Cadbury Oreo Selection Box - 170g

The selection box is a British Christmas institution. Every child gets at least one, usually from a grandparent, and it is considered entirely acceptable to finish it before lunch.

People in Canada go looking for this one because the box itself is the memory. The chocolate matters, of course, but so does the cellophane window, the tearing open and the bargaining with a sibling over who got the better bit.

It is a 170g box, flat enough to slip into a stocking and sturdy enough to survive being posted to a cousin. Keep it somewhere cool and dry, out of the sun, and ideally out of sight, because a selection box left in plain view has a short life expectancy.

Cadbury makes plenty more for the British Christmas cupboard, and people tend to pair a selection box with a tin for the sofa or a few bars for the stockings. One box per person is the rule. It has never once been followed.