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Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Kinder EggI’ve been looking for this kooky little novelty chocolate item for a while. Kinder is a widely distributed confection brand that also makes the intensely addictive Kinder Bueno (which is a must-try for any hazelnut lover).
I found a new candy source in Los Angeles (posting tomorrow about that) called Mel & Rose’s on Melrose Avenue. They have EVERYTHING that you might want from Europe or Australia. It’s not a big shop, but they had an excellent selection and decent prices. In fact, my little Kinder Eggs were less than a dollar each. I was led to believe that these were not permitted to be sold in the US because of the “choking hazard” of the toy surprise inside, but after opening one, I’d have to wonder what child could (or would want to) eat that toy-filled capsule. Think of these as those toy eggs that you get in the gumball machines at the mega-marts. Except instead of being a plastic egg, it’s a chocolate egg. The egg is pretty much the size of a regular chicken egg. Inside the white and red foil it’s a rather lack-luster milk chocolate with a distinct seam. I wasn’t quite sure if there was a way to open it, so I just pressed my finger into the top and sort of tore it open. On my second egg I found that if you sqeeze about halfway along the seam the whole thing pops apart rather neatly. Inside the egg it’s “white chocolate” (I say in quotes because it says on the label that it’s actually a “milky white lining” which doesn’t even sound edible). It smells sweet and rather like powdered milk. Inside the egg is a yellow plastic capsule that contains the Kinder Suprise (kinder means children in German and is pronounced with a short i). The chocolate is passably edible, nothing I’d want to buy by itself. The yellow capsule holds a little plastic toy (usually one you have to put together). I’m not really sure what the one is in the picture. It’s a little baby in a crow’s nest with a crab crawling up the mast ... I think. There’s a little wheel on the bottom of it and if you roll it around it wiggles the mast and crow’s nest. The second prize (in the other egg) was a little metronome on a wheel with a funny little anthropomorphic musical note riding on it. As a candy/toy, I find these much more compelling than Pez. I have poked around and have seen that some prizes can be rather sophisticated and you can collect theme prizes. (See other prizes in this flicker kinder pool.) If you’re traveling someplace where you can pick these up, they’re usually pretty cheap (about 50 cents) and make great little stocking stuffers or gifts. It’s too bad they can’t sell them in the States. Kinder is part of the Ferrero family of companies/brands. They also make the Ferrero Rocher, Bueno, Mon Cheri, Nutella & Pocket Coffee, among other things. If you’ve had Kinder Eggs before, what sort of prizes did you get in yours?
POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:42 am 
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Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.
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COPYRIGHT NOTICEAll content (text and photos unless otherwise credited) is copyright 2005-2008 by Cybele MayPlease do not use my photos on your own site without permission directly from me, they represent what I ate in preparation for these reviews and are not to be used for other purposes. Design by Hop StudiosPowered by ExpressionEngine
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VOTE IN THE POLLWhich do you prefer?
Total Votes: 419
Milk Chocolate 
41% (172)Dark Chocolate
26% (111)Really Dark Chocolate (70%+)
18% (76)White Chocolate
14% (57)Carob!
1% (3)
 
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SUPERB 
YUMMY 
TASTY 
WORTH IT 
TEMPTING 
PLEASANT 
BENIGN 
UNAPPEALING 
APPALLING 
INEDIBLE 
SUPERB
YUMMY 
TASTY 
WORTH IT 
PLEASANT 
BENIGN 
UNAPPEALING 
APPALLING 
INEDIBLE 
Around Easter time the make “Giant” eggs with bigger toys in them. When my brother was in Germany this year he picked one up for me. I’m not really sure what the toy was (instruction were in German) but it was some sort of game that involved matching.
These are throughout Canada, especially at Christmas time - good for stocking stuffers. My favorite series was the little penguin figuries. Also have a whole series of bunny figurines in winter themes. Love these, though definitely more for the toys than the chocolate.
I love, love, love Kinder Eggs, but for the toys and not the chocolate. I had a hard time finding them in Chicago (my one source dried up) so my husband bought me a case of them from Canada. Oh, what a happy day that was.
It must be a continental thing, because everyone I know here in the UK loves the chocolate part. It’s so sweet and soft, the scant amount you get around the little plastic pod is enough. Don’t fridge them, as Cybele said: ‘I just pressed my finger into the top and sort of tore it open.’ If it sets up, it’s just not the same.
i love kinder eggs-- i usually get them by the case from germany. they often have interesting sets of figures, sometimes with movie tie-ins. i have a set of (surprisingly detailed) Lord of the Rings figures from a few years back. the chocolate is not the greatest, sure, but some of the toys are positively ingenious.
I heard about these a while back and I want some! Nicole - I love penguins! Man, that would be great!
I used to live in Germany when i was a kid and I *think* I remember these. Maybe.
Brian
I recently received one of the giant eggs too. The toy inside seemed to be some sort of underwater golf course. Throughout my childhood i’ve had many many many kinder surprises, and i cannot remember what any of the toys where.
I prefer the yowies anyway. They have cute little animals in them which i am more inclinded to keep than the kinder surprise toys which usually fall apart/get broken.
I picked up a kinder egg while in Paris this past March and mine had a Patrick, from Spongebob Squarepants, key ring in it. I have to say I liked the chocolate part, not enough to eat a whole bar of it, but enough to be surprised by it. I guess I thought it was going to be much worse tasting considering kids are going to buy it for the toy and not necessarily for the chocolate.
I thought I’ve seen these eggs at Cost Plus World Market...Last year we received one from a friend who visited Germany. The chocolate wasn’t that tasty. The toy was a small mouse playing a musical instrument; the pieces were so small! We also got a bag of Kinder chocolates that were shaped like mini footballs and seem to have microscopic pieces of nougat blended in; those tasted better.
These are the 3 most memorable of the Kinder Egg toys I’ve gotten…
The first was ...a house. That’s it! The roof snapped on and there was a sticker you put on that was the window........*exciting* I guess you were suppsed to get more houses and line them all up?
The second was a biplane. It was cute, but boring.
The third was this....car...thing. It had a tail of a whale and a fin on the top (???) the kicker was the paper with the assembly instructions showed it driving on the moon! Ah, I get it now! A whale car meant to be driven on the moon, right? right?
I have to say, I think the toy you got (like the whale moon car) is the beauty of Kinder Eggs. Toys that make you wonder “WTF?”
LOL.
I agree with GTO that its a continental thing. Most people in New Zealand enjoy the chocolate and the toys. There have been some funny looking toys and I used to have a collection of them and they all had movable parts. Quite clever in such a small cheap toy. But I ended up getting rid of the toys because they were cheap looking and I didn’t really think of them as anything special. Its more like a passing fancy for me.
Have you ever got the chocolate toy eggs from Mitsuwa? The chocolate in those is pretty good (no milky lining) and there are all sorts of things inside, from miniature animals, to various anime characters and such. There was a Disney line at one time, too.
My niece and nephew would go nuts for these!
Heck, me too!
While the toys are usually fun, I’ve never been a huge fan of the chocolate they use in Kinder Eggs. The newest Kinder product to have come out in the UK, though, is absolutely fantastic: Kinder Happy Hippos. Aside from the the cuteness of the hippo design, the chocolate and hazelnute combo is really great. I’ve bought so many at my local supermarket that they’ve upped the number of boxes they carry. Granted, that may have nothing to do with me, but I like to think so. : )
oh I love those kinder surprises!
I think the choking hazard are the toy parts, not the capsule
I will definitly miss these when I move back to the States from Germany. First off, I personally love the chocolate. It’s like the Kinder Bueno...in egg form. For Easter I dropped 5€ on one of the gigantic ones and got a Pirate Snail that slides down a slide into a little a bucket of water. A Pirate SNAIL!
Although some of the toys can be lack luster (i.e. little zodiak pendants with magnets in them that show how compatible you are with someone else when you put the two pendants together) from an engineering standpoint, I’m amazed at what they can actually design and fit in the same little yolk. The movie figures (like the above mentioned LOTR) are hand painted, and my wife tells me the prizes used to be even better “back in the day.”
Coolest thing I ever got: a break dancer with a boom-box that spun as you moved the boom-box close to him.
Sorry to double post, but I looked at the picture above again. PIRATE SNAIL!
I actually have a ton of Kinder Surprise toys, but unfortunately they’re all at home right now, and I’m in the office. I work for a German company and go overseas at least a couple of times a year, and I always make it a point to pick up some Kinder Suprise eggs. I find it ingenious the toys they come up with, and how they’re able to construct them so that they fit in the tiny capsule, yet assemble to make some impressive toys. Some of my favorites that I recall off the top of my head are:
A little Italian coffee maker on wheels that opens and closes it’s mouth (lid) as you roll it.
A pink whale with a rubber band mechanism that lets it shoot a blue plastic “spray” out of it’s blowhole when you press it’s tail.
A glow-in-the-dark ghost that comes complete with a post to hang it from, so that it waves ghostily.
I’m quite fond of the ones that acquire some assembly and have some movement to them.
I’ll try to remember to take a photo of them tonight and post it.
The best toy I ever got was a little frog who wore polka dot pants. When you pulled his pants down, he stuck his tongue out. Brilliant.
how fun! i’m not a big fan of the chocolate although a double layer is divine in looks alone; the best toy ever was a series of lil fox cartoon characters that wore different outfits… i think anything small, toy-cartoon like is a hit
[love this site btw - keeps my candy cravings down if possible]
Um, that picture terrifies me. I’m going to have nightmares tonight.
Kinder Eggs are great gifts, especially for people who haven’t seen them. Fun to take to a party.
I have seen a couple other places around LA that have them. Bay Cities Deli in Santa Monica and Sorrento Italian Market in Culver City.
I love Kinder eggs! I used to collect the surprises for a long time, especially the special edition things. You could (and maybe still can) buy the eggs in packets of 3 as well, and if you did, it was promised that at least one of the eggs would hold a special surprise. Now when me, my sister and brother shared such a packet we always hoped to get the special surprise...the fights we had! Heh.
Most of the special figures I remember were animal-themed. Like, penguins doing different winter sports or frogs doing different jobs, all kinds of animals. And the LOTR things were fantastic, we still have some of those.
I agree with the chocolate thing, it must be a continental thing, because I love it! One egg is usually enough though.
Wow! Thank you to everyone who has shared their Kinder stories ... it’s great to hear about everyone’s affection for them so that I can match them up with the photos I’ve found around on the internet.
Brook - I saw the giant ones at Mel & Rose, but I figured I should start small.
Jonah - I’m putting both of those places on my list (I went to Bay Cities deli quite a bit when I worked in SM but never looked at the candy there at the time ... I’m such an idiot!)
Kinder eggs are advertised here (or at least were back in the day) as a triple treat - a treat (the chocolate), healthy (the milk white layer) and the surprise. They are available everywhere here. we did have yowies which are the aussie versions but I don’t know if they’re still around
I’ve had my share over the years...and most of the toys have been of the odd animal variety. Most recently a little turtle on wheels with a waggy head that bobbed as you wheeled him along.
I like the teeny tiny jigsaws
kinder eggs are actually banned in the US though tons of stores still sell them. They’re considered a choking hazard because of the plastic bits.
Love Kinder eggs. even love the chocolate bit. I’ve grown up with it.
The best kinder egg toys have always been the little mechanical wonders. Opening one and finding a ready assembled plastic toy, or even worse the little 15 pieces puzzles they did for a while. Was always a dissapointment. It’s the ones you assemble, the ones with moving parts inside that you get to see how it all works during assembly that’s the winners. - Very educational, I’m sure.
Still I think among my favourites, at least the one that got most use, was an elk-head pencil topper. With a rubberband stretched between its horns… ie. once mounted on pencil it was a miniature slingshot. Used that one for many schooleyears to well… be a dissruptive student.
For some reason they seem very popular in office landscapes. The tops of monitors have a tendency to sprout kinder egg toys over here.
Ooh, a new flickr group I need to join
I’ve loved kinder eggs since I found them at 7-11 in Taiwan years ago, but I had no idea they were banned in the States. I bought a few most recently at a local grocer while I was at school in connecticut, but I don’t really remember what I got in any but the one in a picture I posted up to flickr about a year ago… I just remember trying to stuff all the pieces back into the plastic egg and having a really hard time most of the time…
I got one of these in high school. Our German club had a family bring over huge suitcases of litle things - candy, CD’s, etc. I just found the toy this week… what a coincidence. It was a little archeologist cat. The whole line was an ancient Egypt theme… cleopatra, etc.
Fun to collect if you can get them often.
I miss Kinder Eggs so much. I used to get them while I lived in Germany. Before I came back to the states I was collecting the Hippo Wedding set. I had almost all the collection and now I’ll never finish.
My favorite set themed toys will always be the underwater ships. The toys inside turn into the cutest things ever and some on them, the yellow container thing was part of the toy.
Heehee, thanks for the memory of those times. Oh, and great site!!
It seems to me that the ones with the best toys are the ones from Germany. I just got one with a little blue guy who appears to actually be made of a functional crayon-like substance, and a purple, fuzzy gorilla. Kinder Eiern are awesome! And for the record, I love the chocolate!
If you’re looking for the kinder eggs in chicago, there is a world produce located on waukegan and dempter and they carry the kinder eggs and other kinder products.
LOVE LOVE LOVE these! I’ve found a mini Ferrari for my boyfriend, random Tarzan-style toys, and others. My relatives always bring them over from Germany, and I’m trying to find a consistent source of Kinder here in NYC… feel free to email me at if you find them!
In the early 90’s they used to put small steel statuettes in Kinder eggs. I was lucky enough to find two of them (some sort of Karl May’s novels-themed series). Another series of cool toys were the metal-flywheel-driven series of cars/trucks.
A thing worth mentioning is that toy quality varies from zone to zone. Usually, Germany and Austria get the highest-quality ones.
Ah! The metal-flywheel-driven cars were the best. I loved them. You got to make them, clicking the flywheel into place, then they really worked! Other than those, my best toy was a tiny rollercoaster loop-the-loop with a tiny car that you sent round by pulling it back on a tiny elastic band. Fantastic until my brother lost the elastic band.
Is there anybody out there that would be interested in buying a kinder-egg collectio? I started collecting while in Germany in the early 80’s. I have around 115 pieces, covering Smurfs, Looney Tunes, cars, trucks, boats, puzzles, all kinds of assorted animals and things that defy desciption.
hey, i wanted to ask if the picture you took above of the pirate snail was a picture you took or borrowed from their site (couldn’t seem to find it)
i ask, because it seems that you take most of your own photos and i found the same pic on http://www.dutchmarket.com/kinder.html which sells them. If it was yours, best to catch it, if it wasn’t well, then, no harm, no foul.
cheers!
Good eye, kyle-elizabeth. That’s definitely my photo. It’s quite tiny, I don’t know if I’m going to throw up a fuss. Though it’s sad that they have to take photos from my site to run their business.
(If they’d taken my Pink Grapefruit Mentos photo ... hoo boy, there’d be hell to pay ... in the form of Pink Grapefruit Mentos.)
I love kinder eggs more than life itself!!!! I dream about kinder eggs, I want to be a kinder egg, I think of myself as a kinder egg. I want to live inside of a kinder egg, go to school inside of a kinder egg, sleep inside of a kinder egg, and eventually marry a kinder egg. My name is the kinder egg it is my real name!Is’nt a cool name.One day a paint myshelf to look like a kinder egg and you knok whats the cool part the paint wont come off.
We just ordered some Kinder Suprise Eggs from http://www.britishcandy.com
The Mel and Rose website that was mentioned on here is selling the Kinder eggs for $1.99 each, not $0.60! Quite a price jump.
Where do you get kinder eggs in washington! i live in vancouver
I actually love the taste of Kinder eggs. I first found these while I was studying abroad in Mexico, I brought a ton back for my younger brother. Why I was eating German chocolate instead of Mexican chocolate, I have no idea, but I would always get goofy looking monsters, although one time I did get Donald Duck wearing swim trunks.
You can find them at http://www.germandeli.com/
My Dad was stationed in Germany back in 86. My Brother and I absolutely loved Kinder Eggs. They are bar none the best confectionery delight I have ever had. My folks’ best friend is German and she has occasionally brought us some back from her visits home. Man I have had so many prizes from Kinder Eggs. Temporary Tatoos, Dinosaur Skeletons, the characters from Phantasialand theme park, little cars, little people, that was one reason Kinder Eggs were so great. The surprises kept changing and there was no redundancy to them.
Hi
I live in the UK and I collect the little toys in the kinder eggs. Currently collecting the shrek 3 movie figures. My wife thinks I’m mad.
I am looking for the Christmas Kinder Eggs. I think they are called the Maxi or ball. Every place I have looked doesn’t sell them any longer. Do they sell them in Vancouver Canada? I have connections if they do!
I love these little toys. Don’t ask me why, the chocolate is not that great, though I always eat it. I first discovered them in Europe and just this past month found them in Mexico and was beside myself. I bought a bunch and opened one a day. What a nice surprise in each one.
Does anyone know where I could find Kinder eggs in Massachusetts? Thank you!
These eggs are most definitely meant for Europeans. Americans like their chocolate very sugary and fatter.
Actually if you knew where to find them in New-England that would be great as well. Thanks!
I found this great website which sells kindereggs from Canada and has the toys in them
we always used them for easter egg hunts.
I just bought 4 of these eggs at a little bakery in Arvada, CO called Rheinlander Bakery at a whopping $3.00 an egg! I will have to say that I was disappointed with the flavor of the egg once I ate it. It has been at least 6 or so years since I have had one and they used to be so delicious. I had a friend who was over in Germany at an AFB there and she would ship them over to us by the case. We couldn’t get enough of them but the flavor and texture has changed A LOT for the worse! I was also disappointed that 3 of the 4 eggs only had a little rubber one piece toy inside instead of the cute little toys that need assembling. I think I am done pinning for them.
You can find kinder toys at http://kinder-toys.buyatonlineshop.com/
I have been getting these special little treats for over 10 years now. Started when my parents relized that the toy inside kept me busy and quiet in the car and there was less chocolate involved. I have been collecting the toys since 1992 and have thousands stashed away in RubberMaid tubs. There are collector web-sites you can trade and sell on but as my computer recently crashed I am sorry to say I can not provide the http’s for them as I have to find them again. I love Kinder’s, the anticipation of seeing what toy you get is great.
I love kinder suprises, we have them everywhere in New Zealand. When i went to brueni for a few days a year ago, i found these kinder chocolates. They’re quite small and taste exactly like the kinder suprise chocolates, milk chocolate on the outside, milky white chocolate on the inside. Theyre small rectangle bars and come in 4 per pack or something like that? (i can’t quite remember).. i miss these, we can’t get them here! Is anyone able to tell me what they’re called?
I love kinder eggs! My friend was on a tour of duty in Italy 8 years ago and he sent me one in a package. I had never seen them before that, but I quickly fell in love with the chocolate and the toy. Then when he was in Saudi Arabia, he sent more, each one sent along with a letter. More recently, I have been recieving Kinder eggs from Iraq, still with the letters, only now my friend has become my fiance. Things can get tough when you love someone who is so far away, but when I open a package and there is a kinder egg waiting for me to enjoy, I fall in love with him even more. Who knew so much happiness could come from a little chocolate egg?
Love Love Love kindereggs.....When we lived in Germany we bought tons of them. The toys are collectible and can be found on ebay. Its such a shame that the are so scarce in the US. Some of the toys are odd...but way better than “our” crackerjack prizes now.
does anyone know where I can find Kinder eggs in manhattan NYC???
I promised my nephew I would buy him some ;(
When I lived in Italy I was buying one of these every day almost. I like the chocolate and the toy. One of the coolest I got was a little ladder you put together with a guy that went down it.
I was just searching online to see if I could order Kinder Eggs somewhere in the states, and I found your wonderful site. My husband and I are currently living in Munich on a contract for his job, but our home is in Easley, SC. Every time we go home for a visit we take about 100 Kinder Eggs for our 2 grandsons, ages 3 and 4. They absolutely adore them. Infact, everytime we talk to them on the phone, they remind us to bring eggs home. I wish there was a place closer to SC where I could purchase them. I found a place online, but they want $2.60 per egg, which is utterly ridiculous. Guess the boys will just have to wait for the next trip home. Thanks for this site. It’s wonderful to know that others love these eggs as much as we do.
I know you can order them online from a place that ships them right to your door, it’s a German Food Market & Deli, http://www.germanfoodatjosies.com - they have 100’s of kinder eggs in stock according to their website.
My best friend brought me some of those over from Poland a few Christmases ago. I got toys in an elf series. There was an elf holding a little pack of sticky notes and one that has a paper cutter in it. My friend has bags and bags full of toys she’s gotten—she used to live in Poland. My favorite series were little ghosts. But my all time favorite toy was a small hammock that came with a tiny yellow hippo with a pacifier.
I don’t remember eating the chocolate, I was too excited to get to the toy!
for those looking for kinder eggs in NYC, Myers of Keswick in the WV on Hudson btw Jane & Horatio always has them in stock, along with lots of other great [British] stuff. I think they are about $2 a piece
how i dont eat it
SIXTY CENTS?
SIXTY CENTS?!?
In NYC, they’re $2 a pop! Buy some and send them to me? I’ll totally work out a Paypal trade with you. I’m serious.
Hello! I was wondering about a specific Kinder egg surprise that you may know something about? I am not a collector, but I just want to know what it does. It is a dinosaur that comes in an egg/fossil. the directions show that you hold it in your hand to make the temperature go up and then you put it back in the egg. it doesn’t do anything though! Is it supposed to? It is #C68 Thanks so much! Erika.
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