Amazing Things From The 80s Our Kids Are Missing Out On

Made By: Creative Teaching Press, Hallmark
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Est. Value Today: $0.99*

The stationary industry has long had an obsession with making supplies smell like something other than what they are. Smelly markers might have been a big hit in the 90s, but scented stationary originated a decade earlier with scratch-and-sniff stickers. 

Scratch-and-Sniff Stickers @elikisnowkitten /Twitter

If you scratched a sticker of an orange, it would smell like an orange. The problem was the aromas were faint, and most people couldn’t pick out the stickers’ flavors. Some did emit more accurate scents than others, though. For instance, the cola ones really did smell like Coke. But the chocolate ones were always more bitter than sweet. 

Made By: Disney
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Those who grew up in the ‘80s remember what it was like before the internet became a thing. There weren’t websites to search if you wanted to know all the latest Hollywood gossip and the secrets behind your favorite film scenes. But there was reading material like Disney Channel Magazine.

Disney Channel Magazine @WorthPoint/Pinterest

Disney Channel Magazine gave readers an advanced look at some of the behind-the-scene movie magic that went into making soon-to-be-released Disney films. Arguably the best part of each issue, however, were the weekly interviews with legends of the screen, which included the likes of Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews, to name a few.

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You couldn’t open kitchen cupboards in the ‘80s without coming across at least one floral crock pot. These pots were used to make everything from the Hungarian goulash recipe mum found in the Betty Crocker cookbook to the pulled pork recipe Graham from down the road was talking about at last weekend’s barbecue. And lots of it.

Floral Crock Pots @halo13/Pinterest

The image of a floral crockpot sitting on the counter still haunts ‘80s kids. It was really just another way of letting the family know leftovers would be on the menu until further notice. 

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The popular trading card company Topps originally designed Garbage Pail Kid sticker cards to poke fun at the Cabbage Patch Kids craze. Before they knew what had happened, their parody had created a fad larger than anyone could have imagined.

Garbage Pail Kids @kjmf/Pinterest

The stickers’ last set was issued in December 1988, but the lore of the Garbage Pail Kids has lived on. Collectors are constantly on the hunt for good quality editions of everyone from ‘Adam Bomb’ to ‘Nerdy Nerd’, but even common cards in half-decent condition are fetching a few bucks at card shows and online auctions these days.

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From short films that taught children how to recognize dangerous situations to educational programming designed to ease adolescent confusion while explaining life’s ins and outs, the 80s had after-school specials for everything. Leading the way with educational life lessons was ABC.

After School Specials @Doug McKeon Fans/Fcaebook

ABC After School Special was a short series of 60-minute films from 1972-1997, but its heyday was definitely the 80s. It also helped launch the careers of stars like Michelle Pfeiffer, Ben Affleck, and Meg Ryan. Maybe not, but they all had parts in ABC’s After School Special in their younger days.

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If there could only be one word to describe ‘80s fashion, “peacocking” would be that word. ’80s clothing was bright, loud, flashy, and in your face. This was especially true for the outfits snow bunnies, and snow moose were wearing at the time.

Bright And Bold Ski-Wear @DacyKolsky/Pinterest

Everything from snow pants to ski goggles was designed with bright neon colors in the ‘80s. Some folks are convinced the bright colors were chosen to help identify lost skiers, but anyone who lived through the decade knows the truth. The style had no reason or rhyme, but everyone loved it.

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Going to a Burger King these days usually consists of going through the drive-thru or, if the line is short enough, “popping inside real quick,” but it wasn’t always like that. For a short time in the ‘80s, families queued up to dine in and enjoy salads from Burger King’s DIY salad bar.

Salad Bars At Burger King @buzzfeed/Pinterest

Franchisees simply weren’t seeing enough profit from the salad bars to make maintaining them worthwhile. A handful of the salt bars made it out of the decade and disappeared sometime in the early part of the ‘90s, but most didn’t make it past the 1-year mark. If you want a salad from the ‘King of Burgers,’ the menu offers a variety of pre-packaged salads that are available off the menu.

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Going to the arcade in the ‘80s was similar to going to the pool hall, burger joint, or bowling alley in the ’50, ‘60s, and ‘70s. It wasn’t just somewhere to go when there was nothing else to do. It was the place to be most nights of the week and every weekend afternoon.

Arcades @brennan1684/Pinterest

Before online gaming existed, gamers would travel to the nearest arcade to compete against their peers for high scores and bragging rights in Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, and Asteroids. Still, having a tough time picturing what an arcade would have looked like? Imagine Dave & Buster’s, but replace the restaurant and bar with a pizza and hot dog vendor that sells soda and slushies.

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These days, if you want to make a playlist of songs to listen to at the gym or on the commute to work, all you have to do is go on Spotify, choose the songs you want to hear, and save them to a playlist. Still, some people consider this to be too much work and opt to use the pre-made playlist available on the app. Oh, how simple things have become.

Mixtapes ©antony_mayfield/Wikimedia Commons

In the ‘80s, the only way to listen to your favorite hits one after another on your new Walkman would have been to record the songs off the radio. It was time-consuming making mixtapes, but that made it all the more meaningful when you gave one as a gift.

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“The original animated storytelling toy,” Teddy Ruxpin, was released by a toy company called Worlds of Wonder in 1985. At the time, there was nothing else like Teddy. He was a stuffed bear with a cassette player built-in. Children would sit cuddling up to Teddy for hours, listening as he repeatedly told his pre-recorded stories.

Teddy Ruxpin @RetroStatic/Youtube

Looking back, Teddy Ruxpin was a really creepy doll. We’re talking nightmare worthy, Chucky-esque creepy. However, kids of the 80s loved him so much that Teddy was given an animated series that lasted 2 seasons. By the end of the 80s, the Ruxpin hype had dwindled, and Worlds of Wonders sold the franchise to Hasbro.

Made By: Walt Disney Pictures Television
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The Saturday and Sunday morning cartoon line-up has been shaping youth since the early days of The Jetsons, Scooby Doo, and The Flintstones. By the time the 1980s rolled around, children’s programming had evolved from quirky cartoons with subtle humor adults could appreciate to animated series like The Wuzzles.

The Wuzzles @imgur/Pinterest

Not to take anything away from the colorful hybrid creatures Disney created for the series. The Bumblelion and Butterbear were cute and fun but didn’t stand a chance against the forest-dwelling, potion-drinking, high jumping, Adventures of the Gummi Bears.

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“Clap On…” Anyone who lived through the ‘80s probably felt the urge to clap twice and say “clap off.” Everyone else, unfortunately, did not experience a world in which you could turn lights, televisions, and radios on and off by clapping your hands. 

The Clapper @fridell1970/Pinterest

The Clapper is a clap-activated on/off switch for appliances that have sold over 7 million units since being released in 1985. To stay in touch with the market’s movement, The Clapper has also released remote-operated and voice-command editions over the years. It might sound ridiculous, but is clap activation any more outrageous than speaking to Siri or Alexa?

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It’s not like anyone ever had guests over strictly for tea in the 1980s, but if the occasion arose, every household was ready. In the 1980s, it wasn’t uncommon to find a display cabinet in the main room of a house with fancy mini China tea sets.

Cute China Tea Sets @FamilyMinded/Pinterest

We’re not talking about the tea sets you’d find at Bed Bath & Beyond either. The ones people had in the ‘80s can quickly sell for anywhere between $5,000 and $35,000 nowadays. However, if you’re fortunate enough to have one of the rare collections packed away in storage, you might be able to retire a few years early.

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The vitamins kids have been given over the years have ranged from tasting like classroom chalk to delicious and chewy gummy treats. In the 1980s, it was somewhere in between. They were chewable vitamins that crumbled like chalk but tasted like candy. 

Strawberry Shortcake Vitamins @dawnhoig/Pinterest

While most households kept a bottle of Flintstones vitamins in the medicine cabinet, others preferred Strawberry Shortcake’s method of getting children to take their daily dose of vitamin C. Kids were much more willing to take their vitamins back then. The trick? Adding enough sugar that you can’t taste anything else.