Growing up in the 70's

[morethanpotatoprints]

I bet there's been one of these before but who remembers stuff about the 70's, looking back to me it was all a bit weird.

So some of my memories.

Mary Mungo and midge, the music in the lift. my orange space hopper, gridsy marbles and clackers.
Dehydrated potato, free milk you had to drink at school.
Playing out from after breakfast until dark or tea.

Aqua Manda, I loved that stuff. Wish they still made it! apparent;y they do,there was a thread about it not long ago, its still in the orange and brown packaging I think.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/style_and_beauty/a1910533-Aqua-Manda-perfume-is-back

Lovely thread! Might have already been done, but I remember making my Mum breakfast for her birthday with an orange juice that came in a packet and you added water to it (appeel) or something like that. I thought it the height of sophistication.

I also remember little purses on neck strings being very fashionable (and probably dangerous!)

Vesta curry that came all dried in a packet that you added water to.

That's it for now!

I can remember the awful orange juice we had that used to stick to the bottle, I'm sure this was not good for us.
Those little chocolate cup things came out too, like mini fairy cakes.
Can anybody remember Old Jamaican chocolate, frys 5 centres and Pink Panther chocolate, mmmm. It was like caramac but pink.
Texan sure is a mighty chew.

This just appeared on my FB feed and immediately thought of this thread

Ooo, the lime weekend chocolate...
I so wanted a Tressy but had sindy and her little tomboy sister Patch who came in dungarees and had shoulder length dark hair (unless I'd cut if off) all my dolls had iffy hair after me re/styling , cutting or washing it....
Used to make them clothes from bits and pieces. In heaven getting sindy bedroom set in white one Christmas
Later, got an action girl with moveable arms and legs

Always secretly wanted boys shoes with compass in the heel ...

We had a silver tinsel Christmas tree for a few years - thought very posh.
I remember old Jamaican chocolate - saw it recently. Thjnk it may be making a comeback!

I used to like the penny shelf in the sweet shop -fruit salads and flying saucers and sherbet in yellow tubes with stick of liquorice and white candy pretend cigarettes

Pink panther chocolate!! I recall thinking it was a bit sickly even though I was about 12.

Actually I saw a clip of some old 70's guff on telly last night: it was shot near where I grew up in west London and it was strange seeing the streets as I remember them as a child. I was amazed at how empty, quieter and just calmer things looked. No horrid street furniture, no controlled parking areas, ticket machines, signs everywhere telling you what you can't do, no CCTV posts. There were actually kids in the street playing too which you never see now. I may get accused of romanticising but there was a better sense of community back then I'm certain of that. My dad was a removal man and my mum worked in our local co-op. The idea of folks like them being able to afford a house in our street now is completely laughable. Sad I think!

Camp coffee! Think you can still get it...

Yes you can

I was a teenager in the 70's and married in 1977 so I remember

Patchouli Oil
Hotpants
Midi/ maxi dresses with hoods
Platform shoes
Hair done up in curls at hairdressers for special occassions
Faberge perfume in bottles shaped like a ball -purple for the perfume and orange for the talc.
HiKarate aftershave and the advert with that tall actress think she was a bond girl.
Velvet jackets for men and women.
Gold Sovereign rings and bracelets.
Fondue sets - what were they all about ?
Huge Brandy Glasse with a mouse inside and a cat outside.
Drinking Don Cortez wine (very classy :-) )
Pernod that went cloudy when you added ice or water
Brown & white "corner" suite
The start of disco music and "discos" instead of "dances" - George McCrae Rock Your Baby, Bee Gees, BoneyM, The Real Thing etc

**Brown & white "corner" suite in the lounge - just realised it could have been the bathroom.
I think that's when the coloured bathroom suites started our first house had a primrose yellow one which I then changed to avocado ..oh the shame!

Good grief, yes HiKirate aftershave it was so strong and pungent.
I had an uncle who wore it. My dad had old spice.

There was also an avon substitute, or before Avon? called Vanda or Wanda. I had some pink cream in a little red tub with gold label, I was about 6 and felt so grown up

As a result of this thread I looked in my vanity desk and found some Brut that a 70's friend bought for me as a b/day gift a few years ago....yes you can still get that too! Next time I go out I will follow Kevin Keegan's and that boxer who's name I forget's advice and "splash it all over."

Loved HiKarate!

Just to add to the thread, this was the top 100 pop songs in 1978. Interesting mix of classics and crap...

www.uk-charts.top-source.info/top-100-1978.shtml

Thanks scarlet Wow, fantastic, I know nearly everyone of the songs in the chart! I was 14 in 1978 and just getting into music.

What a fab thread, so many memories :)

I was madly in love with Donny Osmond circa '74 - anyone remember huge crowds of hysterical screaming girls at Heathrow when the Osmonds flew in? A couple of years later the object of my affections was Les McKeown of Bay City Rollers, then in '78 when Grease came out, it was John Travolta.

Fashion-wise I remember long leather trench coats, hacking jackets with corduroy patches on the elbows, 'nurses' shoes, sidepocket trousers (wide legged trousers with a massive waistband and buttoned pockets on each leg - the bigger the waistband, the cooler they were), also remember the boys at school wearing really wide shoes that were affectionately known as 'shit spreaders'.

Also remember going to Pizzaland (?) where you could get a pizza, side order of coleslaw and a mug of coffee for about £1, I used to go with my friend and we thought it was the height of sophistication.

I've still got my black velvet jacket from 1978. It says size 14, but the waist is tiny. I can just about get it on, but its very tight all over, despite me being a current size 10.

Brilliant stuff! I remember ringing Jonny morris for a bedtime story, and the speaking clock.
Getting the bus to school on my own when I was five.
Summer of the ladybird an greenfly.
Winter of 78 when I was lowered out the kitchen window to dig the snow from the back door.
Being caned and school and knowing I deserved it.
Darkest, I did butlins skeggy in July 1981. Maybe we were in the 913 club together!

OMG Row But i dont remember being in a club I was 8 and bro was 6 so we might have been too young if the youngest in that club were 9 yr olds Do you remember the band i described and the kids play area which had a MASSIVE red bumpy slide. And our chalet had a bunk bed. And a little black and white telly I remember watching the Incredible Hulk on it the day we got there while my parents unpacked.

Pippa dolls and Action Girl. White Horses on the telly. People wearing dungarees and purple a lot. Brown and orange everything. Love beads. Family Circle magazine. A ghastly nylon wig on an inflatable head called a 'Kiddiwig'. The endless summer of 76. Tents were orange or royal blue, it was the law! Magpie. The Singing Ringing Tree being the scariest shit on the telly ever! Me and my sis walking 5 miles to the swimming bath and back again. Swimming in the river and getting munched by Horseflies.

I remember phoning a number and listening to the charts, and then getting told off when the phone bill came in. Also one Xmas most of the boys in my class got an evil Kenevil doll on a bike or a million dollar man doll with a bionic eye snd bionic arm. If you walked into a hall and the disco man was already playing D.I.S.C.O by Ottawa you knew it was going to be a bloody brilliant disco.

Born in 1968. I remember parents, males and female wearing kaftans, lots of smoke, green swirly trouser suits, and lots of brown clothes often hand me downs from the neighbours. Sitting in the car ourside pubs with a bottle of coke and a straw. Spending all day in the holidays roaming the streets, on rollerskates. Taping the top 30. Kids stuffed in the back of an estate car. Vinyl car seats that stuck to your legs. Learning to ride a bike because one person in the street had one. I could go on...

Pan it was Henry Cooper who used to splash it all over!

oh yes it was! Thanks. I kept getting "'Arry" but that was 'Enry telling 'Arry Carpenter to splash it all over!

I don't suppose anybody from MNHQ is as old as us!
If there is will you please share your memories?