Brand Classic: Life Savers Sweet Storybook Dates from 1935

Of the classic Christmas candy items, the Life Savers Storybook is among the best known. It debuted in 1935, and has appeared every Christmas since then. Today, brands in the selection include Five Flavors and Wild Cherry.

Life Savers were founded in 1891 by Clarence Crane in Cleveland. It moved to New York, 1920 until 1984, they were made in Port Chester, N.Y.

In past years, Wint-o-green, Butterscotch and Peppermint have been part of the lineup. Tropical Fruit and Strawberry were also among the selections. Other candy brands have copied the “book” including Starburst and Skittles.

The “book” originally included ten rolls, five on each side. It is now down to eight, with the actual Life Savers made overseas, and Five Flavors the only option.

Through the years, the books, collected on Ebay, have included attached gifts including sample Little Golden Books, and Christmas ornaments.

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3 Comments

  1. I always had them growing up and this past year it wasn’t the same. I guess I’m after the time they put the mint flavors in the box (I’m 25), but my grandparents always gave them to us in our stockings every year. Grandma passed on in 1999 and my grandfather in 2008, but my mother kept the tradition going. The old boxes had two five-flavor rolls (the flavors in that roll have changed as well), two wild cherry, one wild berry (that went by a different name at one time as well), one tropical fruit, and two butter rum.

  2. I’m at this site because a friend & I gave each
    other Storybooks for Christmas. Sad part is a site called
    BrandLandUSA doesn’t have the answer. We have received them since
    our childhood. Seems we had cherry, 5-flavor, wintogreen, pepomint,
    clove, spearomint, butterrum and crystomint. Wussup with that!
    :-}

  3. I was a child in the late 70’s and finding Lifesaver’s sweet storybooks in my stocking are among some of my earliest and fondest memories, however… they have changed substantially over the years.

    As I recall, they used to contain 8? rolls of candy (four on each side)… one side was mint: two pep-o-mint and 2 wintergreen, and the other was fruity favors… plus one butterscotch. I miss the mint, and I miss the two more rolls of candy. It’s just not the same — cutting corners is not always the right thing to do.

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