With the cost of living crisis hitting families in Edinburgh hard, every penny is a prisoner given the current climate.
With that being said, and it being the summer holidays, forking out for excursions with your children can be that little bit more stressful and awkward. Currently occupying a large space in The Meadows, is Underbelly's Circus Hub, with shows and activities for families to enjoy a fun day out, without travelling too far from their home.
As well as a huge circus tent, a bar and several other activity areas, there is a Kingdom of Sweets pick n mix hut. For those who don't know, the huge sweet store arrived on Princes Street a few years ago, although customers were shocked to see some of the prices they were charging for confectionary.
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Although it still attracts a sea of customers, especially during the festival, many can't turn a blind eye to the steep prices for American candy. Equipped with £10 and not a penny more, we rolled up at the Meadows Circus to see how many sweets we could come away with.
Having been in the store on Princes Street a number of times, as well as being a huge pick n mix fan, I would probably have been liable to spending twice the amount I realistically should on sweets. The company also had a pop-up stall at the Christmas Market, where the issue or pricing was once again brought up.
Having tried just about every pick n mix there is in the whole of Edinburgh, I was pleasantly surprised to see the vast selection on offer in The Meadows during my visit on a sunny Wednesday afternoon. Some of my favourites, including rhubarb and custard, fried eggs and jelly turtles were all on show, so I dived right in.
There were the heavier options as well, which of course would end up costing you more, as the price was £2.99 per 100 grams, make of that what you will. Items such as giant gobstoppers and jelly snakes would probably leave you taking out a mortgage to pay off your bag of sweets.
Nevertheless, there wasn't really too many options I'd typically avoid, although I wanted to include most of my favourites and remain within the £10 limit, to which I just completely guessed as I went along before nervously handing the bag over. To be fair, the two members of staff were probably puzzled as to why a 23-year-old was rocking up to a children's circus by himself and filling up a bag of sweets.
It didn't help that I was the only customer at the time too. Thankfully, to my rescue came a young family who spared my blushes a little. So, what did I come away with? As a lover of chewy sweets that probably should cost about two pence, it appears to be a relatively decent amount in the bag, however in days gone by, £10 could probably have bought a month's worth of sweets.
Unfortunately that's not the reality we live in any more, and while it looks like a huge selection of different sweets, I only picked a few of each type to make sure I didn't go wildly over the budget. Overall, people nowadays would probably spend the £10, or even more, and forget about it the next day. However, £10 could buy you lunch for two or three days, and could go a lot further than you realise if spent on necessities, and not adhering to your sweet tooth.
I even had to get the gentlemen to take a hand full of sweets out twice, as the bag was still slightly over £10, to which I received even more bemused stares. Luckily, we got there in the end, and the grand total was £9.60.
I can't help but think about the family that followed me to the pick n mix. There were three kids there, and all of their eyes lit up at the sight of selection. I can't imagine that poor mother coming away having spent any less than £30. So, although the selection was impressive, and I'll no doubt enjoy feasting on my bag of sweets, was it a sensible decision in the grand scheme of things? Most probably not.
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