Cookie jar facts for kids
Cookie jars are special containers, usually made of ceramic or glass. You often find them in kitchens in places like the United States and Canada. In the United Kingdom, people call them biscuit barrels or biscuit jars. If they are made of metal, like a tin can, they are called biscuit tins.
These jars are mostly used to keep cookies or biscuits fresh. But sometimes, people use them for other things too! They might hold candy, dog treats, or even money, just like a piggy bank.
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The History of Cookie Jars
Cookie jars, or biscuit barrels, have been around for a long time. They were first used in England in the late 1700s. Back then, they were often made of glass with metal lids.
Cookie Jars Become Popular
Cookie jars became very popular in America around 1929, during a time called the Great Depression. The first American cookie jars were made of glass and had metal lids that screwed on.
In the 1930s, people started making cookie jars from a material called stoneware. Early jars often looked simple, like cylinders. They were painted with flowers or leaves, or had colorful pictures stuck on them.
The First Ceramic Cookie Jar
The Brush Pottery Company in Zanesville, Ohio, is famous for making the first ceramic cookie jar. It was green and had the word "Cookies" raised on the front. After this, many other companies started making ceramic cookie jars in the late 1930s.
The designs became much more fun and creative! You could find jars shaped like figures, fruits, vegetables, animals, and even characters like the "Little Red Riding Hood" jar by Hull. The best time for American cookie jar making was from 1940 to 1970. Many famous companies made them during these years.
Popular American Cookie Jar Themes
Cookie jars in America came in many cool designs. Here are some popular themes:
- Advertising: Jars shaped like products from companies like Coca-Cola or Kellogg's.
- Characters: Jars shaped like people or funny figures, like clowns.
- Funny Animals: Jars shaped like playful animals, such as a rabbit in a hat or a pink poodle.
- Nursery Rhyme/Storybook: Jars that looked like characters from stories, like Cinderella or Red Riding Hood.
- Holidays and Seasons: Jars for special times of the year, like Christmas or a Jack-o'-lantern for Halloween, or a snowman for winter.
- Cultural Icons: Jars shaped like famous people or characters, such as Elvis, Superman, I Love Lucy, or Cookie Monster.
- Everyday Objects: Jars shaped like common things, such as a house, a truck, or a butter churn.
Andy Warhol's Cookie Jars
The famous artist Andy Warhol loved collecting cookie jars. He gathered 175 ceramic cookie jars, all in different shapes and sizes. He often bought them at flea markets.
Warhol's collection was even shown in a big news magazine. This made many other people interested in collecting cookie jars too! When asked why he collected jars from the 1930s and 1940s, Warhol simply said, "They are time pieces." After he passed away in 1987, his cookie jar collection was sold at an auction for $250,000!
Other Uses of "Cookie Jar"
The phrase "cookie jar" is sometimes used in different ways:
- "Keep your hands out of the cookie jar": This is a fun way to tell someone to stay out of other people's business. It means don't take things that don't belong to you, even if they look tempting.
- In computer programming: A "cookie jar" can be a special area in a computer's memory. This space is set aside to store small pieces of data called "cookies" that websites use.
Cookie Jars in Popular Culture
Cookie jars have also appeared in songs and shows:
- "Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?": This is a popular song often sung in elementary school.
- "Cookie Jar" by Gym Class Heroes: The American band Gym Class Heroes released a song called "Cookie Jar" as a single in 2008.
- "Cookie Jar" by Jack Johnson: Musician Jack Johnson also wrote a song called "Cookie Jar." It was on his album On and On in 2003.
- "#Cookie Jar" by Red Velvet: The South Korean girl group Red Velvet released a Japanese EP (a mini-album) called #Cookie Jar in 2017. The main song on the EP was also called "Cookie Jar."
Gallery
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A rocket ship from American Bisque, ca. 1960. Space themes were popular as the space race began in earnest during the late 1950s
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A cookie jar style container, used to hold dog treats
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An American Bisque cookie jar using the Funny Animal theme popular in America during the 1950s
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Wooden biscuit barrel from Ireland, early 20th century
