Halloween Lunchables

I don't normally buy Lunchables except to use as a quick lunch for my three year old son on occasion but when I saw these for a buck each as part of a promo deal at the local grocery story, I couldn't pass it up. The Lunchables I've had in the past aren't good, but they're not really bad either, so I don't have high hopes for these.

I have a great fondness for dirt cake. When I was a kid, one of my great aunts would always make a dirt cake when she would have family gatherings. That's the dirt cake I remember, Oreos and chocolate pudding mixed it with some Cool-Whip. This tastes nothing like that. The idea here to to take the gummy worms and dip them in the frosting and crushed cookies, therefore giving them the look like they had crawled through the dirt. The gummy worms are stiff and rigid, the "frosting" was basically nothing but an inedible glob, and the crushed cookies definitely had that generic Oreo taste. I can see why this was only a dollar. 

After having the dirt cake flavor, I had low expectations for this one. This one is a simple s'mores dip with graham cracker flavored sticks, chocolate chips, and a marshmallow creme the color of buffalo sauce. Talk about a complete 180! This was really, really good! The graham sticks tasted exactly like you would imagine, the marshmallow creme was a little thick but the orange hue gives it a nice Halloween-ish vibe, and the chocolate chips were good, albeit generic. I'd definitely grab this one again if I see it again before Halloween. My son wouldn't go near the other one but this one, he loved it as seen in the picture below.

Thanks for reading about these Halloween lunchables/snacks. Only two more weeks until Halloween and there's a bunch more stuff coming up soon. Get out there and enjoy what's left of the Halloween season!

The Most Amazing Halloween Aisle Ever

This caused quite the stir on my Twitter page over the weekend. Of all the retail establishments I've been to so far this season, this one aisle at my local grocery store is by far the absolute best of all of them. As I said on Twitter, this aisle take me right back to a 1992, perhaps somewhere in a corner drug store. This particular grocery store looks like it hasn't been updated since then either, with outdated lettering atop all the different departments and old tile floors that seem to be the original floor. This was the only good picture I could get as the store was busy and I had to take this somewhat sneakily so the guy at the meat counter wouldn't give me a suspicious look. Anyway, let's take a look at some of the highlights of this ...

This is one of the best M&M displays I've ever seen with Red dressed as a vampire and surrounded by mountains and mountains of M&Ms. I would wager a guess that when the store is closed he swims in these bags like Scrooge McDuck swims in money. I mean, just look at the mounds and mounds of candy that surrounds him, wouldn't you be in heaven too? Also, not to be forgotten in this shot are the giant cauldrons, presumably to be used for some sort of witchcraft shenanigans or to be used as a Halloween candy bowl. The possibilities are endless!

Towards the back of the display, we have a scarecrow and a crazy tree sprouting all sorts of candy. The scarecrow is your typical cutesy fall fare for those who want to play it straight. That's not really my style. I like the crazy Halloween candy tree. Also, if you look very closely in the back you can see  part of an old school circular department store rack covered with costumes. Very 1980s-ish.

These look like they're supposed to be ghosts. I'm down with that. What is the white stuff they put on them, was it paint of some sort? This looks like a crazy high school arts and crafts project and I can so dig that.

It's the trick or treat monster and he's coming to steal all your candy! Not really, but this sign is really, really cool. The monster kind of that that reaction like Tweek on South Park does, like he's perpetually petrified. Also, what is that coming out of his left side? Is it a bolt? An arm?

You can't have a retail Halloween display without and inflatable graveyard scene that nearly touches the ceiling.

There are more inflatables and a lamp post that I very nearly bought as it was listed at 20% off the sticker price. Also, any store that has so much Halloween candy that they have to sort it into big bags and monster bags, is tops in my book.

The thing that makes it for me is while this aisle may look clean, it's also meant to be messy, which brings me back to my drug store analogy as all drug store Halloween aisles were always a bit unkempt. This one aisle takes everything that is awesome about the Halloween season and packages it neatly in one semi-neat ball that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Thank you grocery story Halloween aisle. Thank you for being you.