Peter Is Going to Freeze His Little Cottontail Off

    It is the start of a new year, and this means that a slew of new products are coming out in stores.  For instance, Duncan Hines is expanding its line of Dolly Parton endorsed baking kits, with blueberry muffin, banana nut muffin, and cinnamon crumb cake.  None of these are particularly Southern, by hey, name recognition.  I saw another new product that kind of disturbed me, though.  Rice Krispie-flavored marshmallow peeps.  First, having Easter products out barely a week after Christmas isn't right.  Sure, a few things would be out, but most stores would have their focus on Valentine's Day instead.  Some stores still don't have their V-Day stuff out.  I usually don't like seeing such a wide selection of Easter stuff this early.  Yes, Easter is early this year, March 26, but this feels like it is a little too much for me. As someone in retail, I know that many seasonal/holiday products need to be available a long time in advance.  For instance, the new Valentine's Day books for children started coming out before Christmas.  However, candy and other treats have a limited shelf life. Even if the products have shipped extra-early, I'm not sure I would want to see them so soon after Christmas.  Another thing is the new flavor.  Peeps have been coming out in special flavors for decades now, with some keyed in to certain holidays.  For instance, the general flavors for peeps this year include the usual flavors of birthday cake and sour watermelon, as well as branded flavors that used to be exclusive, such as Hawaiian Punch and Dr Pepper.  (I've tried it.  I felt something was missing, but it wasn't bad.)  There is also the sparkling mixed-berry bunnies, the lone instance that isn't a peep.  There are also a few chocolate-dipped flavored peeps this year, but not it as wide a selection of flavors as in some years. This year, the Rice Krispie flavor is a Walmart  exclusive.  The other exclusive flavors are ICEE Blue Raspberry for Target and sour strawberry for Kroger's.  Those two flavors make a bit more sense than the first one.  I mean, marshmallows are an ingredient for rice cereal treats, but having the marshmallow taste like the cereal is a bit too surreal.  Not that I make or eat treats, or that many people use peeps for their treats.  Peeps used to have a larger range of flavors before they cut back on some of their excesses.  For instance, peeps used to have a Valentine's Day selection, with white vanilla hearts and red strawberry hearts.  There were chocolate teddy bears and, my personal favorite, red cherry-flavored cherries drizzled with chocolate.  Those were only around for a two or three years.  The entire holiday line ended in 2020.  Maybe it will come back near year, considering that Easter is going to be almost as late as possible, April 20.  There will need to be something to fill in the gap.  Halloween had chocolate peeps a few times, but last year there were no flavors.  Christmas had gingerbread and peppermint, but nothing else.  Even Easter had 'mystery flavors' a few times, that would occasionally get a full treatment if well-liked enough.  In fact, Easter was the holiday that started the flavor rush with vanilla-and strawberry-creme eggs, with orange-creme added a year later.  Alas, all three were stopped years ago, with only generic eggs left.  It will probably be another month before the whole range of Easter products come out, as it should be.