The Christmas foods of your childhood that don’t exist anymore: These sweet and savoury treats from the last 50 years will provoke extremely nostalgic cravings

Today’s Christmas spreads typically involve popping some M&S party food in the air fryer and a pack of posh truffle crisps in a bowl. 

However, if you pride yourself on the sophistication of serving your guests paella bites and bao buns decorated with snowman hats, what they may really be yearning for is a party hedgehog and a plate of vol au vents. 

Indeed, a recent Mumsnet discussion revealed a wealth of people planning a ’70s buffet for Christmas, complete with treats such as Black Forest gateau washed down with Watneys Party Seven or Babycham in a branded glass. 

While it’s still possible to purchase or whip up your own flans and trifles, many of the sweet foodstuffs sparking nostalgia don’t exist anymore or have changed significantly.

Millennials who were children in the ’90s fondly remember when selection boxes came in a stocking-shaped plastic net and contained Opal Fruits and Marathon bars, as well as the grown-up allure of a Terry’s Pyramint.  

When it comes to savoury treats, most still exist but have simply fallen out of fashion and favour and been replaced by pre-made canapés.

If you truly want to treat your guests, you should consider a cocktail stick loaded up with cheese, pineapple, a pickle and a cocktail sausage. People have also been hankering for devilled eggs, celery with Primula cheese spread through the middle and gala pie. 

Read on to reminisce over the ghosts of Christmas feasts past, and see how many you can remember.  

Sara Lee Black Forest gateau

The classic chocolate dessert featuring layered sponge, fresh whipped cream and cherry-flavoured icing was a freezer staple for families over the holidays because the presence of a Sara Lee cake denoted a special occasion. 

The cake is no longer available as the company closed its UK operations in 2006 but hasn’t stopped Brits from craving it. 

Last Christmas, it was reported that sales of Black Forest gateau were booming with Waitrose recording a 134 per cent increase on 2023, while Morrisons said was the fastest-growing dessert of the year.

The soaring popularity of the item may have been started by social media users reminiscing about the iconic, long-discontinued Sara Lee frozen Black Forest gateau that was a common treat in the 1970s and 80s.

Cappuccino Viennetta

The Cappuccino Viennetta delighted adults and children alike in the 1990s.

Wall’s coffee-flavoured version came to be a Christmas staple a decade after the Viennetta was first invented in 1981.

Made with creamy cappuccino ice cream and alternating chocolate layers and shaped in a loaf it was an instant winner at family gatherings for almost a decade before it was discontinued.

While the Viennetta lives on, its mint, cappuccino and strawberry flavours remain but a distant memory of festive seasons past.    

Retro selection boxes 

Packed with every chocolate bar you could need for Christmas Day, Cadbury’s giant selection boxes were a sight to behold.

Regularly stuffed with at least ten different bars from Crunchies to Flakes, Double Deckers, Dairy Milk bars and Fudge, they even came in the shape of a stocking. 

But as with many variety boxes, over the years their size has shrunk. Between 2018 and 2024 alone, the Santa selection box was slimmed down by 34g with classic bars such as the Double Decker, replaced with a caramel Freddo.

Tunis Cake

The Tunis Cake, often eaten as an alternative to Christmas cake, features a soft madeira sponge and thick layer of chocolate icing finished with piped vanilla frosting and vibrant marzipan fruit decorations.

While a staple in the 1980s, the cake made a comeback last year on the shelves of supermarket giant Tesco for £10. 

Watneys Party Seven

Watney’s Party Seven was a seven-pint can of Watney’s beer.

Launched in 1968, it became popular in the 70s and was advertised by stars including actor Michael Caine but the brand vanished within a decade owing to its bland taste.

A tentative relaunch in 2016 saw the beer in some brewery pubs across London with the tagline ‘We’re back and taste nothing like we used to’ but has yet to see a popular surge.

Retro Quality Street

Although Quality Street is still alive and kicking, the tubs of 40 years ago are certainly not. 

The original 1980 tins of the assorted chocolates in brightly coloured foil wrappers certainly offered more bang for your buck. 

For £7 (roughly £24 today) shoppers could enjoy 2.5kg of chocolate that would last all Christmas but for the same weight now, sweet-lovers would have to shell out £16.46.

Some fruity flavours have also disappeared from the line-up, including Gooseberry Cream, Apricot Delight, Fig Fancy (in a light brown wrapper) and Fruits of the Forest Crème (in a pale purple wrapper).

Meanwhile the popular ‘Purple One’, which is a crescent-shaped chocolate containing runny caramel and whole hazelnut, used to feature a Brazil nut.

The sketches of the original Quality Street show how the sweet – then called Chocolate Creme Toffee Brazils – used to look, with a description explaining how the Brazil nut was ’embedded in a lovely rich toffee which is as soft as a fondant’.

There was also a wider range of toffees in the tubs back in the day, likely down to the origins of Quality Street.

These included a Chocolate Nut Toffee Cream, a Malt Toffee (later replaced by Toffee Deluxe), a Toffee Square (a small square of very hard toffee in a metallic pink wrapper) and a Chocolate Toffee Cup (now the Caramel Swirl).

Retro Roses

The same can be said of Roses too, which, like Quality Street have been shrinking in size over the years. 

And it’s not only the shrinking packaging but the shrinking chocolate choices on offer too leaving Brits reminiscing about the selection boxes they had growing up. 

Boxes of Roses from the 1980s contained now-discontinued sweets including Black Cherry Creme, Marzipan, and nougat-filled Montelimar and some chocolate-lovers miss their childhood treats so much, they’re willing to spend almost £200 on a vintage box. 

Terry’s Pyramint

From the creator of Terry’s Chocolate Orange came the exotic Pyramint. 

Created in the 1988,  it was designed to resemble an Egyptian pyramid made of dark chocolate with a mint-flavoured fondant inside. 

But the design was changed to a bar format with pyramid segments in 1991 before being discontinued completely due to rapidly falling demand. 

Lovers of the sweet after-dinner treat may remember the mummy-inspired advert. 

Orange and lemon slices

Many who grew up in the 1970s and 80s may well recall the artfully arranged trays of orange and lemon-flavoured jelly slices. 

While they might not have been to everyone’s taste, the sugared sour sweets were a staple on the Christmas grocery list.    

Rover assorted biscuits 

Like other biscuit tins before and since, Crawford’s Rover Assorted Biscuits came in a large tin which originally housed delicious shortbread, Custard Creams, wafers, Digestives and jammy cookies. 

This was later inevitably repurposed to hosue sewing supplies, colouring pencils and other miscellaneous items.

While the brand discontinued the biscuits and many have turned to Family Circle as a replacement, they are still thought of fondly. 

Fudge Candle

Cadbury’s Finger of Fudge was a legendary chocolate in its own right but in the 1980s the brand brought out a limited-edition Christmas-themed version – the Fudge Candle.

The festive packaging dressed the classic fudge bar up as a candle, complete with sprigs of holly and a 3D printed flame on the top of the box.

Mackintosh’s Week End chocolate box

Mackintosh’s Week End chocolate box was fairly understated as Christmas goodies go, but inside the white tub was a treasure trove of 40 sweets from soft almond toffee, to fruit jellies, chocolate cherry cups and raisin fudge.

While they were at their most popular in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, they began to decline after Rowntree and Mackintosh merged and were discontinued in 2007.

Despite a brief revival a year later, they finally gave up the ghost for good in 2019.  

Terry’s 1767 chocolates box 

Move over Terry’s Chocolate Orange! Before the citrus-flavoured chocolate treat, there was Terry’s 1767.

Named after the year Terry’s was founded the Christmas staple consisted of three layers of assorted chocolates. 

On the top layer were small chocolate-covered nuts, followed by chocolate bars below and on the bottom were luxurious truffles. 

While no longer available, empty boxes can be bought on Ebay for less than £10 – but you’ll have to add your own chocolate.  

Lyons showboat cakes 

The mini cupcakes, also known as Kunzle cakes were delicious sponge morsels topped with butter cream and a small chocolate.

They came in assorted shapes including a circle and a square and were filled with orange and chocolate cream.

Each cake was individually wrapped in cellophane and sold in a six pack in the 1960s and 70s. The cakes were eventually retired after price increases and despite some interest from Waitrose in the 1990s, the cakes never made a comeback. 

And the party foods that have fallen out of fashion… 

Devils on horseback

A traditional British hors d’œuvre, Devils on horseback consist of dates or prunes, stuffed with cheese or nuts and wrapped in bacon. 

Usually baked or grilled until the bacon is crispy, the snacks are served warm as an appetizer.

But unlike pigs in blankets, bruschetta or smoked salmon, the dish is unlikely to make it onto the menu for many families who no doubt remember the dish from their childhood.  

Romantica cake 

Romantica cake from Wall’s was popular in the 1990s and was a luxurious meringue-based dessert with thin biscuit, chocolate and ice cream layers, topped with chocolate balls. 

Similar to a Viennetta, the Romantica cake was possibly for the more discerning host and if you were a fan, you’re in luck as the delicious pudding was revived several years ago and can now be bought in Tesco – whether you’d want to serve the retro dish is another question.  

Devilled eggs 

A classic canapé made from hard-boiled eggs with the yolks mixed into a creamy, savoury filling, then piped or spooned back into the egg white halves, Devilled eggs are a party staple.

But while lots of families will be considering their Christmas Day lunch and arguing between pigs in blankets or smoked salmon, few will be keen to turn back the clock and return to this classic 1970s dish. 

Vol au vents 

Stolen straight from France, a vol-au-vent is a small hollow case traditionally with a filling smoked salmon terrine. 

The snacks became popular party fare in the 1970s and were filled with chicken, seafood or mushrooms. 

The craze for the French culinary traditions has since subsided making the starter somewhat passé.

Arctic roll 

While technically still available, the Arctic roll no longer enjoys the popularity it once did. 

Invented in the 1950s, the ice cream-based pudding became a party staple in the 1980s but just ten years later had already been dismissed as old hat. 

After a short spell in the back of the freezer, the dessert was revived following the 2008 financial crash and has continued to divide opinion – to some it’s a comfort food and to others, including Nigel Slater, it tastes of ‘frozen carpet’.

Angel Delight 

The powdered pudding mix was launched by Bird’s Eye (the very brains behind the Arctic roll) in 1967. 

The pink mousse-like dessert is still available to buy but how many families would add it to their Christmas menu is a different question. 

The product was in every kitchen cupboard in the 1970s and 80s but has since declined and remains a childhood favourite for many but perhaps not fitting for a grown-up soireé.