Pez...A Treat to Eat in a Toy That's Neat

A treat to eat in a toy that's neat...that's the slogan all Pezheads know. But, do ya really like the candy? It's ok, but the toy is what Pez is all about. I have been collecting PEZ ever since I was in graduate school back in 1991. I got started on PEZ when my Mom showed me an article in the local newspaper about a guy who collected PEZ. I read the article and thought "what a great collection". This was much cooler than comics because these little things you could display. I also remembered the PEZ I had when I was a kid back in the 70's so I thought this was the perfect collection for me. Little did I know it would become an obsession for the next decade.

I remember going into Walgreens, Wal-Mart, Target, and Kroger's just about every day looking for Pez. I look back now and am bummed because there were lots of Smurfs, Pez Pal Boys and Girls with extra holes, and three piece witches. I remember thinking, "Man, I hope I don't see anyone I know. Especially some cute waitress I work with, they'd think 'What a freak!'".

In 1993, I started improving the quality of my collection with the addition of Captain Hook, which my parents got for Christmas. The reason I wanted Captain Hook was because that was the one specific dispenser I could remember from my childhood. The next dispenser I acquired was Uncle Sam, which I paid $3 for at a toy shop. Now that was exciting and a story in itself. Maybe I'll tell that story someday. Hey, like the Fourth of July!

Now, sixteen years later, I am sort of burned out on Pez, if you can believe that. But, I the reason I'm burned out is there are just so many new Pez out there now that I can't keep up monetarily. So, I've decided to pack up all my dispensers that I consider current and pack them away for a couple ten years. So, sometime this year, I'll do that undertaking and rearrange my display. Ugh, that even makes me sick to think about that right now. Anyway, here are several pictures of my Pez collection. I hope you enjoy.


My Dad made me this HUGE display case for Christmas in 1998. It is about 6' tall and 5' wide. He made it out of the shelves used in my grandfather's country store. Kinda sentimental. This rack will help keep the dust off my Pez and is awesome for displaying them. It truly is awesome. Thanks Dad!

The following pictures are of select shelves from the large display featuring some of the more vintage Pez in my collection.