Selection box facts for kids
A selection box is a special gift box filled with different kinds of chocolates. People often give and receive them around Christmas, especially in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It's like a treasure chest of sweet treats!
Contents
The Story of Selection Boxes
How They Started
Selection boxes became popular a long time ago, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, in Britain. Famous chocolate makers like Rowntree's and Cadbury were among the first to create them.
Back then, people would save money for many months in a special group called a Christmas club. This helped them buy a selection box around Christmas time. Sometimes, the value of a selection box was even more than a week's pay! People could often choose what chocolates went inside.
Selection Boxes Today
Today, selection boxes are a common Christmas gift. Almost every chocolate company makes them for the holidays. You often see them near the checkout counters in supermarkets, ready for a quick purchase.
In the 1960s and 1970s, selection boxes became even more fun. They sometimes had games like snakes and ladders printed on the back! This made them even more exciting for kids. Children would eagerly wait for their selection box each year, seeing it as a main Christmas present.
Now, chocolate companies usually decide what chocolates go into their festive boxes. Many children receive several selection boxes each Christmas, full of their favorite chocolate bars.
How Selection Boxes Are Made
Packaging the Chocolates
Making chocolate selection boxes can be done in two ways: by hand or by robots. Hand-packaging is more expensive. Older robot systems weren't very flexible. If the chocolates or the box layout changed, the machines needed big adjustments.
However, modern robots are controlled by computers. This means they can be easily reprogrammed to pack different chocolates or change the box's design.
Checking for Safety
One challenge in chocolate factories is making sure no tiny metal pieces accidentally get into the chocolates. Regular metal detectors have trouble with the shiny foil wrappers on many selection box chocolates. The foil can make the detector give false alarms.
A British chocolate company called Thorntons found a clever solution. They started using an X-ray system instead. X-rays can see through the foil and still find any unwanted metal pieces, keeping the chocolates safe to eat!
