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The rather poor illustration accompanying this post is supposed to represent the wonderful things that were Galaxy Counters. I believe they were phased out sometime during the 1980′s but don’t know exactly when. Something very similar is still available today as one of the sweets in a packet of Revels, but it’s not quite the same, as you will see.
Imagine a Galaxy Minstrel. Now remove it’s crispy shell to leave just the chocolate inside. This is basically what you get in a packet of Revels. Now stamp a little white number on one side of the chocolate. NOW you have a Galaxy Counter. A small difference maybe, that doesn’t really alter the taste at all, but does make the sweet much more fun for a child to eat. Kids are easily pleased you see. Do you remember the thrill of opening a tube of Smarties to see what letter was on the lid? Well with Galaxy Counters that thrill was multiplied as every sweet had a number printed on it. My sister and I would announce to whoever was listening what number we were about to eat every time we ate one.
If my memory serves me correctly then Galaxy Counters were sold in little white packets, about the same size as a packet of Cadbury’s Buttons. The packets had various pictures of different woodland animals on, such as deers and squirrels. I’m sure there was an orangey red coloured owl wearing a mortar board as well. I have a feeling there may have been a joke or something printed on the packet as well, in the same way that Cadbury’s Buttons had a nursery rhyme on them, but I can’t be sure.
February 8th, 2008 at 11:04 am
I can’t believe there is actually someone who remembers these other than me. I have asked various people over the years and no-one remembers them, I remember some packets had giraffes on the front. Its a bit like spangles nobody seems to remember them either:)
March 6th, 2008 at 12:32 am
hi well i am amazed that im not going crazy , someone else does remember them ,i absolutley loved those little chocolate sweets n i cant remember the owl but i do remember the giraffe x
April 26th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Yep, you are right guy’s the image on the front right hand side of the packet was a giraffe. I do remember spangles sweeties too, they were opaque sweets in a red packet with white writig on, nd they were the shape of ‘Tunes’, cough sweets.
Now I hae got one for you – does anyone remember Mousse bars, which was a chocoate bar, a little larger than a milky way, but the same type of confectionery. It wa in a blue and white fine gingham packet with a cartoon picture of a mousse on the front.
How about a galaxy ripple in a light blue paper packet with golden yellow writing on the front?
May 25th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
I thought the mousse bar was a figment of my imagination! Remember the ripple bar in blue too.
August 5th, 2008 at 8:28 am
I mentioned Revels in this post as being the closest you’ll get to a Galaxy Counter these days, so thought I’d mention the website http://www.revelseviction.com where you can vote for your least favourite Revels flavour. The flavour that gets the most votes will be replaced (temporarily) with a new flavour. Am I the only person who likes the Coffee ones?
October 14th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
OMG!!!!!! Add me to the list of people who have now had their sanity restored because someone else remembers these sweets!!!!!!!! I loved them and even had a Counters toothbrush beaker with the giraffe on it!!!!!!
On a totally separate non-confectionery related note – does anyone else other than me (and the person who I have recently found posted a vid on You Tube) remember the TV programme Big John Little John? – something else that had me doubting my own memory too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 15th, 2008 at 9:48 am
The idea of a Counters branded toothbrush beaker I find quite amusing, but then again maybe it makes sense. Eat your chocolate, then brush your teeth!
Didn’t remember Big John Little John, so I did a quick search for it and see it was about a man who turns into a boy after drinking water from the fountain of youth. Sounds like it was a fun show and would have been right up my street, shame I never got to see it.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Yes I remember Big John Little John, It was an american programme.
I was only asking someone the other day if they remembered Counters……they didn’t, nobody ever does. They were lovely, I for one would buy them if they ever re-introduced them.
Does any one remember Mince Mate? It may have been made by Knorr, you used to get it in different flavours my favourite was Bolognese. My Mum used to add it to mince and pasta shapes Mmmmm
Another one was the Old Special K, why did they change it to the thick horrible flakes that they are today? I sent Kelloggs an e-mail suggesting that they bring them back and call them Special K1………it must have been youngsters at the other end……..they were oblivious!
November 6th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
I’m with you on the old Special K Wendy. They were like little round curls of cereal weren’t they? Now they look like knobbly brown cornflakes. I’m surprised they could still call the new ones Special K given that they’re nothing alike.
November 13th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Blimey, I can’t believe it, I have been trying to remember the name of those little chocolate sweets in a white packet with the picture of a deer on the front for the last 17 years. Thank you for restoring my sanity. I am soooo glad I now know the name of galaxy counters. I wish they would bring them back, that would be cool.
February 13th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
hi i remember all these sweets & more i used 2 luv galaxy counters wen i was young they was in a white bag wid a picof a cartoon animal on the front of it.. y av they taken of all these great sweets can they bring then back please…..
oh nenorys i just wish they weren;t just memorys i wish i could still get these sweets today…..
carol baxendale……
March 4th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
[...] Â Personally, I would suggest there are far better sweets to bring back, Pacers being one, and Galaxy Counters another. Â Anyway, I always preferred [...]
April 17th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
I cannot believe i’m not the only one who remembers galaxy counters.
For some strange reason i always tried to buy a packet with a Pelican on.
Mars must bring them back,look how well the the Wispa re-launch went…
June 10th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
I have written to Galaxy asking them to bring them back maybe we should all tell our friends and write to them, if we all do it maybe they will bring back the Counters – I’d do it for Pacers too but I can’t remember who made them!
June 10th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Do let us know what kind of a response you get from them. Since they (sort of) still make them in Revels it’s not as if they have to do anything major to bring them back. Fingers crossed!
July 25th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
The giraffe on the packet was actually called Jeffrey
February 27th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
you’ll all be pleased to hear Galaxy are indeed relaunching Counters, though they will be minus the numbers and aimed at a female adult market! (rather like the Bubbles bar)
February 27th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
So basically the Minstrels without the crispy shell that you get in Revels. Good enough for me!
February 27th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
I’m curious as to what make alan think they are relaunching counters as I have not heard of it in the trade papers
March 12th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
Remember counters very well – thought I was only one! Was searching to find some on line when I came across this site!!!!!
March 16th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
I used to love these sweets. Think there was a camel on one of the packets as well. I always leave the chocolate revel until last as it is my fav. Does anyone remember Nutty Bars, they were divine. Wish they could be brought back
March 16th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
I love the Counters in Revels too, although I’m also one of the few that seem to like the Coffee Cream. I’m keeping my eyes peeling for the relaunched Counters though – pity they don’t have the little numbers on any more.
March 16th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
I remember Galaxy Counters. My mum saved up the wrappers and sent off for me to get a mobile (not phone, one of those things that hang from the ceiling!) with the various creatures on it. I used to love them! They were around in the early to mid 70′s, and am pretty sure they were fazed out by the 80s.
Thanks for remembering!!!!
March 17th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
You may well be right Deb about Counters not surviving until the 1980s, I certainly remember them from when I was very small, which would have been mid 1970s.
Do you still have the mobile?
March 21st, 2010 at 11:35 pm
Galaxy Counters were a superior Chocolate Button and a natural stepping stone to the adult replacent that we know and love as Minstrels……..respect to the Counters!
April 1st, 2010 at 3:31 pm
Just to let you all know that I brought some GALAXY COUNTERS today. Yes! today in Asda. They were on Special £1 for a massive bag. They did listen and have brought them back Hoorrayyyyyyyyyy!!
April 3rd, 2010 at 9:20 pm
Hi yes there back galaxy counters i sat here talking about them to my husband and he thought i was going nuts. talking about a little white packet with a giraffe on. ASDA £1 bag yeahhhhhhhhhhh
April 4th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Yep, counters are back! Good stuff.
Remember the giraffe and owl packs.
Can’t believe that somebody else actualy
remembers Mousse Bars. Seem to remember them
as a cross between a mars bar and milky way?
Nobody ever knows what I’m talking about re those!
Five Centres would be another one to bring back and
Milk Tray bars too!
April 6th, 2010 at 10:07 am
hi steph which asda did u see them im from cardiff in the uk and when i went to my asda last week they said they have not came in yet maybe in 2 weeks unless certain places r getting them 1st
April 7th, 2010 at 9:03 am
Hi
I have just bought my first bag of counters from Asda they looked the same as the Galaxy counters with the Giraffe on the front that i remembers as a kid.
They are the same, i am sure i wil be buying loads of these. Thank you Galaxy
April 7th, 2010 at 9:27 am
Hi Paul
I went to Asda in Keighley, West Yorkshire, I’m sure you will have them soon. It is the only supermarket that I have seen them in.
April 7th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
I’m pleased to announce that if you’re frantically trying to track down a packet of Counters and failing, you can try to win a pack with my competition!
Clink the link to enter – all I want to know is what your favourite memory of the eighties is!
April 10th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
im so glad every body remenbers these, ive just had bought me a bag of galaxy counters which took me back 30yrs, my husband doesnt remember them and he came home tonite with these..taste as good!! shame no alphabet or number ontho…. thank u galaxy XXXXXX
April 11th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Just stumbled on this site as yesterday, i wept for joy when i saw galaxy counters in my local shop.
Like everyone else i thought i had imagined my favourite childhood sweet back in the good old 70s. Thankyou Galaxy for bringing them back they still taste so yummy!!!.
April 12th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
i have just eaten a bag of counters … brings back memories of the white packs with giraffe and owl on them …. now bring back spangles … the old ones are the best . … well done galaxy for bringing counters back xxxxx
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:16 am
Yeehaa, they’re back, just had them last night.
Yummy.
Oh and agree with Debbie, Spangles back too…………
April 23rd, 2010 at 12:32 pm
I went to the cinema last night and in the sweet,popcorn etc area I found the counters. I couldnt believe it. It made me remember the little white packet with the giraffe on the front from being a kid. I had forgotten all about them. After reading some of the other comments I realised I had also forgotten about Pacers lol.
Does anyone remember a small bar of pink chocolate though?????
April 23rd, 2010 at 12:38 pm
It seems the relaunch is really jogging peoples memories, which is nice.
Helen, I certainly remember some bars of chocolate that were pink and orange, though I couldn’t tell you what they were called. I’ve written about them before in my post on chocolate penny sweets (right at the bottom of the post). I think they cost around 5 pence, and they had a picture of a piece of fruit skipping on the wrapper. Ring any bells with you?
April 24th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
I nearly passed out with excitement when I saw galaxy counters on sale tonight in Tescos. Of course several packets went in my trolley straight away and they taste exactly the same as the ones in the little white animal packets all those years ago. Does anyone rmember a Fry’s cream bar that used to have different flavours in every chunk…I loved that, but now you can only ever get the one flavour throughout.
April 29th, 2010 at 10:42 pm
Thank God for the galaxy counters, hardly anybody remembers them from when i was a kid!! and i remembered the giraffe on the packet, it’s the only animal i did remember! i remember spangles too! the pink chocolate, wasn’t it something to do with the pink panther as i seem to remember! can’t remember the mousse bars, but does anyone remember the bars called ‘delight’ they were around in the 80′s, once you’ve had 2 of them one after the other they were a bit sickly! they were in a pink wrapper? i hope the counters are here to stay!!
May 2nd, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Oooh just bought a bag of Galaxy counters. They so yummy. I closed my eyes and remembered eating them from the little white packets with the giraffe on the front. I always bought a packet when walking home from the swimming baths in the mid 1970′s. The new packs are huge, and I drove to the shops to get them, no wonder we are all so much fatter now! Does anyone remember a blue wrapper with a chocolate covered bounty type bar with coloured fruit in it .The name Cabana springs to mind.
May 2nd, 2010 at 10:03 pm
The Pink Panther bar! I loved that-far superior confection to the milky bar. Pink candy bar about the same shape and size as a milky bar with a pic of the pink panther on the wrapper. It would have been in about 1974 (age 6) that I last had one but I remember it well (though noone else I have ever met can recall it).The Milk tray bar is something i would still pay good money for. What a product!
May 7th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
I am eating a packet of galaxy counters. AT LAST!!! Its good to know I was not alone in my 30 year craving for them to be re-introduced. They were my favorite choccy sweeties when I was about 6! Have they got bigger though? Fantastic!
May 23rd, 2010 at 8:28 pm
I remember all these bars,pink panther I loved ,cabana, it was much nicer than bounty with big pieces of cherry in it. the milk tray bar was fantastic, great to eat in one go and not feel too sick which you couldnt do with a box of chocs.Does anyone remember country style chocolate with a red gingam paper sleeve over the bar, it had crunchy sort of honeycomb biscut in it. lovely,also frys friut bar. Instead of mint fondent, each segment was a diffrent flavor friut fondent. Just seen galaxy counters advertised on tv,wrote to galaxy 20 years ago asking them to bring the counters back, at long last my wish has come true……
May 24th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
I can’t say I personally remember the Milk Tray bar, but if it’s what it sounds like it should be then it sounds like a great idea. I have very vague memories of the Pink Panther and Cabana bars (don’t really like coconut personally) and now you mention it the chocolate in red gingham rings a distant bell.
The Fry’s Fruit Bar was actually called Five Centres and I remember it was scrummy (orange, raspberry, lime, strawberry and pineapple flavours, according to Wikipedia). You can still get Chocolate Cream (actually a plain vanilla fondant filling) and Peppermint Cream and Orange Cream is also supposed to be available, but I haven’t seen it myself recently. Other single flavoured version which are no longer available were Strawberry and Pineapple.
June 4th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
Just tlaking about galaxy counters in the office.No one could remeber them but me.Think it was George the Giraffe and Ollie the Owl.Not tried the new ones yet!Do you remember Aztec bars as well?
June 6th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
Those giraffe sweets were my fave , does anybody else remember the cabana choccy bar , with coconut and cherrys in it ?
June 26th, 2010 at 10:12 pm
I’m glad I’m not the only one out there who nearly wept for joy at the sight of Galaxy Counters in Tesco today. They were one of my favourite sweets! I also remember the mousse bar (like Milky Way) and Delight (in the “Dime” family I think) from previous posts.
July 9th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
I’m so glad I’ve found other people that remember the original Galaxy Counters! They were my favourite chocolate at the time because they had a different taste to other chocolate but I never really knew why. Thinking back, it was probably to do with the fact they were a different brand of chocolate from Cadburys. There was only one shop where I could get these from and it was the post office at the top of my street and all the sweets were kept in a glass case.
July 16th, 2010 at 8:55 pm
These are just sooooooo nice, I can’t stop eating them and have put on a stone in weight since they were launched, and I have been the same weight for 30 years!!!!!!!!!!! I open a packet and try to put them down after a few but it’s impossible, I have to eat them all!
July 18th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
They are rather moreish aren’t they Caz!
August 5th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
I can’t believe someone on here remembers ‘Nutty’ bars (Karen)!! I’ve been boring people to death for years talking about these. I was beginning to think I’d made them up!!
August 22nd, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Thank god – i thiught i was going crazy my partners kept saying i was making it us. Now they are back bigger & better, my prayers have answered x
August 27th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
does anyone remember the picture being a dog and his footprint were the counters ?
August 27th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
also I just want to say that I am so pleased that I am not going mad, up until recently no one that I have ever met had heard of these choc !
October 15th, 2010 at 8:45 am
Galaxy counters have just been re-launched, they are now only sold in the large share bags but who cares they’re back
March 21st, 2011 at 8:38 pm
Hurrah, i’ve just googled this as my hubby & daughter thought i was mad talking about a white packet with a giraffe on it with galaxy counters in.
So happy to prove them wrong
March 23rd, 2011 at 5:44 pm
Just to say the same as most of the rest of you that these ‘new’ Galaxy Counters were around in the late 70s to early 80s, but I also thought i’d imagined the little white bag!
I didn’t imagine the big brown bag I’ve just scoffed however
December 14th, 2011 at 10:08 pm
OMG I like many on this forum have tried to get other people to remember the galaxy counters from my young days I started doubting myself. i do remeber the Cabana bar. Now I’ve got 2 for you do you rememebr digestive biscuits that were covered in a chocolate that was like caramac? And the oter one is in one of the biscuit selections that they sell at Christmas there used to be a shortcake biscuit with pink icing in the middle. Please help!
December 29th, 2011 at 11:22 pm
YAY!!! I am sooooo glad I finally found the name of these sweets. I have been talking about them for years and nobody seemed to know what I was talking about LOL. I used to try and get the packet with the bird on it (think it was a pelican lol) I remember all the other sweets and bars on here too but this used to drive me mad cos I couldn’t remember the name….aaaaahhh thank you!
June 24th, 2012 at 12:49 pm
Does anyone remember which year Galaxy Ripple’s first went on sale in the UK ?
August 30th, 2012 at 9:28 pm
I am worried by how many of these I remember. I seem to recall saving up packets and joining the counter club. The animals included I think, Percy the Pelican, Geoffrey the giraffe, Ollie the Owl and I think there was another possibly Clive the Camel. Was delighted to have them back but they were cuter when smaller and less fattening! The fry’s 5 centres bar were good as the split was often in the wrong place so you get 2 flavours together ….and the Milk tray bars (this had a much nicer selection of chocolates than you get in a box these days – 2 I remember – lime barrel and turkish delight amongst others) were big favourites and even the Cabana bar. Any of you remember the Amazin (it’s amazin what raisins can do!) bar and the Banjo (wafer), I loved them both. Spangles were great, as were tootie fruities – green and pink were yummy (not like the ones they make now which are too hard). Burton’s Toffeepops biscuits are great too- anyone remember them? I they make something similar in Austrailia but not so good but a friend tells me you can get them in Ireland today. Another vague memory was some kind of brown coconut made to look like tobacco and in some kind of treasure chest? I think I am going to end up being diabetic looking at this!
September 9th, 2012 at 11:01 pm
I have always remembered these but thought nobody else would, I clearly remember the giraffe on the front of a white packet!
December 22nd, 2012 at 12:42 am
Yes Judy B, I remember the digestive biscuit bars – they were called Gold Bars, but I think you could only buy them in a multipack. They were made by McVities, which brings me to another point: does anyone remember McVities Chocolate fingers? They were far superior to the Cadbury’s ones that are so prolific today. The biscuit was shorter, and the chocolate coating was kind of rippled. Also does anyone remember the short lived Ovaltine bars?