Rick Vuyst: I was curious who else remembers being handed a white or pink peppermint at the start of a sermon as a kid? I remember these absorbent discs tasting like cologne if out of my Dad’s pocket or perfume if out of my Mom’s purse. Many people call them “Church mints.” We love our herbs and mint is an important plant in our herb collections. But exactly what was in those peppermints we would be passed to get us through those eternal church services as a kid? I posted my curiosity in social media and was surprised by the volume of reactions. I realized my memory had struck a chord. Cue the choir. Here is some of the thread of reaction to that social media post:
- I hated the white and pink ones. I remember them coming in green, orange, and brown. Brown was chocolate if I remember, those were my favorite.
- Remember the Dutch babbelaars? The ones I remember were red in color with possibly a sugar coating
- Rick Vuyst I remember a guy who sneezed and the mint shot out into the ladies bouffant hairstyle stiffened by Aqua net. The mint stayed there the whole service.
- Yes and then when Tic Tacs were invented that brought mid sermon projectiles to a whole new level
- And you could always tell who was packing Tic Tacs as soon as they walked into church.
- I went to my mothers one day to find her hearing aids in her bowl of pink peppermints.
- Rick Vuyst: The church sanctuary had a tile floor that was sloped so if you dropped your peppermint it was painful listening to it roll and pick up speed as your parents gave you a disappointed look.
- Bonus points for making it roll to the front row.
- We always had these in church and at my grandparents house. I kind of miss them.. lol
- Pink ones were the best. At my church growing up, we had an older gentleman who would shake peoples hands in the hallway and give the kids pink peppermints. always looked forward to that as a kid
- King Peppermints! My grandpa Dykstra always had them in his suit pocket.
- Rick Vuyst: Excerpt from my first book: “Hairsprays like Aqua Net became a big seller with women who wanted the all day hold of the masterpiece on their head. My dad called them bird nests and I remember thinking what self respecting bird would want to live in that toxic high rise housing project. I recall observing ladies in the 60’s with their bouffant and beehive hairdos wondering how they slept at night. I now understand that those early versions of hairspray contained the propellant vinyl chloride. I’m no rocket scientist but those ladies in church when I was a kid were wearing a sticky mountain of ozone busting explosive toxins on their heads. No wonder the peppermints they distributed during eternal lasting sermons about eternity tasted so funny. The white and pink orbs of sugary stillness tasted like perfume with a hint of aerosol propellant.”
- White peppermint when the communion bread was passed, pink peppermint when the communion wine was passed. Kids were not allowed to partake in my day!
- My sister choked on one of these in church. My dad tipped her right upside down to dislodge it. Right in church!!
- Yes! And one teacher at school had them for rewards too
- I picked up a small bag of these just before Christmas as a little treat for my bed ridden parents. My Dad was so excited!
- As a child I always called these church mints because it was the only time I ate them .
- Grandma broke out noisy lifesavers in middle of sermon every Sunday.
- YES!!! Commonly known as “Church Mints”. They tasted bad enough on their own, but mix in Grampa’s Old Spice or Grandma’s Youth Dew and they tasted horrible!
- King Mints in one suit pocket, hanky in the other, and a notepad for tic tac toe during church.
- Rick Vuyst THAT brings up another topic! The family community “hanky” passed around
- Funny thing we all used it and nobody got sicker or died. We must have hed some seriously strong immune systems back then.
- And your mom kinda spit on it to clean your face
- You just brought back many memories of eating these at church….and yes they always tasted like cologne!!
- The pink ones tasted like.Pepto-Bismol, the white like mint, but the only good ones were chocolate. But the manufacturer really messed things up by packaging them all together in a plastic bag. Those three together still churn my stomach.
- Rick Vuyst I would always try to score 3 peppermints because the sermons were always 3 point sermons. And making it through was tough because we had just completed “the long prayer”
- I’d try to get my peppermint to last the entire sermon…I’m guessing it never actually happened
- Still have white in my purse
- I want to print this thread and keep it…so many memories .
- My dad loved the white ones so much. When he passed away back in August, we found many, MANY packages of them! Everytime I see one, I think of my dad.
- This thread could go on forever! Loving all of the memories. There was one other item my grandpa loved and that was Dutch licorice.
- YES! CHURCH MINTS! Loved the pink ones…Wintergreen I think, in my Dad’s suit coat pocket.
- And the Lifesaver flavor Choc-o-mint. My Dad had those in his picket also… All time favorite Lifesaver!
- My grandma ALWAYS had these
- I miss finding the pink ones at all the stores. One of my favorites!
- What a fun post! The timing was always the same, the sermon would be just starting, Dad would reach with his right hand into his left pocket and pull out a handful. He would put his hand past mom and each kid would take 1 and pass them on. We would try to make it last to at least sermon point #2
- Rick Vuyst That’s right! If you were on the end of the row your mint was handled multiple times by brothers and sisters
- If my little brother passed to me he always licked mine first. I eventually just ate it anyway.
- that is so wrong and so the way it happened! I am the last of Seven – I learned to be resilient
- My mom started giving me my own supply in a little purse when she saw what he was doing lol..made him made that he had to get them from me!
- being oldest, I was farthest from my mom so there was LOTS of handling going on
- My grandpa loved the pink ones.
- My grandfather’s go to was butterscotch Lifesavers! Which he bought by the large box – long before Sam’s/Costco.
- Church pills.
- Rick Vuyst The worst was when they were in your Trick or Treat bag at Halloween
- Everything is a competition when you grow up in a tribe. Meaning, I thought you meant the brothers and sisters hands, not the mints put in your bag. LOL – you may prefer Candy Corn placed there.
- With a little lint included
- You can’t buy memories like that
- Me!!!! our janitor whose name was George, us kids called him Ozzy, gave them to us.
- Love this post and comments! Thanks for brightening my day.
- The Sunday Peppermint Is gone…But the minister goes on and on.
- Gross, I remember
- My dad always used to keep a bowl of the pink ones which were wintergreen as I recall on his desk at work and I used to love eating a handful of those
- How about the SUPER RARE chocolate ones!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- We used to have someone in our church that handed us a pink peppermint and also when I took the bus to Sunday school we had another gentleman do the same thing. What a great memory! Thank you!
- Was there a purpose to it? Rick Vuyst It was mint to be.
- Rick Vuyst I need to confess my sins. When attending a visitation at the funeral home I would take a few extra peppermints and save them for Sunday. There would be a bowl of loose peppermints in the entrance. I’m sorry.
- No you’re not
I grant you penance but you must buy new fresh mints and give them away to deserving people. - You are forgiven.
- what??? You would do that? Hahaha… most people do! Hopefully after COVID, this tradition will return.
- me too. Or at the restaurant the little cellophane bagged chocolate mints!
- You are forgiven … go..and take no more.
- Later in her life, my mom preferred Wilhelmina Dutch peppermints. She called them Dutch aspirin.
- Yes, I got to have 4 each Sunday and rationed them out throughout the service. They were quiet to chew on and everyone had nice breath after church
- Rick Vuyst I looked up what is in the “hard” red and white peppermints (hard to unwrap quietly) Corn Syrup, Sugar, Titanium Dioxide [Color], Peppermint Oil, Red 40, Red 3, Blue 1, Yellow 6. Yikes!
- they sound really good for us. LOL
- I got a pink peppermint every Sunday morning and Sunday night when the minister was starting his sermons. Even at age 16 when I played the organ in our church, mom would still give me a pink peppermint before the sermon started
- I remember those days!
- We always had the big Dutch peppermints
- My father in law use to always have the pink mints , he’s been gone a long time but my kids still talk about his pink mints , a wonderful memory for them .
- My grandmother was the queen of Pepto Bismol tasting pink peppermints and Lemon Drops.
- Peppermints were a family tradition for church…3 generations! Kids would sit by the peppermint person in church and stare at him until he gave in with the treat
- What a great memory! Thanks for sharing
- Love these, my grandfather Henry used to give me one after church each time we went.
- Every Sunday. And a quarter for the Sunday School offering
- LOL that’s right! Our introduction to the collection plate
- that practice didn’t stick. LOL Nice thing about being in the choir starting when Randy was my teacher we didn’t have the offering plate passed by us.
- The pink ones and brown ones were the best!!
- Kept us quiet in church. Grandma was awesome.
- I remember that Mom always had those with her.
- Church mints! My sister-in-law and I were just discussing if they still exist and where to find them.
- Yes and my dad liked the pink ones , my grandparents always had the white
- My dad dispersed them when we were young then came the greens and brown and other colors. When we were older we received 4 per service. The responsibility to choose when we ate them: sometimes we had no self control and ate them early and had to suffer through the service with nothing to look forward to.
- Well it never made it to church! they were gone be for we got to church anyway!LOL
- And once I made my First Holy Communion, that stopped pronto!
- My favorites were the pink ones. Sometimes during Easter they might have some Orange or Yellow ones if I am remembering that correctly.
- In church with grandpa and grandma! Love the pink ones.
- You can still but them in the candy section a Mensards!! My Grandma always had a dish of the pink ones (pepto mints) on her tv!
- Pink are wintergreen and white are peppermint. I always hoped for pink!
- We got a roll of King peppermint passed down to us 4 boys in church.
- Church candy! Three peppermints to get us through church .
- One of my favorites!! Pink ones were the best
- One of my favorites!! Us catholics were jealous cause we couldnt have candy in church. Our friend called them peppies. I liked the pink. Still do.
- When I worked at Jenison Meijer 25 years ago I kept these in stock in bulk foods because of all the Dutch people. We were the ONLY Meijer store who carried them.
- We were handed Necco wafers. Tasted like chalk dust unless you had the unfortunate luck of getting the black licorice one.
- I always got these from my grandpa in church. They still have some in Meijer
- We were never allowed to eat in church!
- Usually the mints lasted the entire sermon. I also remember the perfume taste.
- My dad dispersed them when we were young then came the greens and brown and other colors. When we were older we received 4 per service. The responsibility to choose when we ate them: sometimes we had no self control and ate them early and had to suffer through the service with nothing to look forward to.
- Well it never made it to church! They were gone be for we got to church anyway! LOL
- My favorites were the pink ones. Sometimes during Easter they might have some Orange or Yellow ones if I am remembering that correctly.
- In church with grandpa and grandma! Love the pink ones.
- You can still but them in the candy section a Mensards!! My Grandma always had a dish of the pink ones (pepto mints) on her tv!
- Pink are wintergreen and white are peppermint. I always hoped for pink!
- We got a roll of King peppermint passed down to us 4 boys in church.
- Sure do remember!
- I remember this!
- Church candy! Three peppermints to get us through church .
- We only got one, right after the long prayer and before the 3 point sermon!
- One of my favorites!! Pink ones were the best
- One of my favorites!! Us catholics were jealous cause we couldnt have candy in church. Our friend called them peppies. I liked the pink. Still do.
- When I worked at Jenison Meijer 25 years ago I kept these in stock in bulk foods because of all the Dutch people. We were the ONLY Meijer store who carried them.
- We were handed Necco wafers. Tasted like chalk dust unless you had the unfortunate luck of getting the black licorice one.
- I always got these from my grandpa in church. They still have some in Meijer
- We were never allowed to eat in church!
- Usually the mints lasted the entire sermon. I also remember the perfume taste
- Yes!!! The sweet lady that sat in front of us use to open her purse to show us hershey miniatures- only for good behavior!!
- Oh yes!! There were six of us kids, that mom and dad needed to keep quiet in church! I loved those pink peppermints!
- Church treat to keep us quiet when we started to fidget.
- my mom always had a tin of sucrets. I have a couple of the tins still.
- My grandmother had these all the time!
- Yes I do Brachs mints our dog’s favorite treat and it had to be Brachs or he would drop it back on the floor! My Grandpa had a candy dish full of them for our dog.
- Forgot, but yes!
- My dad called them “Church Pills”. Mom would put them on the counter before we left for church each of us five kids would get two. 10 church pills lined up on the counter. We also had to polish our shoes on Saturday night. Times have changed haven’t they!
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You also had to be real discreet about popping them into your mouth. My dad would fake a small cough or sneeze or scratch his nose when he popped one into his mouth. My date (now wife) always thought this was funny.So when she handed me a peppermint in church, she would set it on my knee for all to see. She still does this to this very day!
- Me & my 7 siblings sat in one row, Mom passing down peppermints – putting a smile on all our faces. Love thinking back – thanks Rick!
- My mom had Life Savers. Mint was my favorite that I always picked. But this wasn’t at church, us kids were always excused to go to Sunday school.
- Oh Rick, those are urinal cakes…
- Never went to church without them when we were kids!
- I am surprised more women didn’t become a flaming torch with the Aqua Net and their cigarettes.
- Oh my yes I do. I’d always get them from my grandmother
- My mom doled out the peppermints in church. My dad was a fan of Sen-Sen.
- Still get one when I go to Moms and livestream church
- Loved the pink ones.
- That was a staple in my house!!
- Lol, now THATS in my head!