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

[VladmirsPoutine]

for the po-faced

Growing up my siblings and I were wary over using too much kitchen roll - we'd get a sheet and fold it in half to tear before using, the faff was a PITA but to this day I still get a bit territorial over my kitchen roll.

We also had 'special' China plates, cups, cutlery, that sort of thing. Only used when we had guests or at Christmas - I didn't carry that into adulthood but whenever I visit my DM I still fondly look at the unit containing all those 'special' cups

My dad died when I was relatively young but prior to this death he used to always take us (siblings&I) to our weekend clubs when we were young, on Saturdays one of my sisters and I attended clubs that finished at similar times and it was always Saturdays that mum worked nights so the 4 us: dad+siblings would always get McDs and think it was basically gourmet dining.

I didn't have a deprived childhood by any definition but I do find those quirks quite funny looking back.

Kitchen towel (I still feel extravagant using it in abandon now!).

The Ferrero Rocher and Walnut whips made me chuckle! Mine would be After Eights! Only at Christmas and strictly rationed to one per sitting! I used to nibble it from the corner and really savour it! I could pr Balt do a whole box in one now given the chance!

So many things, Mum shopped at Kwik Save and everything was the plain white no frills packaging! Branded crisps were a complete luxury, I’m fairly obsessed with wotsits and skips now! (In fact there’s a 12 pack of wotsits in my cupboard now!).

This thread has really made me reminisce and I can clearly see patterns and origins in the things I do/buy and say with my own children now! Someone said it ypthread, my kids don’t know their born!

I always wanted Jelly Bean summer schools but we HAD to have Clarke's sandals - white ones that needed to be kept white with a sort of paste in a tube.
I longed for other shows and to wear wellies when it wasn't raining. Apparently to do this was abad thing ...it would 'draw' your feet - I have no idea what that meant.
These days you will find me either barefoot or wearing flip flops and other rash articles of footwear

Shoes not bloody schools 😠

You were lucky getting Clarks sandals! We had to have clumpy Freeman Hardy and Willis copies of clarks in navy blue. [embarassed]

We had Mothercare tan coloured sandals. I remember the plimsoll whitener that you brushed on.

Trainers with big names - Reebok, Nike, etc. I noticed that the ones my mum chose for me weren't like the ones everyone else at school wore for games, but I didn't say anything. However, as soon as I was able to buy my own clothes I went trainer mad, bought loads of them, and I wore them without socks to the disapproval of my mum.

Mrs Jayy - you were one lucky 13 year old!

real cream - we only ever had instant whip on trifles, or was it dream topping?

Vienetta.
It was the pinnacle of puddings.

Takeaway (which would be a chippy tea, anything else would have been too exotic)

Any kind of dessert.

Fizzy juice!

Annual train trip to the city to buy shoes/clothes. I stay about 10 mins drive away from the centre now.

We would occasionally have a special family day trip to McDonald’s, after one opened about four towns away from us.

Taking photographs.

Take away food, actually any food that wasn’t cooked at home.

I never actually had a Chinese takeaway or a latte till' I moved to London aged 21!!

I remember the smell of the plimsoll whitener. Very distinctive whiff.

Same thing with multipacks of cereal only on holiday - and there was only ever one pack of Coco Pops, so my brother and I would fight viciously over that. Sheets sides-to-middled to make them last longer, and I remember my mum making it very clear that Fitted Sheets Are Decadent (she has them now - HA!). Immersion heater and thermostat both under constant surveillance for misuse. I think the heating thing is actually the biggest difference for me - I grew up in very cold houses, and I still prefer a cold room with a warm bed and an open window at night, and I'd rather have a fire than lots of radiators.

I can remember getting into terrible trouble when it transpired that after my Saturday pottery class, instead of going straight home on the bus, I used to go to the bakery nearby and buy a cream bun (28p, I recall). Looking back, I'm really not sure why it was quite such a sin, but it was.

We only use cereal packs on holiday!

So many of these things are better environmentally and in terms of finances (we never but meals at a theme park) and I'm surprised are a "thing" and not continued by most people today. 9% of things on here I think of as normal!

As it is getting nearer to Christmas I am mindful of the Christmas box of dates. Always bought but I can never remember anyone eating them. Or even using the cool fork thing to get one out of the box.

@Euphemia I can't believe you kept your badges from Butlins

My dad atethe dates from the stocking I never even opened them and I am not sure why dates was a Christmas tradition anybody know?

I remember it was quite the event when we switched from sheets and blankets over to continental quilts (duvets). My gran bought them for us.

Cable tv, and house phones. I remember getting a phone when I was 7 and thinking how posh we were it was 1987.
Shloer at christmas. My dad reminded me in my twenties that its not just for christmas and I could drink it anytime. The thought had never entered my head till then.

computers. we have more laptops than I cope with now.

You can get Vienetta for £1 now. My dad brought one round last week for a 'treat'.
£1!!!!!!

I get the XL Vienetta out of Farmfoods, love tucking in to a huge bowl of it like an 80s throwback.

All the kitchen roll posts are making me smile.

They didn’t exist when I were a lass so I have no childhood issues but I stopped buying them because DH would always take a handful for his nose (INSTEAD OF TISSUES!!! ) so in the odd occasion I did need some there wasn’t any.

Now he buys his own & keeps it in the car, & I buy white paper napkins instead - general used for picking up cat puke & dead mice