Sweethearts Are Back for Valentine’s Day but There Are Some Changes

by Shahrzad WarkentinJanuary 23, 2020

Did you miss Sweethearts last year? The popular Valentine’s Day treat is officially making a comeback for 2020!

The New England Confectionery Company went out of business in 2018, ending production on NECCO Wafers and the original candy conversation hearts, Sweethearts. Luckily for fans, the recipe for the iconic Valentine’s Day treats was purchased by Spangler, the company behind Dum Dums. Unfortunately the company wasn’t able to get production of the candy started in time for Valentine’s Day in 2019, but this year fans are in luck.

While Sweethearts are back in stores for the holiday this year, there are a few strings attached. As CNBC reports, Spangler ran into a few speed bumps on the road to production again. Unfortunately, this means there will not be enough Sweethearts on the market to meet the demand of consumers. Representatives for Spangler say that the best place to find Sweethearts will be nationwide drugstores like CVS and Walgreens.

Another challenge the company faced was getting the printing machines to work properly in order to give the conversation hearts their famous messages. The issues the company faced means there will be more blank hearts than usual this year.

On the upside, however, Spangler did locate and bring back the original recipe for the 118-year-old candy, which means the return of flavors like wintergreen and banana.

—Shahrzad Warkentin

All photos: Courtesy of Spangler

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Here’s How to Get the New “Stranger Things” Pinball Machine

by Erica LoopDecember 23, 2019

Calling all “pinball wizards!” Stern Pinball recently announced a new game—and it features Netflix’s Stranger Things.

The Stranger Things pinball machine features absolutely everything you’d expect from the “upside down” world of the super-popular streaming series. Not only will Stern Pinball release one supernatural-infused machine, but the company will give fans three different options. Look for Pro, Premium and Limited Edition models.

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According to Stern Pinball’s website, the Premium and Limited Edition machines will feature, “A first ever video projector that displays images and animations directly on the playfield, creating dramatic interactions with gameplay action.” The Premium and Limited Edition machines will also have an Eleven-themed “telekinetic” magnetic ball lock and ramp that doubles as a screen.

Of the pinball pairing, Gary Stern, Chairman and CEO of Stern Pinball, Inc, said in a press release, “Stranger Things is one of the most successful shows of all time, connecting with people around the world and across generations. This game features action, mystery, suspense, and humor; Stranger Things is a perfect fit for pinball.”

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To buy your very own Stranger Things pinball game (priced between $6,099 and $9,099) you’ll need to visit an authorized Stern Pinball dealer. Find a dealer via Stern’s website here.

—Erica Loop

Featured photo: Stern Pinball via Instagram

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Hallmark Channel Is Featuring Its First Hanukkah Movies

by Shahrzad WarkentinNovember 22, 2019

Hallmark Channel’s Christmas movies have long been a staple of the holiday season and now for the first time those celebrating Hanukkah can get in on the fun too.

Hallmark will be featuring two new Hanukkah-themed films as part of its highly anticipated holiday line-up this year. The “Countdown to Christmas” event, which has been airing on the Hallmark Channel for the last ten years, had 85 million viewers last year.

The Countdown to Christmas event kicked off at the end of October, but the two new films Holiday Date and Double Holiday will premiere to coincide with the Jewish holiday. Holiday Date, which airs Dec. 14, follows the story of a woman who enlists a Jewish friend to be her pretend boyfriend when she goes home to visit her family for Christmas.

Double Holiday, which premieres on Dec. 22, centers around a Jewish woman whose Hanukkah plans are turned upside down when her boss enlists her to plan the office holiday party with her rival.

“Celebrating holiday seasons in lots of different ways is important to every family across the United States, and we do our best to bring to light the different traditions and different things that are happening to people in their lives,” Michelle Vicary, Crown Media’s executive vice president of programming told the New York Post.

—Shahrzad Warkentin

photos: Courtesy of Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Allister Foster

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Netflix Just Shared the First Teaser for “Stranger Things 4” & It Will Give You Chills

by Shahrzad WarkentinOctober 1, 2019

In the famous words of Dorothy Gale, “We’re not in Kansas anymore.” In the case of the new Stranger Things 4 teaser, we’re not in Hawkins.

It’s only been a few months since the last season of Stranger Things debuted on Netflix, but the streaming platform is already teasing season 4, with a trailer that confirms some fan theories about the future of the series.

The end of Stranger Things 3 found the Byers family, with their newly adopted member, Eleven, packing up and leaving town indicating that the show might head out of Hawkins in the future. Not to mention that mysterious post-credit sequence that took place in a Russian prison. Now that popular theory is confirmed with this first peek at Stranger Things 4.

While there is no word yet on when the next season will air, fans of the show’s creators, the Duffer Brothers, will be excited to hear the news that the team has signed a multi-year deal with Netflix, which means there’s sure to be plenty more of the Upside Down in our future.

—Shahrzad Warkentin

Featured photo: Netflix via YouTube

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Hopper’s Cabin from “Stranger Things” Is Now an Escape Room

by Shahrzad WarkentinAugust 2, 2019

Already missing Hawkins and it’s demonized inhabitants? Now you can experience what it’s like for Eleven and her pals to escape demigorgons and skin flayers in a new escape room in Hopper’s cabin from Stranger Things.

Season four of Stranger Things is a long way away, but if you’re itching to get an up close experience with life in the Upside Down, head to Atlanta where you can experience an escape room built in Hopper’s cabin. The real life cabin where the show is filmed on location resides at Sleepy Hollow Farm, a 60-acre family farm in Powder Springs, Georgia, just half an hour outside of Atlanta.

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“If you have seen ‘Stranger Things’ seasons 2 and 3, then you probably saw Hopper’s Cabin a lot. Hopper, Eleven, and their friends spent much of the seasons in the cabin,” Sleepy Hollow Farm wrote about the cabin. “Some of you may know that Hopper’s Cabin is actually located on Sleepy Hollow Farm, which is where Escape Woods is located so we have decided to turn it into an escape room adventure for all of the ‘Stranger Things’ fans out there.”

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The escape room experience is priced at $33 per person or you can rent the entire cabin for up to 10 people to participate for $309. The age recommendation is 10 and up. You can book your experience here.

—Shahrzad Warkentin

Featured photo: EscapeWoods via Instagram

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The Makers of NoseFrida Are Coming to Your Postpartum Rescue

by Shahrzad WarkentinAugust 1, 2019

Leave it to the geniuses behind NoseFrida to comes up with a line of postpartum care products designed to help new moms with pain and comfort after labor.

Frida Mom is a new line of postpartum products from Frida, the company behind the wildly popular NoseFrida SnotSucker. Moms are armed with mesh underwear and giant pads after giving birth, but other than that the focus tends to be on baby care and not mom care post birth––until now. Frida Mom is putting the spotlight on what women need to heal and recuperate after birth.

The new Frida Mom line includes an upside down peri bottle, 2-in-1 instant ice maxi pads, witch hazel pad liners, perineal healing foam, mesh underwear for vaginal and c-section deliveries, a delivery and nursing gown and two hospital essential kits.

photo: Courtesy of Amazon

“The problem with postpartum recovery begins with a woman’s lack of knowledge and ability to prepare for what’s really about to go down. The intimidation factor, before, during and after, is debilitating,” says Chelsea Hirschhorn, mom of three and CEO of Frida in a news release. “Then you’re expected to tend to a newborn in between concocting ice remedies from the incontinence and burn relief aisles of your local drug store while perched on a wee-wee pad—my exact discharge instructions after I delivered my first child.”

photo: Courtesy of Amazon

The entire line starts at just $12 and is available at Target in stores and online, as well as Amazon and BuyBuyBaby.

—Shahrzad Warkentin

Featured photo: Courtesy of Frida Mom

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Baskin Robbins Is Opening a “Stranger Things” Scoops Ahoy Ice Cream Shop

by Shahrzad WarkentinJune 27, 2019

You don’t have to wait much longer for the perfect summer treat, Stranger Things 3. The only thing better than beating the summer heat with a Netflix binge session is ice cream and now you can have both thanks to a Stranger Things ice cream pop-up by Baskin Robbins.

As the trailers and pictures have already revealed, the new season of Stranger Things will revolve around the Hawkins residents hanging out at the Starcourt Mall. Steve and a few new recruits to the gang will be scooping up ice cream cones for their summer jobs at Scoops Ahoy, which is the inspiration behind this new Baskin Robbins pop-up.

@BaskinRobbins has partnered with @Stranger_Things to create new flavors and treats that will turn your world upside down. #Chedline pic.twitter.com/YrGQmMfQud

— Cheddar (@cheddar) June 7, 2019

A Burbank, California Baskin Robbins will be getting a temporary makeover to look like the Scoops Ahoy ice cream shop in the Starcourt Mall, complete with 80’s nautical decor and uniforms. The shop, which will be open Jul. 2 to Jul. 14 will be serving up scoops of Baskin Robbins Stranger Things-inspired flavors, like USS Butterscotch. A Scoops Ahoy ice cream truck will also be bringing the flavors of Hawkins summer to select locations around the city the first week of July.

If you can’t make it to Los Angeles, don’t worry! You can still get a taste of Baskin Robbins Stranger Things flavors and dishes, like Upside Down Pralines and Demogorgon Sundaes, at locations across the country. You can also score Stranger Things merchandise, like a Scoops Ahoy t-shirt and themed ice cream quarts to go.

—Shahrzad Warkentin

Featured photo: Courtesy of Netflix

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Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Lunar Landing with a Dairy Queen Blizzard

by Erica LoopJune 26, 2019

Eat a DQ Blizzard in honor of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing! Dairy Queen is celebrating this major milestone with a crazy-cool colorful treat, and we’ve got the low-down on this summer sweet.

The Zero Gravity Blizzard is a space-age goody that comes with plenty of cosmic chill. Even though the official anniversary of the moon landing doesn’t happen until July, DQ has already added this magical pick to store menus.

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So what can you expect from the Blizzard? To start with, it defies gravity. But then again, all Blizzards do—or at least should. DQ fans may already know the upside down offer that comes with the ice cream retailer’s Blizzard treats. To prove just how much these treats defy gravity, DQ promises to serve your Blizzard upside down or the next one free (at participating locations only).

Along with its gravity-defying ways, this Blizzard comes with Oreo cookie pieces, cotton candy topping, iridescent blue and black swirls and galaxy sprinkles. And that’s all mixed in with DQ’s delish vanilla soft serve.

—Erica Loop

Featured photo: Dairy Queen

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A “Stranger Things” Pop-Up Carnival Is Coming to This West Coast Landmark

by Shahrzad WarkentinJune 20, 2019

What better way to celebrate a summer in the Upside Down than with a spooky carnival? A California landmark is transforming into Hawkins, Indiana for a Stranger Things pop-up fans won’t want to miss.

The Santa Monica Pier is getting a very ’80s makeover as Stranger Things takes over Pacific Parks’ attractions with a spooky carnival pop-up. The new season of Stranger Things, which is set to premiere on Jul. 4, takes place in the summer of 1985 and will feature all things ’80s from the mall to the hair scrunchies, and of course plenty of monsters.

photo: Courtesy of Netflix

The Stranger Things-themed takeover will celebrate the third seasons summer vibes with carnival games, like a slime-filled dunk tank, attractions, like a Demogorgon-filled Curiosity House, and plenty of eats, like the Scoops Ahoy ice cream parlor where your favorite Hawkins residents will be slinging scoops for their summer jobs.

There will also be live entertainment, like performances by the Hawkins High cheerleaders and the entire Pacific Park amusement park will get a Hawkins makeover.

The Stranger Things pop-up carnival will take place Jun. 29 and 30 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Santa Monica Pier. Admission is free.

—Shahrzad Warkentin

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This New “Stranger Things” LEGO Set Will Turn Your World Upside Down, Literally

by Shahrzad WarkentinMay 21, 2019

Last week Netflix teased fans with the possibility of a Stranger Things LEGO set and today the build-up has paid off with the reveal of an epic new set that’s as ground-breaking as the series.

The new LEGO Stranger Things: The Upside Down, is an imaginative new LEGO brick set featuring the Byer’s house and the Upside Down, which can be flipped to be displayed on either side. The set is intricately detailed, like the inside of the Byer’s living room where you’ll find the now iconic alphabet wall with a functional light-up feature.

The set, which clocks in at 2,287 pieces also comes packed with Chief Hopper’s truck and eight minifgures of the show’s beloved characters, including Eleven, Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair, Dustin Henderson, Will Byers, Joyce Byers, Chief Jim Hopper and the Demogorgon.

The set will be available to purchase in stores and online Jun. 1 (May 15 for LEGO VIP members) for $199.99.

The new season of Stranger Things premieres on Netflix Jul. 4, giving you plenty of time to build your own Upside Down realm before the show kicks off.

—Shahrzad Warkentin

All photos: Courtesy of LEGO

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