Help me settle an argument re: Christmas chocolates

[Puppymonkeybaby1]

We're going to my parents for Christmas and splitting the food shop between us (4 people plus baby) I've been tasked with getting puddings and sweets.

I said, in passing, something about a tub of Quality Street and DH has kicked up a fuss because 'they're rank'. They're not, he just doesn't like them.

AIBU to say that the only true Christmas sweets are either Roses or Quality Street and these new kids on the block (Heroes & Celebrations) are just pretenders to the throne??

Has anyone mentioned liqueur chocolates? The best are the ones in the shape of bottles with wrappers like the labels of whatever is inside. That Christmas right there

I'm on DHs side. I don't like Quality Street or Roses either.

My BF used to love it when she used to sleep over at mine as children - she'd always get her favourite chocolates as we'd leave them untouched.

I still buy them for others though. Tell DH if he wants a box of Heroes that badly they're £2 in Sainsbury's at the minute

BitOutOfPractice we have a discount shop that still does those here! 😊

Get some of those lindt balls, way better.

So depressing to eat and inevitably you eat them.

All of the Zigzag. Every last disgusting one. You don't want to, but you do. It's like the Devil had a gun to your head.

And then you immediately wish you hadn't.

Has anyone mentioned liqueur chocolates?

I did Practice

I was bemoaning the fact that you cn' get bottlshaped ones any more. Are they still available Who makes them? I loved them.

We've not purchased QS since the 80's. It's Celebrations here.
However, I also purchased a tin of Sainsburys chocs in a tin which are really nice.
We also have Matchmakers (orange) and After Eights.
I put a handful of each in a Christmas nibbles dish on the coffee table during the Christmas week. The rule here is we don't open the Christmas chocs until school breaks up.

What I'd really like though is a box of Newberry Fruits and some orange and lemon half slices, oh and even some Elizabeth Shaw chocolate Mints.

It's not the same without a proper tin either -

No it's not Tractor. The plastic tubs are nasty and just add to landfill in most areas. They aren't useful like the shiny, shiny tins with proper pictures of proper chocolate embossed all over them. Everyone's house had one of those tins filled with cotton reels, spare shoe laces, stray buttons, half a spoon (presumably just i case you every found the other half), fuses, batteries, candles in case of a power cut, a screwdriver, some matches, a radiator key, a tube of Germolene and 3 dusty elastoplasts, some unidentified small metal implement that you don't know what it is but dare not throw out in case you need it and a Salvation Army collection envelope from at least seven years ago*.

I bet nobody does that with the plastic monstrosities - they are not worthy!

*In Russia people usually keep a spare beetroot peeler and a paella pan catalogue in there as well.

FaerieGold - THANK YOU - I owe you a huge favour. If you need the kids collecting from school, the dog taken care of for a fortnight, a bit of shopping getting in, or somebody murdered - just let me know. (If it's the murdering one I will need to borrow a shovel if that's ok)

my sister and I used to sit on each other and force feed them into the other's mouth. Happy days...

Ah! the sweet and playful innocence of childhood!

Agree totally OP! People always buy us Celebrations for some reason and I can't stand them. Such boring choices - who wants a mini Mars bar?! Yuck.

Quality Street etc are horrible. Really, honestly, you would be be better off paying slightly more for less of some nicer chocolates.

Godiva
Lindt/Lindor
Monty BoJangles
Hotel Chocolat
M&S selection boxes
Champagne truffles
Bailey’s truffles

Plus some fererro rocher because my daughters love them.

Oh and niederegger marzipan chocolates, too. Maybe some Anton berg liquor chocolates (I am Danish after all).

YABVU. Quality Street should be done under the trades description act. Overly sugary & rank

@SchadenfreudePersonified you need to go to your local Poundland! (Not the £1 store! Just the discount store)

I knew this debate would come up so I have been doing detailed research on all your behalfs since the Christmas chocolates appeared in the shops in September.
After wummanfully ploughing my way through tin after tin (2 for £7 deals) I can categorically state that Hereos are the only ones worth having. I thank you. Now pass me the elasticated waist trousers please.

Back in the late 70's/80's our whole Home Economics class would traipse in with a proper Quality Street tin with their ingredients in for whatever recipe we were doing that week. You'd get the whole set of ingredients in (plus a tea towel for washing up). Can you imagine trying to do that with those 700 gram platic tubs these days.
Another perfectly good reason for bringing back the 3kg old tins.

Has this thread now deteriorated into a competition to see who can find the most obscure chocolate made from the droppings of some extinct beast which only used to live in particular Inca villages, and is manufactured using techniques which no one remembers etc?
We buy QS, not really bothered what they're like, because we have one of the old fashioned tins, (you can get them online) although you need to get 2 tubs of the new ones to fill it, they do last a while though, neither DS or I are big chocolate eaters.

Here it's a selection of
Lindt Santa's and reindeers
Godiva
M & S
Local chocolate shop chocolates
Ferreror rocher
One carton (not tub) of Heroes

DH has already eaten a red round tub and a purple round tub. i ate all the Bountys out of one because of DH's pretend nut allergy I'll get Lindor balls. I won some chocolate seashells on the tombola, so i'll eat those too. I might buy some Ferrero Rocher as i haven't had those in years and this thread is reminding me of them.

I've got a funny xmas chocolate story. My old boss went to a christmas event at the American Embassy (must be 12 years ago now). The servers all came out holding platters of Ferrero Rocher, piled in high triangles just like the advert. My boss wasn't sure if it was done in an ironic way or if they had seen the advert and thought that's what people did. She said the ambassador was completely deadpan about it. She said half the guests were Brits and clearly being polite but eyes were darting about and whispering with a 'oh shit how shall we play this without making an international faux pas' and the rest were foreign and clearly had no idea about the advert and were equally perplexed as to why these chocolates were being served with such aplomb and gasps. My boss liked to think the ambassador was poking a bit of fun, but she wasn't sure. Always makes me laugh when i see them. My boss is Italian and i was gutted she didn't say with drawn out accent 'Embazzadooooor with thhhheeeze chocolatezzzzz you are realllyyyyyy zzpoiling uuuhzzzzzz'.

MrsK. I can just imagine!

@SchadenfreudePersonified I am very happy to join you in the slightly tipsy liqueur chocolate corner.

I don't know if you can get bottle shaped ones. But I'm just off shopping now and will selflessly go and look

you can get them on amazon

M&S champagne truffles
Hotel choclat
Thats all i want.
The rest can go to hell.

He's right, sorry!

Have you tasted QS or Roses recently? Just chocolate flavoured grease that coats the roof of your mouth. Ugh.

It's not the 80s any more sadly. But matchsticks and after 8s still work ok.

I saw wee packs of bottle shaped liquor chocs in tkmaxx the other week