(image from The Sneeze)
Steve over at The Sneeze has an interesting post about Tootsie Pop Wrappers. I totally forgot about those characters on the wrapper and I never heard about getting the Indian on your wrapper and exchanging it for free candy. Maybe that was before my time? Anyone ever hear of that before?
- The Sneeze
- Pop Art at The Sneeze
As long as i can remember, and still till this day, if you bring in a winning wrapper to a little store in novato ca. you win a new pop. The owner has 4 big boxes full of wrappers. shes still making the kids smile!
I LOVE TOOTSE ROLLS THEY GOOD.
As a kid my brother and I would buy our tootsie pops from the local 7-11. When we
recieved one with an Indian and a star we would always recieve a free one from that 7-11. Seems like we were always getting free tootsie pops. When I heard a rumor that it wasn’t true I wrote a letter to tootsie pop asking them why some kids had heard otherwise. I recieved a really lame letter back explaining it was just legend. That was the first time
I realized it was the 7-11 that was just honoring the kids request and had nothing to
do with the company.
When I was a kid, probably 8-10 years ago (I’m 20 now), it was true. I had a few wrappers with the picture on it and I took it to a store in town, just some convenient store and they gave me a free lollipop for each one I had. I don’t think they do it anymore though.
When I was a kid in the 60′s living in a small western town, there were several mom&pop stores that had special candy counters down low just for the children. The proprietors of these stores adored all children and would honor the wrapper myth, just because they loved seeing the bright smiles on the faces. They also sold three times more tootsie pops than they gave away free, because of the ratio of indian wrappers. Times have changed drastically, the number of traditional mom&pop stores have gone the way of the dodo bird…. so has alot of good will….
this is true i think it is true you should do at a
gas station!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think you have to live in a small town and have nice grociers who like kids…
When I was a kid, the older kids in the neighborhood taught me that if you get a Tootsie Pop wrapper with the Indian shooting the star you should put the pop in your mouth and use the end of the stick to punch a hole in the star for good luck. We used to make a wish (you know, for a Hasbro Millenium Falcon or Tie-Fighter or Luke’s X-Wing Fighter or a new Big Wheel) and then punch a hole in the star. I was born in 1969 and grew up in north-eastern (Westwood) N.J. Don’t tell anyone but I still do it today. In fact, I’m at work, and someone just gave me a Tootsie Pop (chocolate) and there’s the Indian and I already punched the hole. Which led me to Google “Tootsie Pop indian star”… and to this web blog. : )
me and the indian, living the dream! thanks sarah.
yummy i love candy i wish i could have alot of toosie pops right now!!!!!
I have a tootsie pop with an indian on it with a bow and arrow shooting a star. I went to the store and they told me it was a myth. then i sent my little cousin in and they gave her a tootsie pop. I definately know that it is not sponsored through tootsie pop company becuase i sent an e-mal and they said that it is a myth and that they are sorry for the inconvenience. Also they said they get the same e-mail 200 times a week
Okay, this has been going around since the 1930′s. The whole thing has never been official but some grocery stores will exchange the wrapper for a free lollypop. The company published a book about it also instead of answering all those e-mails.
I’ve tried it, it did work, but that wasin the 90s… i would always get “1″ free sucker when i got that indian on the wrapper.. it was cool
i am 23 and myself, my younger sister & brother would take them down to the gas station and get free suckers for them.
In elementry school all the kids would obsess over the indians saying u could get 1 free. I never tried. I still always look for the indian and star though. =D
A co-worker just gave me one – I’m brought back to walking down the street to the local candy store when I was 7 to get my free Tootsie Pop. They still do it today and I’m now 25! :-)
I’ve always wondered if it’s true or not…
As a child, not that long ago as I’m only 21, any time our lollipop wrapper had the indian and the star they would allow us to receive our free sucker.
Up to this date the local store has never objected to it.
This is TOTALLY TRUE!!!!
I’m 30 and this was the case at my local store it was a campaign by Tootsie Roll…. You had to get the complete indian to get a free one and if you haven’t noticed they have taken the indian off because of this issue.
i just bought two bags of tootsie roll pops. the indian was on almost every wrapper in the bag. i live in brooklyn and i dont think the indian has been removed. me and the indian still living the dream. thanks princess.
hi,my name is autumn.I have 3 tootsie roll wrappers with an indian and a star if anyone knows how i can turn these in somewere and get a free sucker please reply
I just got back from a meeting and had a tootsie pop with an indian shooting the star. It made me think of when I was in grade school (I’m 37 now) and I would buy tootsie pops and got a 1-to-1 exchange for a free pop if you got the full indian & star (no partials!). I just had to look this up and see if this was still real. I am sad to learn that this has always been a myth, even when I was younger. But, you know, it makes me think real warmly of the little mini-market (mom & pop type) where we stopped every Sunday after church for gas and I could get a tootsie pop (either by turning in a wrapper or buying one). They must have been really good people because I never knew it to be a myth – I assumed it was sponsered. Kind of funny now to think of it – assuming that all these mini-market owners across the country bagging all the turned in wrappers and mailing them back to the tootsie roll company! LOL! To think, it was just good folks treating kids to a free piece of candy.
i am 13 and have been told many differents sides of the story. 1 story is what many of you have been saying, if you have a wrapper with an indian shooting a star you get a free bag of Tootsie Pops. i just heard this yesterday at my school play that if you have an indian shooting a star and 3 full circles you get a free bag of Tootsie Pops.
This worked for me as a kid. My local ice cream man AND the guy who sold candy at little league practice would trade free tootsie pops for a wrapper with the Indian on it. My BF says it worked for him as well even though we lived 400 miles apart as kids.
I’m 32, and when I was in grade school our bus driver used to let us stop at a local general store on Friday afternoons if we’d behaved all week. If you had a Tootsie Pop wrapper with the Indian shooting an arrow with the star on the end, you could turn it in for a free Tootsie Pop. The store is closed now, and none of our local gas stations honor this. I’ve still got a few saved in case I ever run across a store that still does this. What a fun childhood memory!
I’m 13 and in the 1st grade I was told that if you found the star you could go to Walt-mart to get a roller bladers, skate borads, and a bike, but I never try it out and I do think it is a nice thing to talk about.
Im only 22 and I remember getting the Indian and the star on wrappers and going down to the 7-11 and gettign a free new one but it has to be the whole picture.. they stopped doing it when i was like 13-15 wasnt that long ago lol I dont remeber you being able to get anythign else free from it..Good timess
Damn alsakanchicky this forum is like 4 years old haha only replying cuzz it’s funny a 4 year old post still gets comments and it brings it up in a search for the comment being so resent haha.
I was always told that the whole indian, as well as three whole circle tootsie pop logos was required to “win.” Yet I never found out how to turn it in. All websites I’ve looked at though say the whole thing is a myth.
This is a very interesting myth. Never tried it myself, but it’s pretty awesome to hear that so many local stores would honor it. The rumor probably stayed alive from this fact alone. I remember a kid from school once told me about this, and of course i still always check for it. I’m from NJ and my husband is from GA but he never heard it.
I’ve been wondering for years, what happened to the picture of the birthday party? That was what I always looked. When was it taken off the tootsie pop wrapper?
The birthday party picture was what I always looked for on the wrapper. When was it taken off?
I am 36 years old and when I was a kid you had to get 3 wrappers witlh an Indian and star then we would go to the store and get a free one. Not a myth
When I was a little girl in the 70′s,we were able to turn in the Indian and star papers off the Tootsie Pops,and get a free one. In the 70′s there were no chain stores. I have a little girl now,and we tried to turn in a Tootsie Pop paper, and was told they do not honor that here. What a bummer for her not to get to experience getting something for nothing.
I have read the posts about the Indian and the Star but only the two about the birthday party got my attention. I grew up in Alabama and maybe it was a local thing because the Birthday Party was the rarest of all and I have to say that since the mid 70′s when I was in high school I have not seen it again. Tootsie Roll is missing a great marketing opportunity by not sponsoring some sort of promotion because nostalgic adults would be buying as well as kids!
I am 63 and my sister and I would look for the “birthday party” on our tootsie roll wrappers – we considered it good luck to get one. About 40 years ago they disappeared. Wonder why?
I am a 15 year old girl. When I was growing up I was always told about the Indian and the star. I am eating a Tootsie Pop right now and the wrapper has an Indian and Star. I never believed the myth was true but it’s always fun seeking the “special wrapper” (:
When I was a kid about 20 years ago the local Albertsons honored the free suckers
When I was a kid, it was the birthday party wrapper that earned a free pop. Also the Charms Pop inner wrapper (the white one inside the printed one) sometimes won a free pop, but I can’t remember how. We knew it was the store providing the pops because 7-11 never gave anything away, but Hooks always did. I didn’t hear about the Indian and Star until my kids were in school.