Somewhere between a sweet and a toy sits candy jewellery — rings, bracelets and necklaces you can wear for an hour and then eat. It is one of the oldest tricks in the novelty sweet playbook, and it has never really gone away.
The candy ring: from gumball prize to Ring Pop
Rings with a plastic gem on top were a gumball-machine staple long before candy rings existed, but the format that actually stuck was edible. Ring Pop — a large, faceted hard candy "jewel" set on a plastic ring band — was launched by the Topps Company in 1979 and is now made by Bazooka Candy Brands, the confectionery arm Topps spun off in 2013. It became genuinely iconic, turning up as a novelty stand-in for real engagement rings at proposals decades after its launch.
The candy necklace: dextrose beads on elastic
Candy necklaces use the same basic manufacturing idea as tablet sweets such as Love Hearts: sugar and dextrose are compressed into small shapes, in this case beads with a hole punched through the centre, then threaded by machine onto a length of food-safe elastic cord. It is a simple process that has barely changed in decades, which is part of why the format has stayed cheap enough to remain a pocket-money staple.
Britain's own candy jewellery: Swizzels
Swizzels, the Derbyshire company behind Love Hearts, Parma Violets and Drumstick lollies since 1928, makes its own candy jewellery lines using that same tablet-sweet technique, proving the format travelled both ways across the Atlantic rather than starting and staying in the US.
Why candy jewellery keeps coming back
Every few years a wave of nostalgia for retro sweets brings candy jewellery back into fashion, often via social media rather than a marketing push. It helps that the format is inherently cheap to produce, easy to sell in bulk for party bags, and sits naturally in the same aisle as pick and mix and other novelty sweets — it never really needs reintroducing, just rediscovering.
Frequently asked questions
When did candy jewellery first become popular?
It grew out of the American novelty sweet trade from the mid-20th century, with candy rings widespread by the 1970s — Ring Pop launched in 1979 and is still made today.
What is a candy necklace made of?
Small pressed dextrose beads with a hole through the centre, threaded onto food-safe elastic cord — the same method used for tablet sweets like Love Hearts.
Is candy jewellery safe for children?
Yes when made with food-safe elastic and edible beads, though very young children should be supervised because of the choking risk common to any small sweet.