Collector: ‘They call me the M&M Lady’

Dianne Cullen doesn’t eat much chocolate. But that hasn't stopped the Grayslake resident from collecting M&M-related items for nearly 34 years.

Cullen began collecting pennies and later antique toys when she was a child, but her most prominent collection is all things related to the round color-coated chocolates. Her collection, she said, had more than 1,100 items at last count.

For Cullen, her collection is a community event. “It came from my first love, which is my family, and it blossomed into this” she said, gesturing at her collection.

Cullen’s collection of M&M merchandise started with her family. Her husband and two sons all have names that begin with an M, Cullen said, which led to a decorated picture window proclaiming her love of her M&Ms.

“I painted M&M characters in the color in character that I thought resembled them,” she said. “And from that day on, neighbors, family and friends thought ‘Oh, she would like anything M&M,’ and it just started to snowball from there.”

Cullen now has dedicated an entire room in her home to her collection. On a sign printed on M&M stationary, she uses a pun to describe her collection, aptly calling it “Dianne’s M&Menagerie.”

M&M toppers, toy cars, tins, plushies and other merchandise cover the edges of the room on shelves and a dresser.

Unique wrappers and packaging are hung in collages on the walls and door, and a peanut M&M gift bag holds even more. The room is a sea of green, yellow, red, orange, blue and brown.

“I buy chocolate for the packages, and I bring [the candies] to work, and I put it in different dispensers, and I tell them, ‘This is peanut. This is almond. This is mint.’” said Cullen. The M&Ms are appreciated by her co-workers, she said. “They call me the M&M lady.”

Though she didn’t start getting serious about collecting M&M memorabilia until she was an adult, the first piece in her collection is a keychain of a cartoon red M&M her father gave her.

An antique collector himself, her father pushed Cullen and her five siblings into maintaining their own collections. One brother, Cullen said, collected stamps, while another collected coins.

Carolynn Burke, Cullen’s sister, did not collect anything of her own, but would share in her siblings’ and father’s collections. Cullen’s collection now, she said, is much the same.

“People send her things,” said Burke, adding that when she sees something new, she calls Cullen’s husband to find out if they already have it.

Her M&M collection is mostly made up of gifts from others, Cullen said. Knowing that she has such a large and varied collection makes other people think of her when they see M&Ms, she said.

“I’m always surprised to see what they’ll get, and they’re always surprised to see if I have it or not,” she said.

Most items are from friends, family, salespeople, and, in the case of one notable item, a large candy holder named “Miss Green,” from her doctor’s office.

Cullen and her husband dress Miss Green for the holidays, play broomball with her and similarly involve her to take pictures to share with others.

Having been convinced by her son to participate in the Polar Plunge, Burke said, Cullen did so dressed in all M&M apparel, including an over-large pair of yellow M&M sunglasses. Cullen’s desk at work is similarly themed.

She does buy some of her collection, but it is rarely planned. “I don’t go out to look for them,” Cullen said, “They kind of jump out at me.”

While shopping at Kohl’s recently, Cullen discovered plastic cups with pictures of the M&Ms clan.

She’s also amused by the antics of the animated M&Ms in commercials. Cullen said she’s excited about the new brown M&M character (the sassy one with the glasses).

Cullen has met many people due to her collection. “It’s an icebreaker,” she said. “I bring strangers in here from garage sales...They just get a big kick out of it. And they’ll pass it on, and they’ll pass it on, kind of a network. They get a thrill out of it.”

“People are always so intrigued,” Burke said of the strangers the Cullens invite into their home to see the collection. “My sister and her husband always like to entertain.”

Cullen herself has passed the collecting bug to yet another generation. One son collects Pez dispensers, she said, and the other collects Coca-Cola items.

“We had a little war here,” she joked. “My son collected Coke, and my husband collected Pepsi paraphernalia.” Her husband also has a room dedicated to this year’s Stanley Cup winner.

“It’s hopefully going to have a great influence on her grandchildren,” Burke said. Cullen’s grandchildren are encouraged to play with toys in the collection as much as they like, Cullen said. “They play with it, [then] they put it back as best they can.”

Unlike most collectors, Cullen does not worry as much about potential damage or decrease in value than she does the joy of the act of collecting.

“I’m not very big on collecting it because it’s a collectible item as much as it is just fun,” she said, “so I take a lot of the items - most of them - out of the box, because, what good are they if they’re just there?”

Cullen has taught her grandchildren from M&M themed math cards and money. She also wears one of several M&M watches on each day of the week.

“She’s never had enough,” Burke said of her sister’s collection. “I think she’ll continue to do it forever.”