Wilko’s popular half-price pick ‘n’ mix deal is back in stores this week, slashing the price of a cup of sweets to as little as £1. It’s by far one of the cheapest pick ‘n’ mix offers you'll find on the high street, and makes for the perfect half-term treat for kids and adults alike.
The offer sees the retailer’s regular cups down to £1 from £2, large cups reduced from £3 to £1.50 and their XL share cups slashed to £2 from £4. And at this point you might ponder the exact same question that I did after reviewing the prices…
“Are you better off getting two £1 cups, or one £2 cup?” Ever the bargain hunter, I headed into the store to find out for myself.
READ MORE: All the films you can watch this summer holidays from £2.49 at Vue Cinema
Navigating my local store, I located the pick ‘n’ mix section, which filled almost an entire aisle. A banner at the top of the mountain of sweets explained the half price deal, so there was really nothing left to do but get stuck in.
I picked up two regular sized cups and one XL cup and made my way methodically through each tub of cut-price confectionery from top to bottom, left to right, selecting my favourites and packing them neatly into the cups.
We all know by now that the aim of the game is to cram as many sweets as physically possible into these cups, while still being able to get a lid on. This requires a bit of a team effort, so I took my sister-in-law along to help. Melissa held the cup for me while I manoeuvred giant strawberries and cola bottles into the cup, being sure to fill as many gaps as I could.
To make it as even and fair as possible, I would put a number of sweets into the regular cup, followed by the exact same amount into the large, in the same order. For example, I went for 10 strawberry bon bons followed by five fried eggs and three marshmallows. Jelly beans were a little difficult to count so I did estimate, using them to fill the gaps left by larger options.
I filled my cups with equal amounts of pick ‘n’ mix while playing candy Tetris, until my first regular cup was full. I moved onto cup number two, still filling my XL share cup with the very same sweets.
I had been convinced that two £1 cups would make a better deal than one £2 cup, however, as I continued to push sweets into every crevice of the cup, I noticed that the XL cup still had much more room than the smaller cups. As a result, I opted for some of the bigger confectionery that would otherwise have been considered a waste of space in the small cups, including a long fizzy belt roll, strips of strawberry pencils and white chocolate sprinkle buttons.
Back at home, I weighed the cups to see how much more I’d managed to fit in the XL cup, and found that the two regular cups weighed 608g. Meanwhile, the share cup came to 713g - over 100g more.
Tipping them into sandwich tubs, the difference was clear, with the pile from the XL cup having been much taller, making it better value for money.
I was surprised that the XL cup held more than two regulars, but I’m glad I now know where my £2 is best spent. For parents looking for a cheap treat for their kids, they could be better opting for the largest size while the deal is on, and splitting them into portions at home.
The offer for half price pick n mix launched in stores on Friday (July 29) and will be running for 10 days. Some of the sweets you could pack into your cup include cola bottles, cherries, vanilla fudge, milk teeth, strawberries, fizzy bubble bottlesm jelly beans and jazzies.
The Wilko half price pick n mix deal will be available until August 8 - just make sure you’re getting the most for your money.
READ NEXT:
- App hack that means families can get up to half price off meals out in Manchester over the summer holidays
- All the films you can watch this summer holidays from £2.49 at Vue Cinema
- Sainsbury’s rewarding shoppers with extra Nectar points for buying fruit and veg in holidays
- Morrisons aim to help low-income families by donating £100k of food to holiday clubs
- YO! customers can get a third off their bill this summer using app hack
