Theater Eats

The best part of going to the movies is the green light for candy consumption. Everyone expects to eat junk food while uber-sized explosions and epic battles unfold before our eyes, and my son and I are no exceptions. However, I balk at paying theater prices for my sweet snacks. I can't believe anyone forks over $3.75 for a small soda and $3.50 for box of M & M's.

The best place to stock up on movie theater candy without paying movie theater prices is Walgreens. The store has a wide selection of traditional movie candies in the "theater size" boxes as well as many other choices for those with distinctly nontraditional tastes. After surveying the Snow Caps, Junior Mints (and newer Junior Caramels), Charleston Chews, and Jujy Fruits adjacent to snack size packages of Nutter Butters, Boston Baked Beans, and Maple Nut Goodies, I chose my usual - Mike and Ike (regular fruit flavors, rather than the new Italian Ice or Tropical varieties) and Raisinets (I went for the dark chocolate today!). These candies go together like yin and yang. Eating one of each at the same time is reminiscent of chocolate covered fruit jellies, which are much more expensive. Unfortunately, there always seems to be more Mike and Ikes than Raisinets (sigh). On the other hand, my son likes contrasting flavors, so he opted for Good and Plenty and Reece's Pieces.

My family has carried goodies to the theater as long as I can remember. When I was young baggies of cookies and Hershey's kisses appeared out of my mom's purse. Of course, sometimes it is a game to see just how much we can get in. For example, when I was a teenager the over-sized olive drab Army jackets with a dozen pockets were in style, and (naturally) my brother had one in which he regularly stashed two 2-liter bottles of soda and a footlong sub sandwich for his snacking pleasure. Since we grew up in East Tennessee jackets were regular features, especially at the midnight movie, except at the height of summer, so most people were able to carry a ready stash.

When we were in college the stash became more nefarious, of course, with flasks of rum or cherry vodka supplementing bottles of cola and ginger ale alongside bags of potato chips. After all, movies like Pink Floyd's The Wall , Footloose or Rocky Horror Picture Show are often better after a couple of drinks. (Don't worry. We always had a designated driver.)

Now a days I live in the land of eternal sun where a jacket would scream "frisk me" 300 days of the year. Luckily, big purses are in style and I own a couple. The one I took today carried two bottles of soda and four boxes of candy without a hitch, though it was pretty heavy on my arm! Even after the goodies make it into the theater, you have to be careful flashing them around. Perhaps I'm paranoid, but I always think the people near us who paid full price for their drinks and snacks will turn us in for the contraband in my purse, so we wait until the lights go down on the previews to unload everything. Then, we wait for the first loud noise on screen to cover the hissing of the pop bottles opening. Finally, we nosh the candy and sip the sodas, enjoying our treats all the more knowing we paid a reasonable price for them. This adds to our enjoyment of the movie itself, because who wants to spend twenty bucks on yummy treats?