As keeper of the objects we discover on our excavations I probably keep more than I should! But I see stories and links to past lives in everything and if more recent objects can help take people back in time and start the journey to prehistory then they are as valuable as a Roman statue with an inscription!
I was sorting my boxes of odd and miscellaneous finds and came across this collection of childhood related plastic objects. Some I can remember and still have in my own tin box of things I have saved from childhood!
Plastic toys
A few of the objects are probably free gifts from cereal packets and some are pocket-money toys. There was always a fear in my home of one of us choking on a free gift in our cereal, but they were usually too big to be a hazard. If the box said free gift on the outside it was a race to get to it first (the hope was there were two inside) as the youngest I had to wait until the others were too old for free gifts!
A mysterious cereal packet gift
Part one of the magic
The finished magic!
I am not sure if there are these kinds of free gifts in cereal anymore, the little plastic toys and games have been taken over by chocolate eggs wrapped in orange and white and fast food chains. The main difference now is they will found in their millions, so archaeologists who save everything, like me, will have to find bigger boxes!
Archaeology National Trust SW 
This made me smile & brought back my own memories of free gifts in cereal packets which I had completely forgotten about, so thanks Nancy – now where’s that’s box of bits & pieces I’ve collected over the years ……
🙂 thanks Jackie 🙂
Hi – just came across your site. Actually this was a lolly stick from the 1970s. I have a copy of the advert somewhere – think it was a Dracula one. If you are interested in cereal nostalgia, check out my website http://www.cerealoffers.com
Hi Nick, Thanks for the identification 🙂 I will definitely have a look at your site, as I have a few more of these things in our collection. all the best