National M&M's Day (October 13th)

Happy Friday the 13th and National M&M Day. Who doesn't love these fun and colorful candies and their cartoon characters? I actually was hoping by today to have unearthed my collection of dispensers from storage so I could share pictures with you.....there is a LOT of M&M merchandise out there, and as the owner of a candy shop I'd collected a large amount of memorabilia over the years. Look for that post coming up soon, but for today we'll just celebrate these cheerful little candies.

The inspiration behind M&Ms started during the Spanish Civil War when Forrest Mars Sr. (of the Mars Candy Company), who lived in England at the time, began making small bits of chocolate with a candy shell coating that would keep them from melting as easily. Following this inspiration, M&Ms were created by the Mars Candy Company and these little candies have brought joy to millions of people over the years.

During World War II, M&Ms were made exclusively available to the United States military who provided them to their soldiers. Packed in cardboard tubes, these heat resistant and easily transported candies became part of the US soldiers’ rations during the war.

But it wasn’t until 1950, after the war, that M&Ms finally got their now iconic little “m” stamp. After copycat companies came about, M&Ms customers were encouraged with a marketing program to “look for the ‘m’ on every piece”. In 1981, M&Ms became the first candy to ever go up into space! The very same reasons that these little candies were handy for wartime rations also made them perfect for travel into space. NASA’s first space shuttle, Columbia, took the little candies out of the earth’s orbit and into space.


Now, National M&M Day is here to pay honor to this candy that has been so much a part of American culture and is certainly beloved all over the world. Source: Days of the Year


In case you didn't know, a new Purple character was added in the fall of 2022. Here's an article about the newest shade of sweet bites. 😋

Blog post from last year's M&M Day, giving a great review of M&M World in New York! Click here

Changes the characters went through in 2022 included dropping the pointy stilettos worn by Green, as well as making her more down to earth and I'm guessing, kind of like the candy next door. 😋 Here's the before and after:

Enjoy your Friday with some colorful friends. 😃

Thanks for stopping by my blog! 😀

community first • marketing consultant • advocate for small business • lover

of classic cars • beach girl • believer that "together we accomplish more"