Before Kinder Surprise eggs gave children a reason to want a toy more than the chocolate around it, British sweet shops had already worked out the same trick with a paper bag and a few pence.
Sweets plus a mystery toy, for a few pence
A Jamboree Bag — also widely remembered as a "lucky bag" — was a sealed paper bag sold for a small, fixed price, typically remembered as around sixpence in pre-decimal currency. Inside was a small mix of sweets and a cheap toy, with the exact combination left entirely to chance. You paid your money before knowing what you'd get, which was the entire point rather than a drawback.
The toys were cheap, and that was fine
By most recollections, the toys inside tended toward the genuinely low-budget end of novelty plastic — a nodding dog, a pair of toy sunglasses, or a set of fake teeth turn up repeatedly in people's memories of what they found. The sweets alongside them were equally no-frills: the kind of bullet-hard toffees and chalky boiled sweets that were everywhere in sweet shops of the era, like Rhubarb & Custard, aniseed balls and Black Jacks. Nobody was buying a Jamboree Bag for guaranteed quality — the appeal was entirely in not knowing what you'd got until the bag was open.
A direct ancestor of the surprise egg
It's a fairly short line from the Jamboree Bag to Kinder Surprise and every "mystery box" format since: sweets as the entry fee, a small toy as the actual hook, and the unknown as the selling point. The format has mostly disappeared from modern sweet shops in its original, sealed-and-random form, even as the basic idea — pay a small amount, get a random mix — has never really gone away.
The closest thing today
We don't sell a sealed mystery bag in the original Jamboree Bag sense — modern food labelling and allergen rules make a genuinely random, pre-sealed mix impractical to sell safely. The nearest equivalent is building your own version from our Pick 'n' Mix range or a Pocket Money Sweets selection, minus the mystery toy but with the same pick-what-you-fancy spirit.
Frequently asked questions
What was a Jamboree Bag?
A sealed paper bag of sweets and a small surprise toy, sold for a few pence, with the contents left to chance.
Were Jamboree Bags the same as 'lucky bags'?
Broadly yes — the two names describe the same format.
What kind of toys came in a Jamboree Bag?
Cheap plastic novelties by most accounts — nodding dogs, toy sunglasses and fake teeth are commonly remembered examples.
Can you still buy Jamboree Bags?
Not in their original sealed, random form. A self-built pick 'n' mix bag is the closest modern equivalent.
Sources: nostalgia recollections via The Portsmouth News and My Brighton and Hove.