Things your parents led you to think were 'special' or 'expensive' that you now take for granted?

Lol no 2boys I'm up in the north east. Teesside way.

I think you and me may have come from the same town iirc from a previous thread ginger a town famous for it black pudding ?did you get pea wet with your chips and scraps?

Making any sort of phone call in the daytime. Cheap Rate After 6 should be on my mother's gravestone.

This ^^ and putting the phone down after 59 minutes and redialling as only the first hour was cheap/free

Going to cafe etc for lunch. Almost never happened - usually a very plain picnic. I take my kids to cafes at least once a week, way more in the holidays!

Fish shop was a few bags of chips and some scraps shared out between 7 of us.

Dp always orders large cod and it makes my eyes water. I can never bring myself to do it.

We never had takeaways either and McDonald's was only had on holiday.

My nanna used to get chips and gravy from the Chinese when I stayed there though

MrsJayy

You knew you were proper poorly when you got lucozade loved taking the foil off, plastic bottles don't taste the same.

My grandma bless her always had a bad cough and would always have cherry tunes in her bag she would always offer us one as a treat

Yeah Lucozade I love Lucozade but as a child it was only ever sold in chemists in mysterious orange bottles with orange sort of shiny paper around it .

Coffee was a rare treat, now it's an everyday thing. My mum would be horrified if she could see people walking along the street with a coffee to take to work when there is a kettle on the premises.

My mum would never let us have salad cart at harvesters as she said you had to pay extra 🤔 ex h pissed himself laughing when I told him he wasn't allowed as we hadn't paid extra. Then he explained it was free.

My mum denies all knowledge of this now.

My parents saw deodorant as a luxury item and conditioner

God so much. A shower/bath everyday. Toiletries, I never had my own tooth brush, deodorant etc.

Stationary. I almost fainted when I went round a friend’s house and her parents had a box of A4 she could help herself to.

We had no central heating and the hot water had to be turned on a half hour in advance. Totally take oue combi boiler and heating for granted now!
I never got new clothes as a child, always second hand. Which I hated but now get the odd thing second hand for me and my son.
We never had takeaways. McDonald's once a year and only fries so never got the happy meal toy (and didn't understand why not!)
I wasnt allowed sugar as a child, now have chocolate/cake/biscuits every day.
We only visited family, never had 'proper' holidays with my dad (did with my mum, well camping ones)
Never stayed in hotels, I remember one occasion when we did and it was a bloody treat.
My son basically has everything on a plate, and I'm realising I had quite a reprived childhood!

Tumble dryers. I’m still baffled as to why we actually had one. To suggest using it was met with open faced alarm and inevitably being told we might as well burn money on the kitchen table. We dried clothes on an airer or in front of the stove while the dryer gathered dust.

Putting the heating on, especially at night when the rest of the house are in bed. I stick mine anytime I feel like it now

My parents have the same boiler that the house was built with in the 60,s

Philippa we’re like that about ice creams as a family today
The multipacks are so much cheaper!

I see what you mean TealStar

Brasty I’ve still got some from when i was a student, which we use on single duvets for camping, sleepovers etc. But it was a big day in my youth if Mum or Dad came home with new bedding or towels. In fact, I remember a couple of those events quite distinctly!

Vienetta or vendetta as my granny called it, only ever eaten when you had guests for sunday lunch!
On holiday we were allowed an icecream everyday, there were 4 dc and dad, we were never allowed to get them from the icecream van though, we went to the supermarket and bought the multipack that was on offer.
Mcdonalds, on a sat after shopping, but never a happy meal, (dont think they were around then 🤔) it was either fries or a burger never both and we had to eat them in the car which was parked a 10 minute walk away.
Cornettos were def a posh icecream.
Fizzy drinks at xmas and parties only.
Christ my dc do not realise how lucky they are!

Lucozade was sold as a drink only to be drunk when ill in bed. Then suddenly someone realised that that severely limited their market.

A lot of us did eat crap though. I remember jam sandwiches, findus crispy pancakes, deep fried chips. Don't remember huge amounts of fruit and veg. Plus everyone was always smoking, including in the car. The volume we ate was smaller though, I don't remember much snacking (except plain biscuits), and of course we were out and about much more with freedom to ride around on bikes all day at a young age.

Not turning lights off when leaving a room was a definite no-no, a rare trip to the Wimpy bar was considered a 5 star dining experience. Lucozade was reserved for serious sickness.

I still have bedding and towels from 30 years ago. In fact visitors use the duvet covers that DP and I used as teenagers about 40 years ago.