BOTTLE CAPS

Is there a kid who doesn’t collect bottle caps? I save all kinds of caps, metal, plastic, even ceramic ones called “swing tops” (in the very back of this photograph). Caps are a blast to collect, trade, sort, admire, and make great desktop hockey pucks. Hawaiian kids invented a game using the caps from bottles of pineapple-orange-guava juice. They took the initials for the three fruits and called the game POGS, now collected and played by kids all around the world.

Before paper milk cartons, milk was delivered in glass bottles, with bottle caps made of paper. You could save them and trade them for records at the music store. That was a sneaky way to get me to drink my milk.