Candy of the '80s

March 24, 2005 5:45 PM

Today, the image of a horrifying candy from my childhood flashed into my mind, and I felt a tremendous urge to get my hands on some. I have no idea what it was called.

The candy came in a strip of packets attached to one another. THe first packet had one or a few white sticks about the length of a finger, and flat. The other (two or three?) packs had powders of different colors...I remember red cherry and purple grape. The powders were sort of like cool-aid powder, and I think they were almost pure sugar. The point was to lick the stick, then stick it in the powder and suck off the powder. That's right, folks, we dipped sugar sticks into packs of colored sugar, ate the sugar, then ate the sugar sticks themselves. This may be singlehandedly responsible for the epidemic of childhood diabetes, but nonetheless, I'd love to track some down. Anyone know the name? Better yet, where I can get some (Especially online)?

posted by leapingsheep to Food & Drink (23 answers total)

They were called 'Lick-m-Sticks' or 'Lick-m-ade'. Can't find a link right now.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 5:48 PM on March 24, 2005

Lik-m-aid fun dip. Used to look like this.
posted by jessamyn at 5:50 PM on March 24, 2005

Lik-M-Aid

On preview, damn!
posted by pmbuko at 5:51 PM on March 24, 2005

The kids these days go for baby bottle pops, which are essentially the same thing. You can get the the Fun Dip multi-flavor packs here
posted by stefanie at 6:07 PM on March 24, 2005

you people are fast! thanks!
posted by leapingsheep at 6:11 PM on March 24, 2005

Just be careful who you eat it in front of.
posted by jeremias at 6:12 PM on March 24, 2005

This is so weird. When I read your question, before I even went to the MI, I was sure that was what you were talking about. But I, too, had forgotten what it was called. So I'm only half psychic.
posted by matildaben at 6:17 PM on March 24, 2005

Hmm, the contemporary flavors are named Cherry-Yum-Diddly and Razzaple Magic? Was Snoop Dogg on the naming committee?
posted by robbie01 at 6:18 PM on March 24, 2005

Just reading about Lik-M-Aid makes my tongue hurt.
posted by peep at 6:27 PM on March 24, 2005

At a summer camp I attended in the early 1980s, there was a brief, ill-conceived fad for snorting Fun Dip. You know, because drugs are cool.
posted by Dr. Wu at 7:27 PM on March 24, 2005

I once smoked a Twix.
posted by euphorb at 8:37 PM on March 24, 2005

peep - me too! I loved Lik-m-Stiks (which is what I knew them as, packaging was different than those linked) so much my tongue would end up raw.
posted by deborah at 10:34 PM on March 24, 2005

I love lik-m-ade! I still get it sometimes. :)

Speaking of the snorting fad. The fad in my area was "snorting" pixie sticks -- basically a tube of the flavored sugar powder like in lik-m-ade. Of course, I think it was more of a dare than any kind of stupidity about getting high or because drugs were "cool". It just hurt a *lot* so doing it was impressive. ;)
posted by R343L at 12:33 AM on March 25, 2005

I once talked my little brother into snorting a crushed-up after dinner mint. Once is the operative word here. "It burns!!!" Ha! Sucker.

Lik-M-Aid probably was one of our favorite candies growing up.
posted by caution live frogs at 6:11 AM on March 25, 2005

the uk equivalent was a tube with "fizzy" powder and a liquorice stick. yellow paper tube with red writing. called sherbet fountain, i think (and indeed, google shows that bassetts still make them).
posted by andrew cooke at 6:13 AM on March 25, 2005

Hmm, the contemporary flavors are named Cherry-Yum-Diddly and Razzaple Magic? Was Snoop Dogg on the naming committee?

No, but Ned Flanders was.
posted by scratch at 6:32 AM on March 25, 2005

I loved Lik-m-aid. We used to get it from the ice cream truck. All that powder and that neat little stick, it was like kiddie kokaine.
posted by jonmc at 6:38 AM on March 25, 2005

Definitely Lik-A-Maid, but for a minute there I thought you were going to describe Candy Buttons, which ended up getting as much paper in our stomachs as candy.
posted by GaelFC at 7:47 AM on March 25, 2005

This blew my mind recently. In a sort of dada, upside down and backwards tooth decay sort of way...
posted by erebora at 9:09 AM on March 25, 2005

I loved the sticks from Lik-m-aid. They tasted like.... nothing.
posted by beth at 10:29 AM on March 25, 2005

FUN DIP=BEST THING EVER.
posted by playtragic at 8:40 PM on March 25, 2005

Mmmm. I'm going to the convenience store to get some "fun dip" RIGHT NOW.

(In case anyone missed it, it's still available, although in stupid so-hip-it-hurts flavor combinations.)
posted by mmoncur at 8:34 PM on March 26, 2005

back in the dark ages, when I was a kid, we didn't get any sticks with our lik-a-maid. We had to eat the stuff straight! Kids were real kids in those days, not like you bunch of softies that need sticks!
posted by Goofyy at 6:59 AM on March 29, 2005