What do macaroni and cheese, antique brass, and cotton candy all have in common? They are all colors of Crayola crayons.

The crayons were invented by cousins Edwin Binney and Harold Smith in 1903 and originally sold in boxes of eight for a nickel. Since then, Chad Wynn, an employee at the Crayola Store in Easton Pennsylvania, said the number of colors has grown to 150.

According to Crayola’s book “A history of Crayons.” The original eight colors were black, brown, blue, red, purple, orange, yellow and green. Now boxes include colors such as “fuzzy wuzzy brown” and “atomic tangerine.”

“We actually sell packs with all 150 colors,” said Wynn.

Binney’s wife Alice thought of the name for the crayons, Wynn said. She combined the French words for chalk (craie) and oily (oleaginous) to form the word crayola.

He said over the last 95 years Crayola has sold 100,000 crayons.

Sophomore Erin Welch, whose favorite colors are robin’s egg blue and macaroni and cheese, said one of the benefits to crayon’s over markers is that crayons last much longer.

“They’re like the battery. They just keep going and going and going,” she said.

Along with the addition of new colors, Wynn said, Crayola now has different types of crayons. He said along with glitter, metallic and scented crayons Crayola also sells new multicultural crayons which feature different shades of browns and beiges.

Crayola has also changed the shape of crayons since 1903. Wynn said they make extra large and triangular shaped crayons that are easier for younger children to hold.

“We have ones that are called TaDoodles,” he said. “The crayons are in a triangle shape in a plastic case.”

These crayons, he said, are for very young children who are just learning to color.

The Crayola crayon boxes also became more high tech as the years went on. A crayon sharpener was added to the back of larger boxes.

“Now the 120 pack comes with a hand held crayon sharpener,” Wynn said.

Wynn said his favorite name for a crayon is razzel dazzel rose and his favorite color is steal blue.

Senior Marie Hendrickson’s favorite color is also steal blue, and she said she remembers in grade school when crayons were almost a status symbol.

“The cool kids had the 64 pack with the sharpener on the back,” she said.

“I was not one of the cool kids.”