Stop And Smell The Wax

Sean Daly: Let's start with that name, a go-go-booted Space Age shout, a classic souvenir as fun to blurt as it is to make, fondle, sniff.

Go on, say it with me:

Mold-A-Rama!

Feels good, doesn't it?

That's not mere fancy talk, either. Just as those sideshow hyphens puckishly promise, this enduring staple of Vacation Wonderland U.S.A. builds to a big finish, spitting out a do-it-yourself memory that's hot to the touch.

Vacation bliss in 30 seconds.

You might have put the smooth, warm plastic to your lips or dared your brother to take a bite, before tossing it in the back of that hideous brown-yellow Chevy Caprice along with your haul from Shell City.

You either made a Mold-A-Rama toy as a kid — a flamingo, a red skull, a gator from Gatorland — or you bought one for a kid, maybe your kid, the circle of nostalgia going 'round and 'round, your life encased in polyethylene.

Existential bliss in 30 seconds.