50 Childhood Things That No 80s Kid Could Forget, Even If They Tried

The 1980s were truly a great time to be a kid.

1.

The confusion over there being two cartoons called Ghostbusters:


Columbia Pictures / ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection, Filmation Associates / Filmation Associates/courtesy Everett Collection

2.

The jingle for My Buddy and Kid Sister:

3.

And the “…and growing” part of the jingle for Flintstones Vitamins:

4.

That you can’t think about Family Ties without hearing “Sha-la-la-la” in your head:

5.

The absolute disappointment you felt anytime you made shaved ice with the Snoopy Sno Cone Maker and only ended up with a slushy mess:

6.

The absolute struggle it was to get your Popple back into its ball shape:

7.

The absolute joy you got watching Muppet Babies (even if it was just a rerun):


Hensonassociates / ©HensonAssociates/Courtesy Everett Collection

9.

Yet always wondering what the hell Nanny looked like:

10.

How the illustrations from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark were actually more frighting than the stories:

11.

That every kid owned these rainbow flip-flops — that were also super painful, since the nylon on the straps would rub against your toes:

12.

Just how uncomfortable it was to see out of and walk in these costumes — but you wanted one, no matter what:

13.

How cars came with metal ashtrays on the door and you were always compelled to play with it (by opening and shutting it fast) whenever you sat next to one:

14.

And how they also came with metal seat buckles and you had a 90% chance of burning yourself with it on a hot day:

15.

Wanting a Clapper because of the commercial (truly the smarthome appliance of its time):

16.

The F.H.E. logo that appeared before a whole bunch of your favorite VHS tapes:

17.

That nobody could convince you that Kenner’s Family Tree House wasn’t part of the Fisher-Price’s Little People collection:

18.

How you knew better than to remove the stickers from your Garbage Pail Kids cards:

19.

How everyone’s grandma owned this one Fisher-Price play set:

20.

How you would hold the gun directly in front of the TV screen whenever you played Duck Hunt:

21.

The sheer stress of ripping off the sides of dot matrix paper:

22.

That just looking at the cover of a Mead Académie Sketch Pad inspired you to want to draw:

23.

How you knew when exactly to close your eyes during the “Large Marge” scene in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure:

24.

And how you would immediately switch the channel whenever Time Life’s creepy AF Mysteries of the Unknown commercial came on:

View this video on YouTube


Time Life/ mycommercials/ youtube.com

25.

Just how much more satisfying it was to drink out of Welch’s jelly jar glasses:

26.

That there was no worse TV commercial character than the bitchy Tootsie Roll Pop owl:

27.

That the Officer Big Mac climb-in jail at McDonald’s always smelled like feet:

I know the 1980s were a crazy time, but I refuse to believe “Officer Big Mac” was real even though I witnessed his tenure of horror first hand.

03:32 AM – 14 Jun 2020


Twitter: @redroomrantings

28.

That these cups at Pizza Hut always left a little lingering plasticky flavor to whatever you were drinking:

29.

That watching Square One was primarily just for “Mathnet”:

30.

The smell of Hawaiian pizza — ’cause it was served at EVERY birthday party 😔:

31.

That even though they were brother and sister, you still shipped He-Man and She-Ra:


Group W/ Everett Collection

32.

The fact that you at least once put your fingers together like Evie on Out of This World to see if you could freeze time:

33.

That there was no such thing as owning too many Smurf PVC figures:

34.

Just how dangerous it was to go down a hill in Roller Racers:

35.

And how you had to be careful not to wreck your ankle while jumping on a Pogo Ball:

36.

That it wasn’t a trip to Burger King until you got your crown:

37.

How Disney’s The Black Cauldron

38.

…and Return to Oz were true horror movies:

39.

How you would save the plastic baskets strawberries came in so you could make Easter baskets in school:

40.

The spoon trick you would use to open Quik (that came in a metal tin):

41.

That the characters from the Sweet Pickles books were all messy and just a bit too relatable:

42.

That there will always be three Cinnamon Toast Crunch bakers:

43.

That 75% of the fun of playing with Colorforms was sniffing them:

44.

That you believed the urban legend that there was a ghost boy in Three Men and a Baby:

45.

The logo for DIC with the kid’s voice that pronounced it “Deeek”:

46.

How heavy these flashlights were because of the ton of huge batteries inside of them:

47.

How you were always careful not to scratch your scratch ‘n’ sniff stickers too much, so you wouldn’t waste the smell:

48.

The fact that you found Alf both funny and completely terrifying:


Alien Productions / Alien Productions / Courtesy: Everett Collection

50.

And lastly, how 35 years later, you’re still traumatized by that episode of Punky Brewster where Cherie almost died after being locked in the abandoned fridge: