Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Kinder Egg

I’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).

image

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?

Name: Kinder Surprise
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Kinder (Ferrero UK)
Place Purchased: Mel & Rose Wine & Spirits
Price: $.60
Size: unknown
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Chocolate, United Kingdom, Ferrero

POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:42 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. 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.

    Comment by Brook on 5/23/06 at 9:24 am #
  2. 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.

    Comment by Nicole on 5/23/06 at 9:48 am #
  3. 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.

    Comment by eliza on 5/23/06 at 10:07 am #
  4. 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.

    Comment by GTO on 5/23/06 at 10:37 am #
  5. 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.

    Comment by ruffy on 5/23/06 at 10:44 am #
  6. I heard about these a while back and I want some! Nicole - I love penguins! Man, that would be great! smile I used to live in Germany when i was a kid and I *think* I remember these. Maybe.

    Brian

    Comment by Brian on 5/23/06 at 11:15 am #
  7. 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.

    Comment by Leigh on 5/23/06 at 11:25 am #
  8. 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.

    Comment by regan on 5/23/06 at 12:59 pm #
  9. 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.

    Comment by Hannah on 5/23/06 at 1:34 pm #
  10. 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? raspberry

    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.

    Comment by Sera on 5/23/06 at 4:52 pm #
  11. 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.

    Comment by ling on 5/23/06 at 4:53 pm #
  12. 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.

    Comment by Grace on 5/23/06 at 5:57 pm #
  13. My niece and nephew would go nuts for these!

    Heck, me too!

    Comment by desertwind on 5/23/06 at 8:41 pm #
  14. 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. : )

    Comment by moko on 5/23/06 at 9:03 pm #
  15. oh I love those kinder surprises!

    I think the choking hazard are the toy parts, not the capsule smile

    Comment by hana on 5/23/06 at 9:19 pm #
  16. 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.

    Comment by Mad Cow on 5/24/06 at 3:06 am #
  17. Sorry to double post, but I looked at the picture above again.  PIRATE SNAIL!

    Comment by Mad Cow on 5/24/06 at 3:09 am #
  18. 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. smile I’ll try to remember to take a photo of them tonight and post it.

    Comment by Kendra on 5/24/06 at 3:15 am #
  19. 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.

    Comment by dashrashi on 5/24/06 at 5:00 am #
  20. 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 smile
    [love this site btw - keeps my candy cravings down if possible]

    Comment by sunny on 5/24/06 at 6:24 am #
  21. Um, that picture terrifies me. I’m going to have nightmares tonight.

    Comment by Carly on 5/24/06 at 7:40 am #
  22. 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.

    Comment by Jonah on 5/24/06 at 9:03 am #
  23. 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.

    Comment by Barbara on 5/24/06 at 9:54 am #
  24. Cybele's avatar

    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!)

    Comment by Cybele on 5/24/06 at 1:21 pm #
  25. 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

    Comment by Mel on 5/24/06 at 7:39 pm #
  26. 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.

    Comment by Mel on 5/25/06 at 4:19 pm #
  27. 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.

    Comment by geekling on 5/25/06 at 11:52 pm #
  28. Ooh, a new flickr group I need to join smile  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…

    Comment by nita on 5/26/06 at 8:58 pm #
  29. 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.

    Comment by Kahelgee on 6/02/06 at 6:13 pm #
  30. 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!!

    Comment by Stefanie on 10/29/06 at 1:12 pm #
  31. 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!

    Comment by Cat on 11/04/06 at 10:17 am #
  32. 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.

    Comment by Carol on 11/16/06 at 7:19 am #
  33. 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 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) if you find them!

    Comment by Traci on 11/25/06 at 7:06 pm #
  34. 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.

    Comment by Paul on 12/10/06 at 12:15 pm #
  35. 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.

    Comment by Skittle on 1/02/07 at 2:21 pm #
  36. 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.

    Comment by l d fitzgerald on 2/18/07 at 6:01 am #
  37. 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!

    Comment by kyle-elizabeth on 3/05/07 at 4:40 pm #
  38. Cybele's avatar

    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.)

    Comment by Cybele on 3/05/07 at 5:05 pm #
  39. 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.

    Comment by Kinder egg on 3/10/07 at 11:53 am #
  40. We just ordered some Kinder Suprise Eggs from http://www.britishcandy.com

    Comment by Melissa on 4/03/07 at 10:49 am #
  41. 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.

    Comment by TK on 5/19/07 at 5:19 pm #
  42. Where do you get kinder eggs in washington! i live in vancouver

    Comment by Tanner on 7/08/07 at 6:54 am #
  43. 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.

    Comment by Katie on 7/20/07 at 11:30 am #
  44. You can find them at http://www.germandeli.com/

    Comment by Nicole on 8/01/07 at 12:09 pm #
  45. 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.

    Comment by Chad on 9/08/07 at 12:02 pm #
  46. 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.

    Comment by ozzy on 10/21/07 at 12:16 am #
  47. 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!

    Comment by terra on 11/10/07 at 3:26 pm #
  48. 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.

    Comment by jimmy on 11/16/07 at 7:08 am #
  49. 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.

    Comment by YVonne on 11/23/07 at 3:35 pm #
  50. Actually if you knew where to find them in New-England that would be great as well. Thanks!

    Comment by Yvonne on 11/23/07 at 3:38 pm #
  51. I found this great website which sells kindereggs from Canada and has the toys in them

    Comment by Charlie on 11/28/07 at 4:07 am #
  52. we always used them for easter egg hunts.

    Comment by Denise on 11/30/07 at 10:42 am #
  53. 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.

    Comment by Camille on 12/26/07 at 3:33 pm #
  54. You can find kinder toys at http://kinder-toys.buyatonlineshop.com/

    Comment by James Taylor on 1/01/08 at 9:42 am #
  55. 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.

    Comment by Kamma on 1/02/08 at 7:37 am #
  56. 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?

    Comment by Yingyan on 1/12/08 at 12:10 pm #
  57. 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?  smile

    Comment by Tanya Kirby on 1/14/08 at 7:51 am #
  58. 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.

    Comment by Scootermagoo on 4/09/08 at 2:34 pm #
  59. does anyone know where I can find Kinder eggs in manhattan NYC???

    I promised my nephew I would buy him some ;(

    Comment by danielle on 4/30/08 at 1:49 pm #
  60. 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.

    Comment by Deb on 5/08/08 at 9:03 am #
  61. 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.

    Comment by Sheila on 5/22/08 at 5:32 am #
  62. 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.

    Comment by stephen conklin, jr. on 6/01/08 at 6:53 am #
  63. 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!

    Comment by Laura on 8/26/08 at 6:49 pm #
  64. 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

    Comment by Jill on 10/23/08 at 11:43 am #
  65. how i dont eat it

    Comment by hassan on 11/02/08 at 8:17 pm #
  66. 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.

    Comment by Jess on 11/09/08 at 2:51 pm #
  67. 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.

    Comment by Erika on 11/22/08 at 6:04 am #
  68. The neat thing about Kinder Surprise is 1) you eat the chocolate; 2) you get a cute toy to assemble/display; 3) the yellow plastic ‘yolk’ case makes a great cat toy - it’s light enough for your cat to bat around and too big for them to accidentally swallow wink

    Comment by Cleod on 12/17/08 at 12:21 pm #
  69. I love Kinder Eggs!  My brother and I used to live on base in Germany between the ages of 1-5.  So when we moved back to the states we desperately missed them.  I’m trying to find some place that sells them online so I can give one to my brother as a present and we can relive our childhood memories. haha.  I’m 23 and he’s 25 now.  I remember loving the chocolate, so it’ll be interesting to see how my tastes have changed.  I also remember loving the toys as weird as they might seem now.  smile

    Comment by Alicia on 1/09/09 at 10:24 am #
  70. I generally go to Kuby’s (a German store and restaurant) in Dallas to get the Kinder Eggs.  Unfortunately, they are not allowed to sell them again as they are against the law. 

    Here is what happened to them: A man walked in the store a few months ago and bought a case of them.  A few weeks later he tried to return some.  When the store would not buy them back he turned them in to the Govt. They came into the store and confiscated all of the inventory and were told by the FDA that it would be a fine of 1 million dollars if they ever sold them again.  Poo poo on the guy that turned the store in.

    Per Wikipedia, Kinder Eggs are sold all over the world excluding the United States, where a 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act prohibits embedding “non-nutritive items” in confections. Additionally, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a recall on the eggs in 1997.

    If you can get them in the US then do so while the store can sell them.  Has anyone been successful in getting them shipped directly to you from out of the US?

    Comment by James on 2/10/09 at 11:54 am #
  71. I like the Robotix toys (articulated
    robot figures) that are in the eggs
    right now.

    For those who want the toys, then eBay
    has plenty for sale. For those who want
    the whole chocolate egg with the capsule
    inside, then you will probably need
    someone from Mexico or Canada to mail
    them directly to you.

    Comment by krakit on 3/03/09 at 3:38 pm #
  72. I grew up in Germany and every few months my mother would buy a case of them. we’d each eat one egg worth of chocolate and then spend a day opening and constructing the inexplicable toys. The height of our kinder egg mania hit with the chocolate star wars eggs. The chocolate was worse, but they had little star wars as the toys. Awesome

    Comment by talia on 3/24/09 at 9:44 am #
  73. The kinder egg suprise are not $2.95 on the web site Mel and Rose etc.

    Comment by Dave on 4/02/09 at 8:00 am #
  74. Kinder Eggs are only $2.25 at Josie’s German Food Market and Deli - http://www.germanfoodatjosies.com

    Comment by Stephen conklin, jr. on 4/02/09 at 10:34 am #
  75. I returned to the US via Houston International Airport with about a dozen of these eggs in my luggage.  The eggs that were whole were confiscated by customs as being “illegal” for import due to the choking hazzars.  They didn’t find the ones that I’d already eaten the chocolate and kept the toys in the little capsules.  I collect these occasionally and have done so since I found my first one in Germany in the late 70’s.
    Not only did customs seize my chocolate eggs with the toys inside, they took a photo of my passport for their records, so I can’t ever try to bring them into the US again.  Dang it all!
    I say if you are going to try to bring them in, take the capsules out of the chocolate and bring in the capsules without the foil wrappers.  Customs didn’t take my Disney, Pooh or Looney Toons eggs with the same small pieces, only the “KINDER Surprise” or in Spanish “Kinder Sopresa” eggs.

    Comment by Debi P on 5/08/09 at 11:12 am #
  76. Kinder eggs are extremely popular (or more of a traditional children’s favourite) here in Canada!  I had no idea that they weren’t sold in the US… When I first started reading your review I was wondering where you had been all your life- “looking for this kooky little novelty chocolate item for a while”.

    Comment by Lor on 6/24/09 at 10:57 am #
  77. I JUST FOUND KINDER EGGS IN NEW YORK!!!! I went to Greenpoint, Brooklyn (just east of Manhattan) and walked along the main Polish street in Greenpoint (Greenpoint is considered NYC’s “Little Poland”). Many of the polish food stores sell Kinder chocolates but many did not sell the eggs b/c of the US ban. However, one store did. It’s called Manhattan Fruit Inc. and is located at 678 Manhattan Avenue in Brooklyn, NY 11222. They were $1.75 each. HOoray my Kinder Egg search in NYC has ended!

    Comment by carrie M on 10/02/09 at 10:35 am #
  78. Here is a photo of my collection from the early 90s. My favorite toys!!

    http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2791/4034766690_245c9b353b_b.jpg

    My mom says you can order direct from Ferrero Canada to the US and it’s cheaper. Off to find out!

    Comment by Sunny on 10/22/09 at 3:07 am #
  79. I grew up in Russia and I absolutely adored these. I have a hard time finding them in America (they sell them in some Russian stores), but when I do, I swear it’s like Christmas. I actually really love the chocolate. I don’t know if it’s a nostalgia thing or what, but it’s one of my favorite candies to eat.

    Comment by Tasha on 11/06/09 at 6:40 pm #
  80. I, too, grew up overseas and enjoyed having Kinder eggs for the chocolate/milk lining and the surprise inside.

    In July 2009, I was in San Francisco for a marathon and happened to pass by a toy store (not during the marathon) that had a sign “Kinder Surprise Sold Here.” I was excited to find, after more than a decade, those lovely little eggs. Unfortunately, they were around 1.60 USD each. The surprise inside varied from a top (complete with winding mechanism) to a ‘magic box’. Having the egg was pure bliss, though and I wish they sold them around here.

    Comment by Raciel on 11/15/09 at 2:56 pm #
  81. Kinder egg is so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    So is candyblog!

    ROCK ON CB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Comment by Abbie . H on 11/25/09 at 4:42 am #
  82. Best Kinder Egg contents I ever had was a car that needed to be completely built from about twenty parts.

    I just find these so much more entertaining than when you get a bug lump of plastic in the shape of a turtle!

    Anyway, good reading CB!

    Comment by Retro Sweets on 12/03/09 at 12:13 am #
  83. There’s a shop in Pike Place Market in Seattle that sells them for about $3. They’re so tasty! The last toy I received was a boy standing on grass. You put a flat soccer ball under him and push down. He kicks the ball. 
    They also sell these tiny chocolate beads from France. I’ve never seen the beads before yesterday.

    Comment by Emily on 12/07/09 at 9:00 am #
  84. They’re everywhere here!  Dollar stores, grocery stores, drug stores, you name it.  My parent’s friend is against them not for their choking potential, but for their environmental hazard.  As soon as the child is done playing with the toy, they tend to just throw it away. 

    There are many Kinder chocolates apart from the surprise.  I can’t remember their names, but a lot of them are like chocolate balls with hazelnut/white filling and other ones are chocolate bars. 

    I honestly prefer the chocolate over the toys.  It’s exactly why my mom got me a Kinder Surprise advent calendar this month.  It’s delicious.  There’s only one Surprise on the 24th, but the other chocolates are what I’m after. 

    I had no idea they weren’t available in the US.

    Comment by Alyssa on 12/15/09 at 11:26 am #
  85. I picked up 3 of these in San Francisco for my sister. She got a Tweety toy in one of them. They are very nostalgic for us, the candy isn’t the greatest, but the memory of purchasing these when we were teens in Germany is worth buying them again.

    Comment by Heather on 1/13/10 at 9:14 am #
  86. Any buyers out there for the hand painted egyptian cats?

    Comment by Duane on 1/21/10 at 5:13 pm #
  87. does any one no were i can buy a kinder Easter egg from?!!!!?!?!?!?!?!

    Comment by craig Conlon on 1/22/10 at 10:32 am #
  88. I buy these @ the Shop & Save in downtown Des Plaines, IL.  They have plenty of european chocolates & candies available all of the time & the kinder eggs are $1.99.  Kind of expensive since they went up .75 within less than a year.  Gotta keep buying them ~ a tradition with my kids, 19 & 22.

    Comment by Kathi on 1/26/10 at 3:20 pm #
  89. I love kinder eggs cholates great on its own and relly good in pan au choclate and i love the toys i get them 3 for 7 bucks at a ittilan baker curtly huntiling the little slead ones have the sdnowman and female elf relly want the polar bear and female raindeer

    Comment by cathy on 2/20/10 at 7:15 am #
  90. I grew up eating these and collecting the toys. I loved the egyptian theme cats series and the snow bunnies as well. I HATE GETTING THE PUZZLES! My friends and I love the chocolate. I warm up the foiled egg in my hands to the point of almost melty. I love it that way. mmm I may go buy some tomorrow.

    Comment by Allegra on 2/25/10 at 9:15 pm #
  91. i luv kinder eggs there soooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!! nice

    Comment by joe on 3/03/10 at 7:47 am #
  92. i love candy very very very very very very very very very very very much it is the tastiest thing ever

    Comment by bailey on 3/12/10 at 10:56 pm #
  93. hi i love kinder eggs its not just the little toy inside i also love the chocolate who   would’ent its the best part xxxp.s this is not the best message ever cus im only 9 xxx

    Comment by jess on 3/13/10 at 8:49 am #
  94. I discovered Kinder Eggs when I was stationed in Germany in the mid 90’s.  I absolutely LOVE the chocolate.  The taste is just right…not too sweet.  The toys are a fun little suprise too. I was also under the impression that these eggs could not be sold in the United States because of the choking hazard.  That’s why they took the toy prize out of Cracker Jacks.  I am very happy to know that they are available here.  Hopefully I can find a local specialty store that sells them.

    Comment by Michelle on 3/26/10 at 11:42 am #
  95. We just returned from the US from Canada today.  At the border, the customs lady asked about tobacco and firearms, then asked “Do you have kinder eggs?”
    My response was “Do we have what?”  She waved us through without explanation at that point, so I had to google it to see if it was some bizarre Canadian parasite or weapon of mass destruction.  Kind of a letdown to see it is just a kid’s toy.  Maybe they just asked because of Easter, or maybe it is the only contraband they worry about from Canada.  Anyway, be advised the Customs is on the lookout for them and you don’t want to get busted on a kinder egg smuggling rap.

    Comment by Don on 4/11/10 at 7:50 pm #
  96. I loves these little candy/toy eggs. I remember living in Germany when my kids were small and they loved them. My sister has never heard of them and she told me her friend was over in Germany now and she is going to bring some back for us. My sons and their children will be surprised when they look in their stocking this Xmas. What a wonderful gift.

    Comment by Teri on 7/13/10 at 8:38 am #
  97. Kinder eggs are good but it is that other product that you mention that is the star of the Ferroro range for me - Nutella.  I even prefer it to their high end Ferrero Rocher chocolates.

    Spoonfools out of the jar are great - I love the way it sticks to your teeth. 

    But best of all, put it on hot toasted bread.  It melts and goes all gooey and runny and delicious.

    Comment by Retro Sweets on 10/22/10 at 6:14 am #
  98. Kinder eggs are the best, they really are my childhood, I loved biting off all the chocolate (although never enough for me grin ) and then getting to build a great little toy.  Best toy I got was a footballer when the world cup was on grin

    Comment by coast on 11/17/10 at 4:24 pm #
  99. Kinder Eggs are the best.  I used to live in Germany and, until last year, would always bring a bunch of them home for the kids at Christmas

    However… your government has banned Kinder Eggs from import into the United States.  That includes private citizens bringing them into the country in luggage.  It’s actually the number one most confiscated item (above Cuban cigars).  There is a $320 per item fine for attempting import; it’s usually not accessed, but they can if they believe you are flagrantly violating the ban.  This is no joke.  If you don’t believe me, cut and paste the link below in your browser, or simply go to the United States Custom and Border Protection web site and put “Kinder Eggs” in the sites search engine; you’ll get dozens of CBP documents addressing this clearly very dangerous item…

    http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/highlights/kinder_eggs.xml

    Comment by Joykill on 2/09/11 at 10:40 am #
  100. Cybele's avatar

    Joykill - I just returned from Germany last week and I was actually scared that Customs was going to do a search of my bags for Kinder Eggs (and other similar candy filled chocolate eggs). I already declared that I had Germany chocolate ... so I was sure they were at least going to ask. They did X-ray my bags but of course I didn’t bring any with me.

    Comment by Cybele on 2/09/11 at 10:47 am #
  101. I live near the Canadian Border and every once in a while we head up there to go to this great movie theater they have called the Colossus which looks like a giant space ship landed on top. That is where I had my first Kinder Egg, they happen to sell them with their children’s popcorn combo at their consession stand. It was the strangest thing; the chocolate wasn’t all that good but the toy was interesting. My first one held a weird blue Gnome like creature that reminded me of a smurf…
    I go to Canada quite often but have never been asked if I was bringing one into the country before. In fact I remember we had one sitting on the dashboard near the drivers side once as we crossed back into the U.S. and no one said a thing. In fact I just found out today that they are not legal in the U.S. from a friend. Crazy, i’ve been bringing them home for a while now and didn’t even know.

    Comment by Amanda on 2/13/11 at 11:30 pm #
  102. why is there a code on the box you rock a kid one it has a long number and its says pos 27

    Comment by mckenzie on 2/15/11 at 11:29 am #
  103. That is a great story about having to smuggle Kinder Eggs through customs, any ban because of the tots inside does seem I think.

    As for the toys, we love them, my daughter is into the Marvel and Disney eggs at the moment,we have even done some video of her opening them on youtube!

    kinder surprise marvel and disney

    Comment by C Kone on 5/27/14 at 4:07 am #
  104. Toys, my kids love to assemble these surprise toys especially the recent fairy ones.

    Comment by Vivian on 4/08/15 at 12:33 pm #
  105. Kinder Egg is a chocolate often filled with surprise toys. While some like it some don’t. Well it depends from person to person and parents to parents, but worth giving a try under parental supervision.

    Comment by MavoTV on 12/07/15 at 4:49 am #
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