Whatever happened to Easter eggs

[Minimammoth]

Easter eggs used to be pretty, decorated with sugar flowers and tied with ribbon. We could have names applied in icing in Thorntons. Now they are all the same. Bring back the pretty eggs.

The icing was always awful though from memory

Aldi ones look like Faberge were brought in to decorate them.
Have Thornton's stopped that then?

I miss having to smash them open for the bag of sweets or chocolates inside.

You can still buy pretty eggs or ones with names on at Thorntons.
I prefer the old style foil wrapped ones with buttons or whatever inside the egg,

You can still get the 'pretty eggs', they're on the Thorntons website. I don't actually know if Thorntons shops still exist, but there's all manner of Easter Eggs available at a very wide range of prices, but obviously the ones sold in supermarkets for a pound or two aren't exactly going to be spectacular looking works of art.

You can buy some like that in F&M.

Yes and the texture and flavour of the old Cadbury chocolate.

Easter eggs used to be great, I still have some of the mugs- must be getting on for 20 years plus old! Also yes smashing the egg to get the chocolate or sweets out was the best bit, we used to wait until the day the shops reopened after Easter to get a half price one hah. I also remember they used to look much more exciting too, now as with everything else it's about the profit margin- charge as much as possible whilst spending as least as possible. The Cadbury peter rabbit ones are quite nice with the soft toy, but it's been the same toy for the past 5 years or however long so wouldn't rebuy.

Like everything.

It's not about Easter now, it's about supermarket profit and flogging cheaply made awful chocolate for as much as possible.

Like Halloween, valentines, Christmas, mother's day, father's day etc and so on.

Corporate greed.

There's also an element of personal greed. Most people want as much as possible, as cheaply as possible. So they won't buy one very pretty egg, made from quality chocolate, with a few truffles for £20.

But they will spend £20 on half a dozen smaller eggs made from shit, forgettable chocolates, because they value quantity over quality.

Come Easter, we'll have all the social media pictures showing off great piles of Easter Eggs and all the posts on here about being 'overwhelmed' by all the eggs, that will take until Christmas to get through, and that's after most of them have been donated to the food bank.

Suspect you’re being painfully nostalgic. It’s not that different now to how it was 40 years ago - though probably more range now. Alongside the Thorntons ones with name icing you still got all the basic cadburys, kinder etc ones - there are loads of fancy pretty ones now, far more than there used to be I think! Maybe different people buy you eggs now, or you’re going to different shops. Take more of a look around!

Never mind smashing eggs open . I remember when Easter eggs came in two halves,, so you could take out the smarties/ buttons (delete as applicable) and still have two whole un smashed halves of egg to eat. And the chocolate around the rim was always a good thickness.

I'm 36 and have never seen an egg you've described.
Do agree with PPs though they were so much more exciting when the treats were inside, but suspect that changed to avoid having separate production runs in the factory.
I don't think you need to over think it... it's a bit of chocolate. Buy what you fancy. Decorate it if you wish.

I think the Imperial egg from Betty's of Harrogate might be what you're looking for? Only £375! But they do smaller ones too

Do you remember the expensive big eggs displayed as a half in a box with all the chocolates inside? Mostly aimed at adults - Terry's All Gold, Black Magic etc.

They seemed so glamorous.

It was much better when the chocolates were inside the egg.

Nowadays I mostly see Easter Eggs as bad quality chocolate in an excessive amount of packaging.

Go to France or Germany (not very practical, sorry). They have beautiful Easter chocolate. I love the French Easter hens.

https://www.bettys.co.uk/medium-milk-chocolate-spring-flowers-egg?gclid=Cj0KCQjww4-hBhCtARIsAC9gR3aNAO-wLkTnBeNyr21ASvFvJx85HwJ0v76UgEB2j-CBzL2a4idxGbAaAi4gEALw_wcB

Someone's been listening to you, OP....

This! They are rubbish now. Who remembers the days when a milk tray egg came in two halves with a little tray of chocolates in the middle.

Those were the days! (In the war my mother used to get cardboard eggs with sweets inside!)

I'd you're willing to pay more for them than there are so many gorgeous things available online as you describe, I think it's more a case of spoilt for choice on that respect. Even Etsy is full of it. I order from The Chocolate Gift co sometimes and everything they make is lovely.

Thorntons personalisation was hardly an artisan practice. They got a bog standard egg out, rushed it through the handwriting icing process on a minute and shoved it back in. I'm mid thirties and supermarket Easter eggs have always been the same give or take as they are now.

One thing I do miss is my late grandma always giving us confectionary or little chocolates and presents in cardboard eggs. Again, you can still buy those easily but I do miss receiving them.

There used to be these long tubes of small Suchard eggs that I loved. When I think of Easter eggs I think of the taste of those eggs.

@RoseBucket me too, but Cadbury do still have small ones with buttons or smarties inside!!

@Minimammoth

you can still get them in some shops & online.

bur EE have been as they are now ever since I was a child and I'm mid 50's.

the hand decorated ones have (IMO) always been horrible to eat,

Oh I didn’t know that! That’s made my day, I shall have to buy some now!

I picked up a couple of Cadburys Mini Egg ones cheap at Asda last week and gave them to the children early. They were wrapped in foil and packaged completely in card I think, and the mini eggs were inside the big egg like they should be, loose not in a plastic packet. The whole thing was zero plastic.

Aldi have an 8 bit gaming inspired egg. I very nearly bought it for me, bit ds and dp would want it too and then I would have to share. Not happening.