Fads - Totally the 80's

Slap Bracelets and the School Ban Panic

You could hear them before you saw them, that fast little snap in the middle of homeroom. Slap bracelets were cheap, bright, weirdly satisfying, and almost impossible for kids to…

Pop Culture Fads Toys and Games Trends

Scratch and Sniff Stickers, the School Prize Kids Saved

One scratch, and the whole desk smelled like grape soda, strawberry candy, or a cartoon pizza party at 10 a.m. If you grew up in the age of reward charts…

Pop Culture Fads Fast Food Favorites Trends

Pizza Hut BOOK IT! and the Free Pizza Prize Kids Chased

You didn't need a treasure map. You needed a library book, a reading goal, and a teacher who signed the form. For a lot of kids, Pizza Hut BOOK IT!…

Pop Culture Fads Movies Trends

Blockbuster Video and the Friday Night Family Ritual

Remember the question that could rescue an ordinary Friday: "Want to go to Blockbuster?" Suddenly the whole night had a pulse. You weren't only picking a movie. You were launching…

Pop Culture Discontinued Treats Fads Favorite Foods Food Toys and Games Trends

Push Pop Candy and the Click Every Kid Remembered

You didn't eat a push pop candy the way you ate an ordinary lollipop. You clicked it up, took a few proud licks, snapped the cap back on, and carried…

Pop Culture Fads Toys and Games Trends

Why the Sears Wish Book Was the Catalog Kids Waited For

The mailbox used to carry actual suspense. Not bills, not coupons, not junk, but the Sears Wish Book, thick as a winter sweater and loaded with possibility. If you were…

Pop Culture Fads Toys and Games Trends

Rainbow Brite Dolls and the Colorful World Kids Couldn’t Resist

Some toys asked for attention. Rainbow Brite dolls practically glowed. If you were a kid in the 1980s, you probably clocked them in a split second. Bright yarn hair. Candy-colored…

Pop Culture Fads Toys and Games

Garbage Pail Kids: The Gross Trading Cards Schools Couldn’t Stand

Few things felt more dangerous, or more fun, than opening a wax pack and finding a card so disgusting you had to show somebody immediately. Garbage Pail Kids were rude,…

Pop Culture Fads Toys and Games Trends

Why the Rubik’s Cube Craze Took Over 80s Bedrooms

If you grew up in the early 80s, you probably remember a Rubik's Cube sitting somewhere in your room, half-solved and impossible to ignore. It wasn't tucked away like an…

Pop Culture Fads Toys and Games Trends

Cabbage Patch Kids and the 1983 Toy Frenzy

One doll should not be able to turn a toy aisle into a contact sport. But in late 1983, Cabbage Patch Kids came awfully close. If you were around then,…