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 😂

@justasking111 I literally came back on the thread to say pet shops that actually sold puppies and kittens!

@tash7779 I have no idea about tennis balls inside a pair of tights but I actually lolled at your post 😂
What was the purpose of it?
I want to meet up with all of you and recreate all our childhood games 😆

I was obsessed with Brambly Hedge and also had the Victoria Plum books (plus a VP nightdress!). DC are now enjoying Brambly Hedge. And an old fashioned sweet shop near us sells those bananas and they are still great! DH buys a bulging paper bag and they are always nearly all gone by the time we get home!

@CandidFruit I used to love playing "two-bally" against the end wall of my gran's house. There was a game/rhyme similar to the single ball game that @TattoedLady mentions upthread. You chanted "two-bally Mother Brown, two-bally Mother Brown, two-bally two-bally two-bally two-bally, two-bally Mother Brown". The first 'verse' was just standard two ball throws, then for each subsequent verse you replaced the words 'two-bally' with a different kind of throw, and matched the action to the words. I can't remember them all 100% accurately but it was something like:

Overs (overarm throw)
Uppsy (throw up in the air)
Dropsy (let it bounce on the ground once after hitting the wall)
Stottsy (bounce it so it hits the ground first, then the wall)
One-hander (self-explanatory)
Unders (throw it at the wall under one leg)
Other leg (also obvious!)
Round the world (throw and turn a circle on the spot)

And then there was a final 'round' where you did one of all the above in quick succession. The aim was to complete all 10 verses one after the other without dropping a ball, and if you did drop one you had to start again from the beginning. It was usually 'one-hander' that caught me out. I'm not sure I ever got to the end! 😂

"Skipping rope, Jump rope, French skipping and Hopscotch rhymes and songs" https://archive.homeschool.co.uk/resource/skipping-rope-jump-rope-hopscotch-songs.html

Ah I remember some of these especially the little Dutch girl one. Fun to read through

Is Double Dutch where you use normal skipping ropes but two at a time? As opposed to French skipping, with a length of elastic round two people’s ankles.

God, I love this thread - it's evoking so many memories! A couple of things I don't think I've seen anyone else mention yet (although I may have missed them, given there have been over 650 posts so far):

• Tomy Caveman video game, which was a standalone little brown console. You controlled a little caveman who had to steal eggs from a dinosaur and take them back to your hut. You had to throw your axe at the dinosaur to stun it and, in later levels, avoid volcanic rocks from an erupting volcano and pterodactyls that would swoop down and steal the eggs from outside your hut. I spent untold hours playing on it (and on my Speak'n'Spell and Acorn Electron!)
• Golden Girl - figures and maybe was also a cartoon? Golden Girl was the leader and her sidekicks were all named after gemstones, if I remember correctly.
• Supermarket sliced bread was closed with a little, coloured, square, hard plastic doodad rather than the adhesive tape used now, and we used to attach the doodads to the spokes of our bike wheels
• Heinz sandwich spread that came in glass jars and was a weird sort of salad creamy-mayonnaisey gloop with tiny cubes of mystery veg like carrots and onions in it - I loved it at the time but, looking back, it was probably beyond vile!

You can still get Sandwich Spread. It's okay.

I remember the sandwich spread, and toast toppers! Loved that

Soda stream drinks of pop

Fun Novelty designs of wacky hair Alice bands. With bouncy Springs on them

Wear one on holiday to Spain..

Many thanks for this mumsnet thread idea @CandidFruit too👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿

@Neodymium ·
"How creepy the tv shows and movies are. Like mermaids when charlotte hooks up with the 26 year old caretaker and he is portrayed as sweet and trying to resist her. Then he leaves and the still write letters. Predator."

And the whole community find out about it and she gets a reputation for being the town bike just like her mother - which is apparently a good thing that makes her very popular at school!!! Blerrgh!

And bring back cards with elaborately embroidered flamenco dancer dresses on!
They trod a fine line between amazing and amazingly kitsch.

Deelyboppers!

Yeah. There was a massive craze around 1983 that emanated from competitive skipping competitions coming out of the Bronx. I think it was. I remember some of the teams being on something like Blue Peter, very athletic. Malcolm McClaren did a cash-in single based on it 'Double Dutch'

I love that song! I seem to remember the video was a group of kids Double-Dutching.

I remember that Blue Peter episode! It's also reminded me of the time they had the group Musical Youth on, singing "Pass the Dutchie on the Left Hand Side" (Different sort of Dutch, though...)

Can’t believe I’m still getting notifications for this thread!
So many amazing memories, things I had totally forgotten about until mentioned - you guys make this thread 🤩 (why is there not a deelybopper emoji!)
I want to give out I ❤️ 80s badges to everyone here 😂

Love the songs too, remember this was the decade that gave us Stock, Aitken and Waterman who in turn spawned the likes of Rick Astley, Sinitta, Mel & Kim (come on - altogether now “Tay, Tay, tay, tay, t-t-t-tay tay, tay, tay…”)
and we’ve not fully touched on the films yet!

Got sucked into the last 35 mins or so of a Pet Shop Boys documentary late last night/ early this morning (their team of touring musicians were saying things like "They're like uncles, I want to be like them when I grow up"- eek)
...Have been left with blazing earworms all day, and thought a lot of this thread each time!

Tender burgers? Can still smell the fat now. Yuck!

When we were in the top class at junior school in 1983, the girls were mad for Constance Carroll lipgloss with a roller ball and I think a red cap. They came in loads of different flavours.

we weren’t allowed a drink with our lunch which seems mad now but I know they used to believe that it wasn’t good to drink whilst eating.

Home Bargains sell them! Saw them in there today!

I had a cola one, I was obsessed with it 😂

I don’t want to boast or anything, but I’m going to see the SAW stage musical in a few weeks 😁

@TorroFerney I had the chocolate and grape flavours of those, can almost taste them now.

Deeleyboppers!! Loved them used to sell them at the market. I remember having a pair with red sparkly hearts.