Limited edition food products offer the perfect connection between pop culture, group marketing, sugary snacks, current events, and public policy.  Whether someone likes to try new things or simply marvel at the marketing techniques, discovering the world of limited edition foods and beverages can be a “sweet” experience.

            Most limited edition foods are centered on holidays and the holiday season. Holidays add and provide anticipation in a general sense. Limited edition foods that appear only during certain holidays call for a lot more excitement. Everyone has a limited edition food favorite that they look forward to all year round.

            Companies and restaurants offering limited edition products and items in their menus are in a way making more profit than usual on these items. Consumers and customers are willing to pay more on these limited edition items because they know that they will only be available for a certain amount of time. People spend more money on limited edition foods during their time of existence. The sale of these items would most likely decrease if these products were available year round.

            “People are more likely to spend more money on foods that they know are going to be gone,” explained junior Alyssa Harben.

            Every holiday season, Starbucks Coffee introduces a series of popular holiday drinks that incorporate popular Christmas flavors. These holiday drinks include a caramel brulée latte, peppermint mocha, peppermint white chocolate mocha, gingerbread latte, eggnog latte, caramel brulée frappuccino, and a peppermint mocha frappuccino. For someone who is not a fan of caffeine, one can enjoy the company’s peppermint hot chocolate. Holiday gingerbread, polar bear sugar cookies and pumpkin bread are just a few among the great amount of holiday treats that the bakery in Starbucks has to offer.

            “I think that it is fun for the season to make some holiday, festive drinks. It’s a nice change to the regular drink menu,” stated senior Hannah Beckeley.

            “I spend way too much money on holiday starbucks drinks. They go along with the holiday season: no one would want to buy a pumpkin spice latte in April,” said Harben.

            However, there are some people who would love to have more pumpkin spice lattes year round. In the blog “Share your love for pumpkin spice latte with haiku,” writers have written several short haiku poems regarding their love for the popular holiday Starbucks beverage.

            “Favorite season, Perfectly embodied in, Pumpkin Spice latte.” This is one example of these haiku poems.

            Another writer wrote, “Pumpkin Spice Lattes; espresso with some spices, and a dash of love.”

            Besides the holiday season, limited edition foods and drinks also exist during Valentine’s Day, Saint Patrick’s Day and Thanksgiving.

            During Valentine’s Day, conversation hearts, boxes of limited edition chocolates and other sweet treats hit the shelves. These foods and products make a much better holiday and provide ideas for gifts for that special someone. Heart-shaped lollipops and other candies are among the treats that are taped to valentines. Everyone remembers that during the exchanging of valentines,  their favorite valentines were the ones that had the most delicious candy on them. These tasty, limited edition candies make up a sweet, romantic holiday to remember.

            Saint Patrick’s Day incorporates many green treats that may not look edible, but certainly are. Saint Patrick’s Day’s green treats, such as the Shamrock Shake at McDonalds, make the holiday eating more fun than if these products didn’t exist. The Shamrock Shake combines vanilla ice cream with mint flavor to produce a sweet treat that is appealing to the Saint Patricks Day spirit.

            Thanksgiving offers a wave of delicious and scrumptous foods that are eaten with family and prepared for hours. However, the best part of thanksgiving, according to several people, is the leftovers. Cosi offers a turkey and stuffing sandwich with cranberry sauce. It is served during the weeks leading up to, and just following, Thanksgiving. The sandwich consists of roasted turkey, cranberry sauce and Cosi’s signature bread stuffing. It is a unique way to relive Thanksgiving after it has passed. Families can also make their own leftover sandwiches to recreate the feeling of thanksgiving.

            Other examples of popular limited edition foods are Girl Scout cookies and Dippin Dots. Girl Scout cookie sales start in February and are only sold for about a month. There are sight sales at supermarkets or other store locations; there are also sales door to door in selected neighborhoods. A popular way to conserve these tasty, limited cookies is to freeze them and have them all year round.

            “Girl Scout cookies are always fun to get. My favorites are the Thin Mints and the shortbread ones,” said Beckeley.

            However, most limited edition foods are not available to keep all year round.

            Dippin dots used to be sold at McDonald’s and became a favorite throughout all age groups but especially among toddlers. They are tiny beads of ice cream that embody favorite flavors. These beads are fun to eat and taste great. They are a fun and creative way to enjoy an American classic.

            Limited edition foods are bittersweet. Even though they are only available for a certain time, they are seemingly special and unique. Fans of these foods tend to buy more of their favorite when they know they are only available for a short amount of time. Unique is a term which has become so common when describing these limited edition wonders, that it has become the ordinary way to describe the extraordinary.