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 😂

Weird at the time and weird looking back! Didn’t they have like an innocuous twin each as well? I can’t think how to explain it…!

Showing my age but back when we had halfpennies in 70s and maybe 80s you could get happeny sweets. You could get a lot of your sweets for your money though back then for 10 or even 20p.

Did anyone else do this, walk up your local street where you lived and preferably 4 of you, it was me and DB and our best friends a boy and girl of same age as us, girl same age as me and boy same age as DB. We’d offer to wash someone’s car for them and they’d supply the materials and water and we made a good living out of that, on odd days. Usually spent it at the funfair if it was in town or up the high street on sweets and comics. And who recalls pet shops? They seemed more popular than they are now. There was 2 in our high street at one point, we used to buy hamsters, mice and gerbils from there.

Oh, only read page 1. I’m talking about the garbage pail kids.

We did this at school (junior) and we also did it in the local church. I sang really well but my best friend Carole was tone deaf and the choir master either pretended not to hear her or politely said singing wasn’t her strong point.

This thread should go in classics.

No but I found a school dinner recipe website recently for all the school puddings including chocolate concrete shortcake and pink custard. Yummy

Baby alive. I had one when I was 6 for my birthday. You fed her food with sachets you mixed with water and she then peed as well. When you ran out of the food you could feed her other stuff. This was in 1976/77 though. I’ve still got her.

Gipsy tart? I think it was caramel flavour. You got it cut in squares. Rice pudding with jam or rosehip syrup. Plain sweet biscuits which were baked.

Gipsy tart is a Kent thing. The rest of us didn't get it.

We had chocolate cake with brown sauce, vanilla cake with custard, pink cake with pink sauce. I mostly don't remember school puddings other than not liking them.

I remember doing these music books at primary, can still remember a couple of the songs. Think they were a BBC thing, early 80's.

This is bringing back so many memories. Does anyone remember Flower Fairies? They were dolls that were dressed as flowers. I loved them and remember getting a special one after having my tonsils removed. My friend had all the Strawberry Shortcake dolls and I was so jealous of them.

And thanks for the memories about Chuckie Egg on the BBC computer. You used to have to load games via a tape and it took at least half an hour! My son wouldn’t have the patience for that now. My other favourite game Tapper where you were a barman and sent beer sliding down the bar. Such an odd choice for a video game for kids 😂

Thought I was the only person who could remember the yellow octopuses - if they got grubby/lost their stickiness, you could clean them with washing up liquid and they'd be as good as new.
I remember having one on infant school, I'm born 1975, so was probably 1982-ish.

Love all of those things! What was wrong with Grease? I mean I know the actors were much older than the kids they were portraying but in the film they were all kids together? And teenage pregnancies have always been a thing.....

The 80s were the best! Great films, great telly (Blackadder, Fry and Laurie, Third Rock from the the Sun, Red Dwarf, even Eurotrash.........😀). And of course the music still stands the test of time!

Loads of nightlife! Balls, clubs, discos. You had to wear a collar, no jeans or trainers, but they closed at 2 am so you got home at a sensible time. Taxis were available, housing was affordable, jobs were plentiful, it was the best time ever!

Hair and fashion choices - maybe not so much.......😂

Oh no, that's weird! I started secondary in 1975 and we did the clear sticky backed plastic then. Must have been ahead of the game........😀

Oh yes
i lovrd all the books in the .80s. I’ve still got loads of babysitter club and point horror. Tried to get my teenage daughter to read them but she wasn’t interested

Loved magazine tv hits and just 17 plus my weekly beano/ dandy comic.

chocolate cigarettes and whistle lollies- yum

I had a neighbours sticker book - that was the best

and I don’t know if these were fashionable or not but I had a pair of purple wallaby shoes!

This might have been the 90s but does anyone remember Beauty and the Beast where the beast lived in the sewers in America and the beauty was a DA (I think). He was called Vincent, I loved that programme

@justasking111 was cornflake cake in there? Not had that since school...it was my favourite with the pink custard

Yes! I loved that show.
this is a great thread, so many memories!
Anyone watch Sunday morning tv before T4 came, including The Walton’s, lost in space, worse gummidge - not my favourite shows but there was nothing else on until the east ended Sunday omnibus!
and there was a music programme called the o- zone too

I loved Wurzel Gummidge! The remake of it was pretty good, my kids enjoyed it and then watched the original. Waiting for Saturday morning kids tv or only after school until neighbours/home and away etc then that was it no more kids tv, now in our house it's no adults tv until after 7.30 😆
I never had the clicky things that went on my bike wheels, we used to scrunch up a plastic drinks carton and stick it in between the mud guard so it would click against it 🙈

@Ormally i remember Chucky egg! Played on the Commodore 64! Remember putting the tape in & waiting what seemed like hours for the internet to connect while making those awful sounds & the screen gong all crazy colours that I’m surprised didn’t start epileptic fits in kids everywhere! I remember there’s was a part where you had to jump from chains hanging from the ceiling & I couldn’t ever get past it- so it was always “DADDY CAN YOU GET ME PAST THIS PART?” My 6 yo son does it to me now & makes me happy 😃

Did anyone watch The chart show or the Vault or something? I can’t remember, might be more 90’s
I watched it at my Grandmas on Saturday morning, before going to the market to buy a black and white picture for my wall or an oversized teddy bear jumper. In the evening, she’d make me cheese and salad cream barm cakes and we’d watch the Brookside omnibus :)

Just remembered my Pierrot lamp! Definitely falls into the category of 'weird shit'.

Not weird at all.

1980s Ireland wasn't that flush for a lot of people. A roll of cheap wallpaper was far less expensive than imported sticky film.

I started secondary in 1991 and 'graduated' to glossy film-covered school books.

Omg, I do remember that! I have honestly not ever thought of that programme until you mentioned it!
Wasn’t Beauty played by the lady in The Terminator, can’t recall her name but can just picture them, and the Beast was more like a lion man 🦁

That was some serious weird shit 😂(but I LOVED it 🤣)

Now I can remember Moonlighting, Punky Brewster and Different Strokes, not to mention the 80s greats of Dallas and Dynasty!

All the main children’s programmes have already been mentioned, but I don’t think anyone’s said Gordon the Gopher and his sidekick? 😉

I can’t believe this thread is still going, you’re all brilliant and thanks for sharing all your fab80stastic memories, it’s like I’m 8 again and you’re all my pals 🤣

Sticky backed plastic was the stationery dream for me thanks for Blue Peter but we were never allowed to buy it as it was too expensive! Wallpapered many a book and textbook.