50 Childhood Things From The '80s That We're Grateful People Will Never Forget
Are you ready for a nostalgia overdose?
Few things hit harder than a trip through 1980s childhood, especially when the memories are equal parts sweet, strange, and slightly chaotic. From toys that barely worked to TV moments that somehow stuck forever, this era left behind a long trail of tiny cultural landmarks.
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This roundup pulls together 50 childhood things from the '80s that people still remember instantly. Some are toys, some are snacks, some are commercials, and some are the kind of random details that only make sense if you lived through them.
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That is exactly why these old favorites still land so well, they bring back the feeling of being a kid in a way nothing else quite can.
1. You avoided making a mistake by leaving the stickers on your Garbage Pail Kids cards:
etsy.com
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2. The complete letdown you experienced whenever you used the Snoopy Sno Cone Maker to make shaved ice and all you got was a mushy mess:
amazon.com
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3. Using a spoon to open Quik
reddit.com
4. Mysteries of the Unknown
5. Square One was largely watched for 'Mathnet':
PBS/ Game Show Retro/youtube.com
6. The physical strain of tearing the sides of dot matrix paper
staples.com
7. The overwhelming happiness you felt when watching Muppet Babies, even if it was simply a rerun:
Hensonassociates / ©HensonAssociates/Courtesy Everett Collection
8. How risky it was for Roller Racers to descend a hill?
reddit.com
9. You're still traumatized by the Punky Brewster episode in which Cherie nearly died after being confined in the broken refrigerator.
NBC
10. That you at least once tried to stop time by fusing your fingers together like Evie in Out of This World:
Paramount
11. How Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark's drawings were scarier than the stories themselves:
Harper Collins
12. The F.H.E. emblem that was displayed in front of several of your favorite VHS tapes:
FHE
13. The DIC logo with the young child's voice saying 'Deeek'
DIC
14. How you conserved the strawberry plastic packaging so you could build Easter baskets at school?
walmart.com
15. My Buddy and Kid Sister's jingle
Jeremy Noel/ youtube.com
16. There will always be three bakers for Cinnamon Toast Crunch:
platypuscomixII/ youtube.com
17. Despite how uncomfortable it was to walk and see through, you insisted on wearing one:
reddit.com
18. And how, on a hot day, you had a 90% chance of burning yourself with the metal seat buckles:
reddit.com
19. That everything you drank from these Pizza Hut cups usually had a slight aftertaste of plastic:
imgur.com
20. How you knew when to close your eyes during the Pee-wee's Big Adventure 'Large Marge' scene:
Warner Bros.
This totally matches those school photo awkward phases nobody could hide.
21. Officer Big Mac climb-in jail at McDonald's:
@redroomrantings
That theme song still does a lot of heavy lifting.
22. And the joy you felt after listening to the show's theme song:
23. How you always took care to avoid wasting the scent by excessively scratching your scratch-and-sniff stickers:
etsy.com
24. Due to the massive amount of enormous batteries within these flashlights, they were extremely heavy:
reddit.com
25. He-Man and She-Ra
Group W/ Everett Collection
26. How difficult it was to get your Popple back into the shape of a ball:
etsy.com
27. And how, when hopping on a Pogo Ball, you had to be careful not to sprain your ankle:
thepaperstore.com
28. Playing Duck Hunt:
Smash Time!/ youtube.com
29. How every time you sat next to a car, you had to play with the metal ashtray that was on the door (by opening and closing it quickly):
imgur.com
30. The Black Cauldron by Disney:
Disney
31. That you took the urban legend about the ghost boy in Three Men and a Baby seriously:
Disney
32. Hawaiian pizza was served at every birthday party:
Gancino / Getty Images
33. True horror films like Return to Oz and...
Disney
34. How everyone's grandma owned one of these:
etsy.com
35. That the song 'Sha-la-la-la' keeps playing in your brain whenever you think about the movie Family Ties:
NBC
36. That the snarky Tootsie Roll Pop owl was the worst TV ad character ever:
Tootsie Roll Pop
37. That the characters in the Sweet Pickles stories were all a little dirty and all too relatable:
etsy.com
38. But I was always curious about what the hell Nanny looked like:
Henson/ Disney
39. You were motivated to draw just by looking at the Mead Académie Sketch Pad's cover:
reddit.com
40. The fact that you found Alf to be simultaneously hilarious and terrifying:
Alien Productions / Alien Productions / Courtesy: Everett Collection
41. That it wasn't a trip to Burger King until you got your crown:
reddit.com
42. There is no such thing as having too many Smurf PVC figurines:
etsy.com
43. The confusion caused by the existence of two animated series with the same name:
Columbia Pictures / ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection, Filmation Associates / Filmation Associates/courtesy Everett Collection
44. The '...and growing' line from the Flintstones Vitamins commercial:
MusicLuvr76/ youtube.com
45. That DuckTales' theme music is the best cartoon theme song:
46. No one was able to persuade you that Kenner's Family Tree House wasn't a part of Fisher-Price's Little People line:
ebay.com
47. How much more pleasurable it was to sip from Welch's jelly jar glasses:
reddit.com
48. Wanting a Clapper after seeing the advertisement (it was the first smart home device):
ebay.com
49. That every child had a pair of these rainbow flip-flops, which were also very uncomfortable because the nylon on the straps rubbed against your toes:
nallhal.top
50. Sniffing Colorforms was 75% of the fun of playing with them:
etsy.com
Some memories never really leave.
Want more “built different” energy, see vintage photos where your grandparents treated safety like a suggestion.
