Cupcakes were common in my childhood homes because we always had free cake mix and icing. At some point, my mom wised up and turned that little fact into a cake decorating business, but for me, I always preferred the cupcakes. I think it was the lack of competitive spirit in the cupcake. Everyone got the same amount in your own private portion and there was no end piece or frosting flowers to fight over.
There were, however, two issues with homemade cupcakes. 1. My mom never went crazy with icing as big as the underlying cupcake, and 2. she didn’t top them with plastic cupcake toppers. I have no idea how these toppers became a thing. Their only purpose was to add a seasonal dash of spice to the proceedings. And, of course, my favorites showed up each year around Halloween.
I can’t remember why we would occasionally get these on store bought cupcakes, but we did, and I can still remember licking the icing off of the toppers and holding them in the corner of my mouth like Halloween toothpicks. They were proof positive that it was actually Halloween season, and I loved them! Yes, they often had sloppy paintjobs and they served no purpose whatsoever except to proclaim the cupcake’s Halloweenness, but I loved them.
Just seeing a picture of them yesterday was enough to make me feel happy. In today’s world where everyone seems intent on keeping everyone else from having whatever it is that makes them feel good about themselves, these cheapies were invented in a time when all that mattered was a tiny bit of real world, autumnal bliss. I’ll take it.
PS - That pic is from an Ebay auction. Here’s the courtesy link.
