39 Very, Very Specific '80s Kids Things That Old Millennials And Young Gen X'ers Have Definitely Forgotten About
If you ever got burned going down the metal slide at a McDonald's PlayPlace or tried to stop time like Evie from Out of This World, then this list for you.
1.The Muppet Babies Happy Meal toys that were truly the greatest Happy Meal toys ever made:
2.And the fanciful Muppet Babies softcover books that were part of another Happy Meal promotion:
3.Pricey 1-900 numbers that let you talk to your favorite cartoon characters (like He-Man and She-Ra):
4.The "We Are the World" 45 record that everyone's family owned:
5.Smurf Chef Boyardee pasta, which, of course, tasted like regular Chef Boyardee:
6.Judy Blume books that had these covers:
7.The Dennis the Menace cartoon that had a catchy AF theme song:
8.And the Snorks, which also had a catchy theme song but felt like a rip-off of The Smurfs:
9.Disney Pops, which tasted like pure sugar and fruit concentrate:
10.Old cars from the '70s that had huge and heavy doors that took all your strength to open and close:
11.McDonald's that had the red-ish brown pitched roofs and brick exteriors:
12.And the metal slide inside the McDonald's PlayPlace that you literally could barely slide down on and that burned you on hot days:
13.Vacuum cleaners that weighed 75 pounds and had bags on them that would not only get hot, but would also spew out a little dust every time someone turned it on:
14.Trading cards for almost every TV show:
15.The Max Headroom TV series that was less cool looking and more absolute nightmare fuel:
16.And The Peanut Butter Solution, which for a kids movie was also just nightmare fuel:
17.The King Kong's Underwear joke book, which actually had a lot of funny jokes:
18.The most epic board game ever created: Fireball Island (which was actually a lot of fun just to play with the board game by itself too):
19.The L'Oreal Studio Line commercial that made the products look like the chicest and coolest products anybody could put in their hair:
20.Ugly pastel artwork that everyone hung in their homes — especially in bathrooms:
21.And also deco style swan decorations — and, again, especially in bathrooms:
22.Out of This World and it feeling like a fever dream of a show:
23.The commercials for Time Life's Mysteries of the Unknown book series, which were just creepy AF:
24.This exact Pyrex casserole dish that every '80s mom owned:
25.Those heavy glass and ornate photo frames that were meant to look fancy but were really gaudy and one accidental drop away from breaking:
26.Halogen floor lamps that would give you a serious burn if you even dared to try to touch just the top part of it:
27.The highway patrol toy that lit up and made noises that every kid seemed to own at some point:
28.Making juice from frozen Minute Maid concentrate that came with aluminum tops and bottoms:
29.Air popcorn poppers that looked just like this:
30.Picking up cheap souvenir books from places you and your family would visit:
31.USA Network's USA Cartoon Express programming block, which always just showed a bunch of Hanna-Barbera cartoons from the '70s:
32.Being curious about what film they were going to show during the NBC Monday Night Movie:
33.Those cartoon erasers that were cool to collect but didn't do anything other than smudge and rip your papers apart when you tried to use them:
34.The random McKids clothing line that McDonald's put out with Sears:
35.Those oh-so-cool clock backpacks that made absolutely no sense:
36.TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes, which was hosted by Dick Clark and Ed McMahon:
37.The Fisher-Price camera that actually worked and came with an external flash that you needed to attach:
38.Those teddy bear pencil toppers that did nothing but make it hard to write and collect dust and gunk all over the fur:
39.And finally, Perfect Strangers — which had an epic sitcom theme song — being part of TGIF: