55 Very Random '80s Kids Things That No Young Gen X'er Or Old Millennial Will Ever Forget, Even If They Tried
1.The anticipation of finally getting to your "computer time" day and thinking, This will be the time that I beat The Oregon Trail:
2.Not being able to get enough of the scent of a scratch-and-sniff sticker that you liked and being worried that if you scratched too much the scent would fade away sooner:
3.Having to decide after school whether you wanted to get a Pink Panther bar (for the bubble gum, of course) from the ice cream truck...
4....or a sugary but refreshing Mickey's Parade popsicle:
5.Wanting a My Buddy and/or Kid Sister...
...because the commercial (mainly the infectious jingle for it) sold it to you!!!
6.Knowing better than to touch your Shrinky Dinks for a good long while after taking them out of the oven, because they took FOREVER to cool down (seriously, those things burned if you touched them too soon):
7.Realizing that 75% of the fun of playing with Colorforms was sniffing them:
8.Loving your Popple, but always having an absolute struggle to get it back into its ball shape:
9.The absolute joy you got watching Muppet Babies (even if it was just a rerun):
10.And the pure bliss and excitement you got at just hearing the theme song for it:
11.Yet always wondering what the hell Nanny looked like:
12.Thoroughly enjoying Square One, even though you knew it was educational:
13.But mainly watching Square One just for "Mathnet":
14.Trying to recite along as fast as the Micro Machine Man during the Micro Machine commercials — and if you couldn't, just settling for shouting out-loud the ending: "Remember if it doesn't say Micro Machines, it's not the real thing!"
15.Browsing your local mom-and-pop video store, and usually having to settle for renting something else because they typically only carried a copy or two (at most) of a particular movie:
16.And always trying to peek into the adult section in the back of the video store that was hidden behind the swinging café doors:
17.How using one of these was the only way to make popcorn on a movie night:
18.Owning a Rubik's Cube and having no idea how you got it:
19.Also having your family own a copy of the Flashdance soundtrack (which you listened to whether you saw the movie or not)...
20....Thriller (which, like, EVERYONE you knew owned a copy of)...
21....and We Are the World 45:
22.How nobody could convince you that Kenner's Family Tree House wasn't part of Fisher-Price's Little People collection. And just how much fun you had playing with it:
23.Going to several birthday parties where they served a character cake that was 85% frosting:
24.Every once in a while, being grossed out by one of your Garbage Pail Kids cards:
25.Being more than a little freaked out by The Dark Crystal (especially by the "life essence" stealing scene):
26.And being freaked out by everything in The NeverEnding Story (but especially the scene where Artax died in the Swamp of Sadness):
27.Having these McDonald's glasses...
...and Burger King Return of the Jedi glasses as your go-to juice or milk glass — even as the paint on them faded:
28.Having one of these country goose cookie jars in your family's kitchen, which usually had matching glasses, dish towels, and plates:
29.Wanting a waterbed because they were the coolest thing ever. Also, they were the funnest things to jump on:
30.Knowing that any good battery-operated toy required at least half a dozen C or D batteries:
31.Seeing cigarette ads everywhere and not even thinking twice about it:
32.And there being unsupervised cigarette machines everywhere and not even thinking twice about it:
33.The huge confusion over there being two cartoons called Ghostbusters — it just did not make sense in your mind:
But, of course, knowing The Real Ghostbusters was the superior one 'cause it was the one based on the movie. Plus, it even had the theme song for the intro:
34.Being inspired to draw by just looking at the cover of a Mead Académie Sketch Pad:
35.Being irrationally scared when playing outside that you might fall down a well like Baby Jessica:
36.Being very tempted to eat Crest Sparkle because it tasted like minty candy. Oh so, so sweet:
Crest
37.How the illustrations from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark were actually more frightening than the stories. Okay, yes the stories were very creepy too, FTR:
38.Watching Gremlins and thinking you were going to watch a cute movie about a rabbit-chinchilla creature and not a frightening horror movie about monsters that terrorize a small town during Christmas:
Warner Bros.
39.Having a collection of Disney Read-Along Storybook and cassette books, which you'd sometimes play just for the songs they included in them:
40.That every kid owned these rainbow flip-flops — that were also super painful, since the nylon on the straps would rub against your toes:
41.That every kid owned a pair of these Fisher-Price roller skates that were actually impossible to skate in:
42.That either you owned or knew someone who owned a Cabbage Patch doll whose name was immediately changed after they "adopted" it:
43.And that either you owned or knew someone who owned a Rainbow Brite doll that ended up covered in crayon marks and with the yarn hair all undone:
44.Collecting shiny Sandylion stickers that you'd get from a craft store or stationery shop:
And, of course, displaying your collection in sticker books:
45.Getting a little magical feeling whenever you watched the Disney Sunday Night Movie intro:
46.How gross the stickers you had to lick tasted in Sticker Fun books. Also, how they dried all wrinkly and never stuck right in the book:
47.How these Coca-Cola cups left a waxy taste in your Coke (or at least in your mind it did):
48.And how these were the design of the default disposable cups that everyone's family used at picnics and BBQs:
49.Getting hungry every time you watched a Time for Timer PSA:
50.And getting hungry whenever you played the Pizza Party game:
51.Playing with those sliding puzzles and eventually getting frustrated with it and just pulling out all the pieces and putting them back together correctly:
52.The absolute disappointment you felt anytime you made shaved ice with the Snoopy Sno Cone Maker and only ended up with a slushy mess:
53.Knowing the only solution for getting your Nintendo cartridge to work was to blow into it:
54.And knowing that if you went to the store with your parents, they'd nine times out of ten give you a quarter to get a prize from the lucky eggs machine:
55.Finally, being completely traumatized by that episode of Punky Brewster where Cherie almost died after being locked in the abandoned fridge:
