Photo courtesy of Happy Pills
I stumbled upon Happy Pills on a recent trip to Barcelona in a tapas-induced coma. The friendly sales woman eagerly explained the concept to me: Happy Pills offers a whole room full of fun candies to be packed into faux prescription bottles or pill boxes meant to make the recipient feel instantly better. After you’ve stuffed as many sugar-coated gummies as possible into the sleek jars, you get to slap on a fun label it that says what strange plight your custom jar cures. The labels range from the silly to the ridiculous. Some of my favorites are “For involuntary sexual abstinence,” “For Sundays without football” and “It makes you prettier than your friends.”
Photo courtesy of Happy Pills
In store, prices range from 1€ to 25€ and online they start at 3€ for the smallest jar. The website suggests making custom labels for 100€ to give Happy Pills as party favors at big events like weddings. You could save some money and just go pick out some Swedish Fish and Jelly Bellys at your local Wawa, but you lose the cool packaging. The store I found was definitely in a touristy area (as demarcated by all the gelaterias) because I doubt any natives are tempted to pay such a premium for packaged sugar.
I guess I’m a sucker for sweets, but it was such a cute storefront I couldn’t not get something. I’m not sure if my “Pink clouds for grey days” worked, as I was already on a pretty euphoric foodie-high from the store’s beautiful design and walls of vibrant “pills”. Happy Pills also offers sugar- and gluten-free options that seem just as pretty and delicious as the sinful stuff.
Photo courtesy of Happy Pills
Unfortunately, the only locations right now are scattered across Spain. Though you can order them online if you’re in Europe, the shipping is pretty pricey. So here’s to hoping the states pick up on this mecca of candy cuteness.
Photo courtesy of Happy Pills
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