Jelly babies are something of a classic when it comes to sweets – they’ve been around for as long as any of us can remember (and probably as long as your Grandparents can remember, too!) but where did it all start? Jelly Babies went through quite the timeline to get to where they are today.

Sweets in the City have all the deets from the Jelly Baby origin story… along with a few interesting facts, to sweeten your historic knowledge.

A Sweet Invention

I know what you’re thinking, what incredible genius invented the delicious jelly baby? Well, legend has it that it was an Australian immigrant in 1864. The initial invention was something of a mistake…he was meant to create a mould for jelly bears, however, (for reasons which may be forever lost in time) it seems the jelly baby was born instead – pun wholly intended.

And thus, the reign of the jelly baby began. After a short hiatus, classic sweet manufacturer Basset’s took up the style of the rather darker original name ‘unclaimed babies’ and rebranded them ‘Peace Babies’ to mark the end of World War I. These new sweets had a more realistic baby look , closer to the sweets we know today.

Ironically, the production of Peace Babies was halted by wartime shortages in World War II, but – luckily for all of us – they were relaunched officially as Jelly Babies in 1953, just in time for the rock & rollin’ 50’s era!

Who are the Jelly Babies?

Maybe it sounds like a weird question, but Sweets in the City happens to know that jelly babies come with their own personas – even their own names!

The Jelly Baby gang consists of Bubbles (the yellow one!), Baby Bonny (that’s the red one – to you and me), Boofuls (the green jelly baby), Bigheart (the dark purple, blackcurrant flavoured baby) and Bumper (by process of elimination, Bumper is, of course, the orange one)!

Not only do they have names, Jelly Babies are something of a household name – and that’s not just because they’re so tasty. They’ve made more than one TV appearance over the years, their portfolio includes: Doctor Who, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series and even Doc Martin.

Why is the green jelly baby crying?

The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that Boofuls – everyone’s favourite green Jelly Baby – appears to be crying. But don’t worry, nothing terrible has happened – Boofuls is just a little sensitive. In a 1993 Jelly Babies advert, it was revealed the Boofus cries at everything – whether she’s happy or sad – “she’s a real cry baby”.

We <3 Jelly Babies

We’re not sure about you, but all those Jelly Baby sweet facts have put us in the mood for some Jelly Babies of our own. Luckily for you, you really are in the right place. Go to this page to buy  your favourite Jelly Babies in bulk – that’s right, in bulk! Your Jelly Baby stash will go a long way with this order – and feel free to pick out your other sweet favourites while you’re there.

Don’t forget to impart your knowledge on Bubbles, Bonny, Boofuls & Bigheart when sharing them around… For more fun sweet facts, make sure you’re following us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

The Event

The last 6 months have been a whirlwind of business preparations for Sarah Lynn. Since a historic joint-winning of the 2017 series of The Apprentice, Sarah has been busy readying Sweets in the City for its official launch. On Thursday 7^th June, that day finally came, when Lord Alan Sugar and Sarah came together to celebrate their co-owned business.

The event was inundated with sweets – from delicious jars of joy, to personalised letter box treats, the array of treats was vast. Most notable were the incredible sweet portraits created for Lord Sugar.

The pop art display was created by street artist ‘BareFace’ and the recreation of Lord Sugar’s face in sweets was the work of food artist Nathan Wyburn – both of which Lord Sugar was very pleased with. It reportedly took Nathan 10 hours to create the sweet portrait of Lord Sugar, which features 3,000 sweets total.

The pair also appeared on This Morning to discuss all things Sweets in the City with Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield; from letterbox treats, to the specialist dietary sweets on offer. Of course, there was also mention of the legendary 2017 final where Lord Sugar crowned two winners (the first of its kind in the history of the BBC TV series!).

Sweets start here 

Sweets in the City’s amazing selection of treats are available through numerous retailers, including: Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Selfridges & Co and Morleys.

There is also a huge variety of sweets available for purchase online, including:

• Letterbox treats (as seen on The Apprentice!)
• Birthday sweets
• Branded sweets for business

…& lots, lots more!

The Sweets in the City launch marks the start of a truly delicious journey into the confectionary industry. Find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date with the latest offers, competitions and products! 

Want to win some delicious sweets? If so, you're in luck - to celebrate the launch of our brand new website, we're having a competition and giving away a couple of great prizes to the winner!

What You Could Win

One lucky winner will receive:

• 1 x Variety Treat Box
• 1 x Retro Classic Giant Jar of Joy

How to Enter

If you fancy getting your hands on the above prizes, here's what to do - you will need a Twitter account to enter:

1. Find the special Gold Jar of Joy (as pictured below) that's hidden somewhere on our website. You'll need to click around a bit to find the right page!
   
   
2. Once you've spotted the gold jar, take a screenshot to prove that you found it.
   
   
3. Log into Twitter and tweet your screenshot along with the hashtag #HideAndSweet - make sure you include the hashtag or your entry won't count!
   
   
4. The competition will close at 2pm on Friday 15th June, at which point we'll pick a winner at random from all properly-hashtagged screenshots.

Here's the gold jar that you're looking for:

We suggest you start on the Sweets in the City homepage. Good luck, and don't forget to follow us on Twitter!