New Yorker Gives Away Inheritance Of 2,000 Snapple Caps

Updated December 21, 2023, to remove a false claim that Snapple caps no longer have Real Facts printed on them and clarify that it is the metallic material that was phased out.

While it may seem like a foreign concept to Gen Z, before we carried personal computers around in our pockets, we found amusement in the little things, like catching a glimpse of the highly coveted shooting star on a Tootsie Pop wrapper or learning a new fact from a Snapple cap. So, in the age of nostalgia, it's not terribly surprising that when New Yorkers Susan and George Grimbilas offered to give away the collection of Snapple caps they inherited from George's late uncle, Strati Nicolas, people jumped at the chance to become the beneficiary.

With the help of the beloved Snapple Lady commercials, the iced tea and juice maker maintained a reputation for being a fun and interactive brand throughout the '90s. In 2002, Snapple's marketing team decided to keep the party going by printing a series of wonderfully weird and sometimes outlandish facts called "Real Facts" on the inside of the bottle tops. Like many other quirky collectors, Nicolas stored his away, tucking every Snapple cap fact he acquired in a large planter that he kept in the corner of his living room, the New York Post reports.

After the 87-year-old died, leaving the contents of his home — including his collection of over 2,000 Snapple caps — to the Grimbilas, Susan posted to the Nextdoor app to find a fellow fun-lover to whom she could gift the caps.

Between 2002 and 2023, Snapple printed 1,677 Real Facts — according to Sporked. Despite several instances where the facts were disproven and changed, the brand maintains that each is thoroughly vetted. Because metallic Snapple caps are no longer produced, those caps have become a rare commodity of sorts, with some of the earlier caps selling on eBay for hundreds of dollars.

Susan and George Grimbilas could have sought to cash in by selling the collection, but they chose to give it to a 76-year-old woman instead. According to the New York Post, she plans to use the caps to craft holiday trivets; Susan believes George's late uncle would have appreciated the sentiment. Even though you missed Susan's offer on Nextdoor, Snapple pointed out to Mashed that you can still brush up on all of Snapple's formerly printed fun facts by viewing them on Snapple's website or texting "realfact" to 762-775 to receive a daily fact.