrived home with the tin. We were warned not to touch it until Christmas.  The kind of warning that came with a raised eyebrow and a tone that made a chill run through your body.

The Sweets Left Behind

Cadbury Roses first hit the shops way back in 1938. “The early 1lb drum was described as a wonderful lot of chocolates for two shillings”.  They were a luxury in our family, and no doubt the same in many others too. They symbolised the start of Christmas.  They symbolised family.  That blue tin would live on in our house long after the linger of chocolate had gone.

I used one for my stamp collection (nerd alert) and my mother for sewing needles, thread and bits of left over wool.  The blue tin had many uses when the last of the strawberry or orange sweets were eaten or binned (usually binned).  They were always the ones left in our house and somehow there always seemed to be more of them than any other sweet in the tin.  For us, they were the last resort sweets and even then I was loath to eat them.  I still buy Cadbury Roses at Christmas (more out of habit) and I still can’t bring myself to eat the strawberry or orange ones.

The Rose has Wilted

Over the years the magic and wonder of Cadbury Roses has wilted.  The tin got smaller and smaller and was eventually replaced by a plastic tub, no more hefty blue tin.  The sweet selection changed.  The wrappers went from twisted sweet wrappers to something called ‘flow wrappers’, which are just not as fun to open and frankly a little too clinical for me.  As I said, I still buy them at Christmas, and at €5 a tub I guess its good value compared to €1.40 for a small bar of Dairy Milk.  For me however, the magic was always in the tin and it seems the tub has just let it escape.

Source: https://10ways.com/improve-yourself/tricks-companies-play/christmas-is-ruined-cadbury-to-make-roses-heroes-choc-boxes-even-smaller

By the way, since Aldi did put the idea for this post in my head,  I should mention you can pick up a Cadbury Roses Tub in store for €4.99 for 660g.

The most popular chocolate brands are:

1. Cadbury Roses – 43%
2. Quality Street – 18%
3. Celebrations – 12%
4. Cadbury Heroes – 8%
5. After Eights – 5%
6. Lindt – 3% and Ferrero Rocher – 3%
7. Butlers (2%), Black Magic (2%), Terry’s Chocolate Orange (2%), Milk Tray (1%)
8. Dairy Box – 1%