Why It Matters

Some of my earliest musical memories involve cereal boxes.

I was a total sucker for any box of cereal with a record stuck to its back. These flexidiscs sounded like crud, but that didn’t really matter on my little kid record player. All I cared about was hearing the Archies, Bobby Sherman, or the Jackson Five. The down side? Having to eat a whole box of Raisin Bran or Honeycomb. Blech.

And then there were the “save up your box tops” records. My mother had one kitchen drawer dedicated to cereal box tops, so my sisters and I were ready to go when Battlecreek, Michigan was offering something cool.  And does it get any cooler than the Banana Splits? Come on! (Fun fact: Barry White wrote “Doin’ the Banana Split.”) You could even get a full Sugar Bears album by sending away, though you could also score Sugar Bears flexidiscs on specially marked boxes of Sugar Crisp. (Another fun fact: Kim Carnes wrote tracks for the Sugar Bears album.)

So yeah, I’m sentimental for cereal box records and their advertising. The artwork at the top of this page is a huge (36″ wide) ceiling hanger, a version of which probably led me to annoy the hell out of my mother one afternoon in our local grocery store. I’m sure she gave in and bought me the Honeycomb I’d never eat, by the way: Mom was a soft touch.

Prices vary widely on cereal box records, but five bucks each is a reasonable price. I don’t remember what I paid for the ceiling hanger, but a wild guess on value would be $30-40. Happy hunting.

P.S. You’ll notice that a couple of these promotional records are for products other than cereal, but hey–the gist remains the same.