I am a little bit obsessed with the 80's. Sometimes I even feel like every other post I write, that isn't a recipe, has something to do with the 1980's. For awhile I felt weird about that, but now I embrace it. Why? Because as a child of the 80's, I think there were some totally radical things about that decade. As a dad, and card carrying fan of the 80's, it is my right and my responsibility to help my own kids experience the great parts of the 80's. So sit back, chill, throw on some Poison or Run DMC, and listen to some ways in which you too can share the 80's experience with your children.
The Toys
I know authentic 80's collectibles are pretty expensive but you don't have to dive deep into your bank account to get the banging 80's toys you always wanted as a kid. I distinctly remember saving up for months for the Cobra Nightraven jet from G.I. Joe (pictured above). When my parents finally took me to the store I was devastated to find it wasn't carried there anymore.
I still haven't found the Nightraven, but my kids have very much enjoyed playing with new releases of toys from Star Wars, Transformers, American Girl, etc. So get on the floor with your kids and break out the Stormtroopers, Decepticons, and Strawberry Shortcake!
The Shoes
Let's be honest, no one needs the clothes from the 1980's. Seriously, those need to be burned. I know
I realize I normally talk about fun lunches that you can make your kids. I also like to talk about healthier food ideas. However, I was a kid in the 80's and have been a bit nostalgic lately. When you were growing up in the 80's you didn't hear about organic, dye-free, or locally sourced. Most kids I knew were just lucky if they got the name brand snack as opposed to the knockoff. This is the time when you could buy bubble gum cigarettes, and Wonderbread was accepted as a normal part of a healthy school lunch. Let's just say we weren't as worried about food allergies or clean eating. As a kid, these are the tasty (and terribly unhealthy) treats I remember that ruled the decade. It's probably better for everyone that they are gone, but there's a small part of me that wishes my kids could have experienced the 80's treats that I did. I'm sure I missed some so let me know in the comments which snack foods you remember with fondness. 10. Smurf Berry Crunch Cereal in the 80's The Smurfs were a staple of Saturday morning cartoons and cereal bowls. They overflowed with berry flavoring so they more than likely were only 1% nutritious but 100% delicious.
9. Flintstones Push Up Pops There have been Push Up Pops around forever, but the Flintstones flavors have always been far superior. When they mixed the orange flavor with the Nerds. Well, that was sheer brilliance.
8. Shark Bites Fruit Snacks Yes I know these have been remade but they can't compare to the original. Sure they were filled with everything that was horrible to put into your body, but remember when you opened a pouch and found the great white shark flavor? You immediately went to your happy place. If that happy place involved ocean predators.
7. McDonald's Happy Meals Before we took notice how bad most fast food was for you, kids were enamored with Happy Meals. But it wasn't really for the nuggets, they could have included tin foil smothered in peanut butter in that box. Every 80's kid knows this was the glory years of the Happy Meal toys. From The Muppet Babies to the Garfield vehicles, no other decade compares. The one toy to rule them all? Mcdonald's Transformers.
6. Squeezeit Fruit Drinks I remember moving to a new town and starting school. It was difficult at first, but you know what got me through? Liters of sugar laced drinks in my school lunch. I always wanted these, but my parents wouldn't buy them (for good reason). I think they felt sorry for me so for one glorious week it was all Squeezeit, all the time.
5. Oreo Big Stuff What's better than stuffing all sorts of chemicals into snack size spheres? How about super sizing it into giant sandwich size handfuls. The only thing as big as the taste was the totally tubular 80's commercial that advertised them. Who wouldn't want to be as gnarly as those kids hanging out, dancing, and eating enormous cookies?
4. Jello Pudding Pops There's not much to say about these. If there was a choice in the freezer aisle, the go-to was always pudding pops. The secret was eating all the swirl flavor before anyone else got their hands on them. No one wanted to be stuck with vanilla.
3. Nintendo Cereal System There are plenty of other 80's cereal that could have been on this list. Gremlins, Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Strawberry Shortcake to name a few. However, the Nintendo cereal beat them all. You got Super Mario Brothers AND Legend of Zelda...in the same box! Fruity flavored in one bag and berry flavored in the other. They obviously tasted way different from each other. You knew that in every bite you were tasting cereal glory, even if you couldn't beat Mike Tyson in Punch Out.
2. Keebler Magic Middles Soft shortbread surrounded rich fudge, whoever invented these should be given an award. There were probably 200 calories in each one, but we didn't care. You had a sleepover, watched Goonies, played NES, and easily burned through a package of these badboys. You can't beat that.
1. Hi-C Ecto Cooler The Holy Grail of 80's snacks has to be Hi-C Ecto Cooler. Hi-C was pretty amazing by itself, but when they added slime to their 10% fruit juice, who knew magic would happen? Maybe it wasn't actually green...or slime, but it doesn't matter. This drink defined the snacks of the 80's for me. What I wouldn't give for just one more box.
