Weird shit from an 80s childhood

[CandidFruit]

Reading through the retro sweets thread reminded me of some other random stuff from growing up in the early 80s.

Who else remembers the garbage pail kids? (I mean, Cabbage patch kids was bad enough!)
Now that is some seriously weird shit!

Mind you, I bet anything if you have the full set, you’ll probably be able to pay off your mortgage 😂

Mine was a red Snoopy lunchbox. I'd forgotten about that until this moment.

I loved Brownies and ended up as Sixer, but dropped out of Guides after a year.

DM didn’t believe in branded goods much lol and this is more late 70s but we were desperate for plastic lunchboxes that sort of had a flap and looked more like a small handbag really and flask. We were at the pub with parents and saw on the back of the crisp packet if you collected eg 30 coupons and paid postage and packaging you’d get a lunchbox and flask. So we bought and begged other pub goers that day for coupons and we had posted it off ourselves and got our trendy lunchboxes and flasks. I think DM was more impressed with our resourcefulness and initiative to get the vouchers and then buy a postal order and send it off, rather than her just buy us them!

I had a pink My little pony one with those big flasks in with juice in. I remember getting one sandwich and usually a banana and I’m sure that was it! So different nowadays, I’d pack my dc so much more, little bits and variety etc if they took school lunches
I remember being envious of friends as they had crisps and biscuits too, plus there’s we’re wrapped in foil, not a see through sandwich bag 🤷🏻‍♀️😂I still use foil to this day when doing picnics etc and my mum uses the sandwich bags

Or the tape getting chewed up 😦

This thread is magnificent.

I remember being extremely proud of my new school shoes in upper primary in the late 80s. I think they were called "Hectic toc" and had a little clock in the sole. And fluorescent laces.

I possessed nearly 50 My Little Ponies and had all manner of houses/castles/nursery etc. I was even part of the official MLP club.

I have some really random memories of early primary school. I remember being forced to eat school dinners and not being allowed to leave until I'd finished. I was there for well over an hour. No idea what it was they were trying to make me eat but I do remember dinner ladies giving out sweets if you cleared your plate which says a lot!

I was very jealous of a couple of kids in my class who brought raw jelly cubes in which their packed lunches.

I thought at the time they were more subtly and interestingly flavoured than that, but you're probably right

Anyone remember original Aqua Libre in the silver bottle? I loved it and it tasted like nothing else at the time. It was like a less sweet Schloer.

Randomly found these jelly sweets in one of those "full of cr*p" beach side shops nr Grt Yarmouth last year! Bought a pack, 6 for £3, not as good as the 80's version. Probs way less E numbers so no fun any more 😆

I haven't read the whole thread yet but I absolutely loved Garbage Pail Kids! I used to buy them at the corner shop in the city I lived in when I was a kid. I had absolutely loads of them, and they're all likely in the bin now!

I also had a gen1 Optimus Prime transformer and it was metal and amazing.

Also also I had a She-ra ice cream cake for my 8th birthday. 💜

My mother sent me into primary school with a copy of pet cemetery to read when we were asked to bring a book. Of course the teacher said it was not appropriate but I read it at home anyway.

Oh my god, I love how inappropriate that is!

I loved garbage pail. Yo yo Yolanda always sticks in my head 🤣

All I wanted was domino rally and the Cadbury chocolate mini bars machine that you put money in and the minibars came out.

I had a snoopy thermos flask and lunchbox too and a mlp lunchbox which I still have. Don’t use it at work these days though 😂.

To be far I work with lots of 80’s kids so probably it would be quite admired!

Anyone remember these? We had one in our street and you could get a sweet for a penny.

I also had a weetabix tape with fame and Billy Ocean on it. Loved my Walkman and mixed tapes. Used to record off the Sunday night chart on the radio.

I had both of these @Allofaflutter (spoilt brat only child). We could have been friends with our matching Snoopy lunchboxes and you could have played with my Domino Rally!*

*Not a euphemism 😂

I wrote on my classroom door poster that I was reading Fairy Tales by Stephen King and have been told that I am far too nice a person, Miss, to be reading Stephen King!!

On the scary book and film note - Flowers In The Attic ......... Read it in my teens (mid 80s). The 1987 film terrified me. It took me a long time afterwards to be brave enough to eat a doughnut.

Also did anybody's parents actually buy Shake and Vac, I was desperate for my Mum to get some.

Oh yes! I read all the flowers in the attic books as younger teen too. That and all the James Herbert too. All the things my mother was reading and was totally fine with us reading too. We watched Stephen kings ‘IT’ mini series when I was 13, which wasn’t too bad, but my brother was 8!!!!

My mum did once for some reason, I think after we got new carpets fitted, upstairs as we had wooden floors etc downstairs. We did do the Shake n Vac dance and song (not DM!) around the carpets when hoovering them (me and DB).

Chocolate candy cigars. White chocolate fish and chips (3p a fish and 2p a chip).
Chocolate flavour lollipops with a chewy white centre that I’ve never seen since.
Smash hits sticker album.
Riding my bike using a piece of string between the handlebars to steer.
My little ponies, twirly curls barbie set, those little animal things with bulldog clips inside, scalectric sets, mechano, so much good stuff.

The Flowers in the Attic series were seriously creepy but we all read them at school, James Herbert, Stephen King, Jackie and Joan Collins books (Lace?), Judy Blume books. Anything scary and sexy was fodder for our teenage minds. Add in dodgy films too.

Was that IT with Pennywise the clown? Your poor brother.

Flying saucers and space dust, Mojos, Opal fruits, Chewits in all flavours, Fruitella, Mojos, lots of chewy sweets, Hubba Bubba, real old fashioned sweet shop sweets in glass or plastic jars (there was an old man locally who had an old fashioned sweet shop).

A lot of what you said and I said though was 70s/80s!