Giving sweets, love hearts, and heart-shaped cards are all common customs on Valentine’s Day. But why do we bother with these traditions anyway? In this blog, we take a look at contemporary Valentine’s Day and how you can give your partner a mesmerising and love encapsulated surprise for the special day.

Does anyone wonder how and when Cupid’s special day began? One of the common beliefs is that during the 1800’s, lovelorn patients were told by their doctors to eat as many treats as possible to soothe their nerves. It is also thought that as far back as the era of the Aztec empire, sweet treats were considered an aphrodisiac and was used to win love.

There are also other reasons that sweet treats bring us and our partners together, and it’s not our fault! The mental craving comes from serotonin – this being a neurotransmitter that puts us in a great mood and moderates a sense of wellbeing!

Another reason is due to our primate heritage; the human tongue can detect four basic flavours — salt, sour, bitter and sweet, but humans are naturally drawn to sweet because we are primates, animals that evolved eating fruit in the trees.

Even the act of licking a lollipop or chewing on one of our Vegan Duals can lift your mood. While we won’t go as far as saying that candy is the answer to a stressful day, some evidence suggests that very well may be the case.

The most popular day for all lovers being Valentine’s Day, what better way to express your love than with our Valentine’s Day Collection? With a variety of jars, shakes and boxes to choose from, we're sure to have the perfect Valentine's Day gift for that special someone in your life!

It will be the ultimate expression of love and is bound to make your lover feel very special and cherished. Why don't you treat yourself to some yummy sweet treats? We have a whole host of sweets to choose from on our Love Collection page, or you can choose something from one of are other Collections and enjoy!

Visit Our Love Collection Page >

As it's been quite a while since our last giveaway (Christmas, we're sorry) and after receiving such positive and engaging feedback following the launch of our new Duals vegan sweets range, we thought this would be the perfect time to run another giveaway! 

To celebrate the successful launch of Duals, we are giving 4 lucky winners the chance to win a Duals bundle, which will include a 50g pack of each of our four Duals flavours as well as a personalised Duals Letterbox Treat! The giveaway will be held over the course of a week on Instagram from Friday 19th July until Friday 26th July at 2pm and is super easy to enter. 

All the information that you need can be found below:

And that's it! The winner(s) will be picked at random and notified via DM on Instagram after the competition has closed, so get ready, get tagging and sharing and good luck!

You can head over to our Instagram page and find the giveaway post by hitting the button below.

Visit Our Instagram > 

After our huge announcement a fortnight ago where we revealed our brand new Duals vegan sweets to the world, we are extremely proud to bring you even more exciting news! 

Here at Sweets in the City, we believe in making the world a sweeter place and by doing so, we want to deliver our collection of delicious sweet treats to you, whenever and wherever we can. As a result, we have strived to make our sweets more accessible both online and offline and today, we can announce that we have taken offline availability to the next level by partnering with supermarket giant, Waitrose! 

Our range of Duals vegan sweets is now available to buy from a select number of stores from all across the UK. Meaning you can get your Dual fix at any time and don't have to sit around and wait for them to be delivered from our website. 

Wondering if your local Waitrose is selling Duals? See the full store list below:

Please be aware that some branches may have not yet implemented their new lines and Duals availability within these stores may take up to two weeks. However, many stores will have stock and lines ready for you to go out and purchase your Duals today! 

So, be sure to head to your nearest stocked Waitrose store and pick up your Duals. Don't forget to share on your socials and tag us in your images to be featured across our channels and keep a close eye out for some giveaway news soon. 

Browse & Order Duals >

If you're not doing so already, you can follow us on Twitter and Instagram and Like us on Facebook to keep up-to-date with all things Sweets in the City!

With the launch of our brand-new vegan-friendly Duals sweets on the 1^st July, we thought we’d give you a little more information about them and why we wanted to bring them to you!

Firstly, we noticed a growing demand by customers for a sweet option that can be enjoyed in today’s current societal climate and met a number of dietary needs. Secondly, both customers and clients were looking for a contemporary sweet that not only tasted good but was creative and inspiring in its appearance and design. In answer to these two huge demands, we created our new Duals sweets, a product based on quality, taste and convenience!

Duals have been manufactured with a unique tool and mould that no other sweet on the market boasts, giving you a sweet choice that no other confectionery company can offer. Our Duals sweets contain a delicious pectin jelly centre, a vegan recipe that delivers a real fruit juice flavour. This is what makes our Duals sweets really stand out from the crowd as vegan pectin centres are not currently offered in the premium sweet marketplace, a niche area that we believe needs to be satisfied in a quality way. But what is pectin? Let’s take a look!

Delicious pectin centre

Unlike gelatine, which is an ingredient often found in sweets and is made from animal parts, pectin comes from berries and fruits. Many fruits such as quince and apples are naturally very high in pectin, which is the reason why they are so firm. When heated with sugar, pectin causes a thickening that is characteristic of jellies and jams, which is what is found within our new Duals sweets! As a result of being derived from fruits and berries, pectin is the perfect ingredient for a vegan-friendly product.

As well as being vegan-friendly, Duals are also gluten-free and produced with a dairy-free recipe that contains natural colours and flavours. But this doesn’t mean that we’ve substituted a great taste, you can still expect a mouth-watering sweet option whether you’re in the cinema or grabbing a quick snack for your commute home. With our 125g and 50g options, our Duals sweets can be enjoyed at any time or any place with anyone. We’re excited to finally be able to see months of hard work realised and look forward to hearing your feedback on the latest addition to Sweets in the City! Don't forget to pre-order your Duals below! 

Pre-Order Duals >

Be sure to follow us across our socials to keep up-to-date with all the latest news that we have to offer. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest!

So, after months of hard work behind the scenes, the Sweets in the City team are super proud to finally announce to you the introduction of our brand-new premium vegan sweets range – Duals!

Available to pre-order online directly from the Sweets in the City website today to be delivered from 1^st July and exclusively in Waitrose from 8^th July, our new Duals sweet range offers you a new, delicious way to satisfy your sweet cravings totally guilt-free. Manufactured with a bespoke tool and mould that gives you a sweet as you’ve never had before and available in 4 mouth-watering flavours, our new Duals range is just the sweet that you’ve been waiting for!

• Apple & Watermelon 
• Strawberry & Lemonade
• Pineapple & Coconut 
• Mango & Passion Fruit 

Not only are our new Dual sweets available in the 4 tasty flavours above, but they also come in two different sizes, perfect for any time of the day! A Larger 125g bag, ideal for indulging by yourself or sharing with others, and a smaller 50g bag, just the thing you need for a quick ‘grab and go’ snack option. Unlike any other sweets currently on the market, Sweets in the City’s Duals sweets have been created with a pectin jelly centre, offering a real fruit juice taste! As well as being vegan-friendly, Duals are also gluten-free, perfect for sweet lovers with gluten intolerance that want to sit back and enjoy a flavoursome sweet treat. But it doesn’t end there. Duals are also available with our famous Letterbox Treats!

With a totally new design, our Duals Letterbox Treat will come exclusively filled with four 50g impulse bags of each flavour, so you or whoever you decide to send the Letterbox Treat to get the chance to try out our entire new range! Better still, the limited-edition Letterbox Treat will be available to order for just £9.99 including delivery, yes including delivery! So, be sure to get your hands on this fantastic sweet gift as fast as you can. Full personalisation will still be available for that extra-special touch to any friend or family member that are vegan or gluten intolerant.

And there you have it, our new Duals sweets range! Available to order online from 1^st July from our website below – keep your eyes peeled on our socials for more news and updates and we look forward to hearing from you all on launch day!

Pre-Order Duals >

Eating sweets makes you happier. Fact. But the science behind why we love sweets so much is a lot more complex than you think! In this blog, we take a look at why some people have more of a sweet tooth than others, why children crave sugar more than adults do... and we'll reveal which animal can't taste sugar at all! 

What is a sweet tooth and why do you have one?

 Someone with a  sweet tooth is someone who adores sweets! (Our favourite kind of people). But how does someone acquire a sweet tooth? Well, research suggests that a sweet tooth can be attributed to a number of things including; your genetics, the environment you grew up and live in, and your fondest memories of sweets.

Firstly, your DNA determines how sensitive your taste buds are to the taste of sweet foods, so you should be grateful if you're one of the lucky people who's born with taste buds that love sweets! 

Secondly, the environment you grow up and live in also plays a role in forming your sweet tooth. If your parents used to give you sweet treats as a child and if you regularly have sweets and chocolate in the house or around you at school/work, then you're much more likely to develop a sweet tooth!

Finally, if you associate fond memories with sweets then you'll be driven to re-create those feelings over and over again. Remember how yummy an ice cream on the beach on a hot day tastes... eating ice cream is likely to take you back to that happy place!

Why do children love sugar more than adults?

The reasons children have such an obsession with all things sweet and sugary is due to their bodies demanding lots of calories to use while they're growing! And, research shows that children who eat more sugar have faster growth spurts and can even end up taller than those who don't eat sweets.

Of course, we recommend only giving little ones sweeties in moderation and making sure they brush their teeth after - but don't prohibit sugar altogether if you want them to grow up big and strong! Why not treat a little one in your life to one of our new children's Letterbox Treats? The box and sweet fill can be easily personalised to make this a truly delightful gift!

View children's Letterbox Treats > 

So... which animal can't taste sugar at all?

CATS! Unluckily for cats, they don't have the same sweetness receptors that most other mammals have. Most cat owners are adamant that their cat loves sweets, but it is more likely the fat content of the sweet foods that they are drawn to. They're still sweet and adorable regardless!

So now that we've uncovered some lot of the science of sweets, why don't you treat yourself to some yummy sweet treats? We have a whole host of sweets to choose from on our Pick & Mix page, or you can choose something from one of our other Collections and enjoy!

View Our Sweet Collections >

We have two new amazing children’s Letterbox Treat designs on our site! Have you seen them yet? They have been created with curious kids who love sweets in mind; one features friendly prehistoric dinosaurs while the other shows an amazing astronaut in outer space! These are sure to put a sweet smile on any child’s face and get them excited about learning.

Dinosaur Design

The first is a roar-some dinosaur themed box that features these three colourful dinosaurs. Can you name all three species? We think this would make a lovely birthday gift for a kid who loves dinosaurs and history. Are you throwing a dinosaur party for their birthday? Why not host a fossil hunt in your sandpit?

Space Design

The second design is this super cool space sweet box featuring a rocket and an astronaut. This box is sure to get your kid thinking about science and technology – perfect if you’re planning a day out to the national space centre or if you’re throwing a space birthday party!

How to order:

1. Select your Letterbox design
2. Personalise your Letterbox – you can change the text on the front & write a message inside!
3. Choose a sweet fill that you know your child will love
4. Place your order!

Your Letterbox Sweets will be delivered right through your letterbox making this a great gift choice if you’re a busy parent who doesn’t have time to go out and buy a gift from the shops. We know that kids love sweets, and they’re sure to love and treasure their personalised box with such a cool design on too.

To order one of these new letterboxes, or to browse the other designs in our Letterbox Treats range click the link below:

Letterbox Treats >

The start of a new year means preparing for another 365 days of exciting festivities. We've put together this helpful chart to give you an overview of some dates worth putting in your diary - dates like Valentine's Day, International Women's Day, and of course Star Wars Day!

It's always good to be prepared, so make a note of the dates that are important to you...and don't forget to stock up on sweet gifts for that special someone!

Need some sweet gifts for a special occasion? Browse our full range here >

If you've got a sweet tooth, you've probably got a favourite kind of jelly sweets. We offer all kinds of jelly sweets as part of our Pick & Mix collection - from yellow belly snakes to terrific turtles and cola bottles, your options are virtually endless.

No matter what shape you choose, jelly sweets are chewy, delicious and incredibly moreish! In this blog post, we're going to take a look at some of the most popular jelly sweets on the market - read on to find out some interesting facts about your favourite gummy treats.

Jelly Bears

The humble Jelly Bear (or gummy bear) is considered the pioneer in the jelly sweets community! The success of gummy bears in the early 1900s led to the creation of jelly sweets in lots of other tasty and colourful forms, including; jelly rings, snakes and cherries.

Are Jelly/Gummy Bears your favourite jelly sweet? If so, why not order some from our Pick & Mix page?

Order Gold Bears >

Jelly Babies

It may surprise you to know that Jelly Babies are more popular in the United Kingdom than the classic jelly/gummy bears are! We just can't get enough of them! In fact, here at Sweets in the City, we love them so much that we wrote an entire blog post about them. We also stock two different kinds of jelly babies - Dusty Jelly Babies and Jelly Babies - order yours now!

Or learn something new about the nation's favourite here:

Fun Facts About Jelly Babies >

Jelly Beans

Jelly beans are another truly iconic take on the jelly sweet. It's likely that, like us, you've been eating them from a young age and still get excited by the different colours and flavours now!

Jelly beans were originally enjoyed as a Christmas sweet, however, in the 1930s people started to include them around Easter time because of their likeness to eggs! Did you know it can take almost three weeks for jelly beans to be created due to the lengthy and manufacturing process involved - we think that the workmanship that goes into jelly babies makes them a sweet worth admiring and savouring. We stock both regular Jelly Beans, and the more elite - Gourmet Jelly Beans. Order them here:

Order Jelly Beans >

Don't you really fancy jelly sweets now? We most certainly do! Head over to our Pick & Mix page to see the entire range and be sure to check out some of the more obscure jelly sweets we have to offer - you won't be disappointed.