Share the everyday childhood memories that make you smile - £300 voucher to win NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

When you think back to your childhood, do you have nostalgic memories of everyday life with your parents that give you a lovely warm glow? Cadbury’s Buttons have asked us to find out about the memories of everyday childhood experiences – the shared moments that put a smile on your face years later.

So, what fond family memories always make you smile? Is it getting a piggy back after a long day, or collecting conkers with your Dad? Maybe it’s learning to bake or having a picnic with your Mum? Perhaps it’s all sitting down to a proper roast dinner on a Sunday? Whatever your childhood memories are, please do share them below.

All MNers who post on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

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Thanks, and good luck!

MNHQ

Getting a 'backy' from my brother on his chopper.

Warm milk on cornflakes for breakfast every morning during winter.

Potato salad from a tin. Spam and salad cream.

See-through bucket umbrellas.

Playing 'elastics' (and using the legs of dining room chairs in the absence of friends)

Playing with Sindy. Barbie is just a cheap tart in comparison. Sindy was a class act.

The list is endless, but the dog needs a walk...

I used to stay at my lovely grans during the summer with my brother. One time she bought us some trio chocolate bars as a treat for after dinner (the old school ones with the puzzles and jokes inside the red wrappers) We couldn't wait to fill in the dot-to-dots and word searches though, so we snuck into the pantry and stole all the wrappers, taking them to the bottom of the garden on a picnic bench where she couldn't see is is as we filled them in. We thought we were so sneaky and clever! Unfortunately it was a very blustery day and the wrappers began to fly off the table all over the garden. She was out pegging laundry when they flew around her face and into the bed sheets. We couldn't stop laughing. She pretended to scold us but we knew she found it funny really!

Every August Bank Holiday Monday we all went off to New Brighton on the ferry. It was very busy always, and we wore a new set of clothes. We would go on the fairground ride, side on the beach eating sandy egg sandwiches, and have a great time.

Feeding the ducks every Sunday afternoon at the local pond, then stopping at the ice cream van on the way home. I could never decide between a Lemonade Refresher and a cider lolly...

Sausage sandwiches and watching the pink panther cartoons Sunday nights

The look of joy on DD's face at being able to swing by herself (and my joy at no longer having to push her!)

My favourite memory was Saturday nights. My dad worked a lot and mum was always busy, but Saturday nights were great. We would watch some tsv, then play board games. Every Saturday without fail we would then go in the car with my dad to pick up a takeaway. We then got home and all sat together eating it and laughing. It was brilliant time that we all had together as a family once a week and I always looked forward to Saturday nights.

It's going to visit Nanny and Grandad every Sunday morning after mass, seeing all my cousins, playing together and eating too many sweeties!

I remember Easter mornings very fondly when my dad used to go downstairs and warm up the hot cross buns then bring them upstairs with hot cups of tea and we would eat/drink them on my parent's bed.

My Dad used to take us swimming on a Saturday. He would swim along the bottom of the pool and we would try and stand on his back from one side to the other.

I do the same thing with my boys now.

My dad used to take us for walks in the woods near our house. One random day, my very law abiding dad decided to carve mine and my brothers initials in a tree. They were there for years, Mum was furious at this vandalism.

My favourite times as a child was when my Aunty & Uncle visited us and stayed for a few days. I would share a bed with my cousin who I was very close to. We lost touch for a number of years but are now back together as best friends even though we live 100 miles apart.

My Grandma used to take me fishing in the brook for sticklebacks with a net and bucket. Needless to say we used to put them back afterwards! . I take my three boys and they love it as much as I did.

For quite a few years my mum was housebound, she would have severe panic attacks if she went out of the cul de sac we lived in. I remember my best friends family taking me on holiday with them, as they were Cypriot family so had there own house there.

After a lovely week, but missing my mum, I arrived back at the airport to find my mum and sister waiting to collect me! Mum had been getting help for the panic attacks secretly so she could pick me up :)

She also used to write a card and put it in my suitcase every time I went away, even with school, which I loved.

We lived near the sea when I was little, and I used to love going cockling with my brother. When the tide was out, we'd walk out on the mudflats for a mile or more, with our bucket and spades. We'd dig up the cockles (you had to look for the bubbles in the mud) and when we got home, mum would boil them and then cover them in vinegar for tea. They were really quite disgusting! But the memory of going cockling always makes me smile. It was awesome.

I wasn't born in the uk but came here at the age of seven. I did go back every year till she passed to visit my gran. There was this pink cupboard in the kitchen which was full of the most delicious cakes and pastries that she had baked especially for me. And one at a time I used to demolish as soon as I arrived. I can still smell them now. Heaven.

I have a few memories that stick in my head like grandad taking us on mysterious days out and pretending to drive the bus with grandads stick. Playing pass the ball with nanna in the garden and pretending to talk french. always having sunday lunch as a family with mam and dad and getting dandelion and burdock pop off the ice cream van. Dad always made dessert he made a fantastic chocolate cake.
Sharing a room with my big sister and always getting wrong for going on her side of the room.

My happiest childhood memory was probably our only family holiday in Northumberland. It rained all the holiday but I remember loving being on the beach in my wellies and jumping in the puddles holding my dads hand and I loved taking pictures of my mum and dad on an old polaroid camera and often look back at these pictures and smile :)

Oh, I had a nice one of these yesterday!

I came downstairs to find DS doing his homework, sitting on the floor and using one of the nest of coffee tables to write on.

These tables used to belong to my Granny and when she passed away, they came to me. I have really find memories of sitting on her living room floor and using the tables to do drawing on or eat my elevenses (always had elevenses at Granny's house!) from and it was really sweet to see DS using them in the same way.

Digging up some clay from the garden and then making a little pot (which I left to dry in the sun).
Picking blackberries and then my Mum making pies with them.
All the simple things really!

Every Sunday me, my sis and my mum used to go to church. We would walk thru beautiful park to get there. After a mass we'd meet some family and friends. Go to one of their or our house or go to a restaurant and have Sunday lunch together. I loved that. Even now few years after my mum passed away me and my sis still reminiscent about that.

Being a child of the 70s and 80s I had some wonderful memories playschool was our favourite afterschool programme and we couldnt wait for a story from Jackanory and then live out our school memories with Grange Hill and Mrs Mccluskey.
Our summer holidays seemed endless back then , and blackpool was the best day out ever with fish and chips wrapped in newspaper and a stick of rock and a sip of grans shandy was just wonderful. Toys back then rocked we had Sindy dolls and speak and spell , mr frosty if you were lucky and of course a christmas stocking with cadburys buttons an orange and a 50p piece. I loved my childhood and I have grown up with cadburys

My favourite childhood memories are of the times we went to visit my grandparents. I felt incredibly lucky to have grandparents that lived in a seaside holiday town. We'd just go for the day, but it always included a donkey ride on the beach, lunch in a hotel and a trip to the pound shop.

Eating dinner all together. Can't beat it.

We lived in a horrid poky old cottage with a corrugated iron roof. The spare room was christened "the spooky room" by my oldest cousin.
Sometimes we slept in the spooky room but were always terrified to go to sleep before midnight as that was "the witching hour"!!