jelly babies

Over the past couple of weeks I think I have bought five boxes of jelly babies, which I've taken to various social events and meetings. They've been half price in Sainsbury's. I haven't eaten them all by myself, honest.

To quote the blurb on the side of the box:
"Originally launched in 1919 as Bassett's Peace Babies to celebrate the end of the First World War, everyone will enjoy eating these delicious treats. You can have fun choosing from the different fruity flavoured soft jelly sweets ... and then enjoy eating the baby shapes - will it be head first?"

At a dinner party at the house of some friends of mine, we ended up discussing how eating babies was supposed to celebrate the end of the First World War. We decided that they probably didn't think of it in those terms - perhaps the babies were a sign of innocence or of new life and new hopes for the future after the end of the war. Perhaps they were intended to encourage the replenishment of the population.

Apparently you can't get them in the US.