A fun spinoff from the age question....

Post by **WotAnAtti2d** » Sat Aug 11, 2018 11:11 pm

Please name three things that you can remember from when you were a child. I'd love to see some replies from the older fold, so I can have some moments of, "Oh yeah!" Thanks.

Electric Train Set with transformer by Marx (I can remember smelling the ozone when you turned it on!)

Frosty Sno-Cone maker

Marx Magic Shot Shooting Gallery

I had to dig deep into the buried brain cells for these! I'd love to take the time machine back to when I was a kid. I'm sure the kids here will shriek in horror when I say our games and fun things required no batteries, no microchips, and yes, we went outside to play until the street lights came on! Oh yeah, and no internet!

P.S. Mods, I hope this is an okay off-topic spin off.

Post by **herbalhippie** » Sun Aug 12, 2018 1:15 am

For some reason, all I can think of is my Chatty Cathy doll. My aunt made matching clothes for us.

eta: Here's another one from my early teen years. Concert tickets for $3.50, specifically Black Sabbath and Grand Funk. All you had to do was save your school lunch money for the week and presto! enough money to go to a concert!

Post by **LuLu** » Sun Aug 12, 2018 5:54 am

Oh I love this question!!

I remember my snoopy snow cone machine, the huge Barbie mansion and the Christmas Santa somehow was able to bring me a Cabbage Patch kid even though the stores were all sold out and I had heard adults were fighting in the stores for them! My cool light up record player where I’d listen to my 45’s for hours!

On another note.....I remember doing nuclear bomb safety drills where we’d get under our desks. .25 cent gas and every Halloween I think in Detroit was Hell night where people would start huge building fires.

I saw almost all the 80’s hair bands too in Toledo, Ohio.

Post by **DarthWobbles** » Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:16 am

Yu-Gi-Oh cards, hulk hands, and my N64 lol

Post by **Trailmix** » Sun Aug 12, 2018 9:24 am

One of my earliest memories is listening to cassettes my dad made me on my Walkman, In my parents van. This is what I would do while we would drive long distances to visit family. I remember listening to The Beach Boys, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, bob Dylan, Elvis Presley. I’m also very fortunate that I have been able to see Brian Wilson, Paul McCartney, and Bob Dylan live. My parents late 80s passenger van, and my first 2 dogs are pretty much all ingrained in the memories of those first 5 years of my life.

Post by **MetalMamaRocks** » Sun Aug 12, 2018 10:24 am

Wot, this is fun! I didn't have a lot of toys when I was a kid other than a Barbie Doll and a little dress up doll that came in her own clothes closet.

I remember going to the drive-in a lot with my parents and hanging around with all of the neighborhood kids playing games. At one point we all had bikes (I had a cool Schwinn 10 speed) and we would go everywhere exploring and causing mischief. Our house was the "hangout" and there were always at least 5 or 6 other kids hanging around. I don't know how my parents put up with it!

When the first kid got a car we would all pile in on the weekends and drive to Nashville to go see whatever rock concert was going on. We would plug in our Zeppelin 8 track, smoke a joint and drink some Boone's Farm on the way. Like HH said we only paid 3.50 - 5.00 for tickets. That was before Ticketmaster. Lol

Post by **g-otis** » Sun Aug 12, 2018 10:46 am

1) Captain Kangeroo

2) my parents’ 8-track cassettes and vinyl record collection. I woke up almost every morning to the sounds of Carole King (Tapestry), Simon and Garfunkel (Greatest Hits), a bunch of 50s stuff.

3) Summers. I am positive they were longer when I was a young’un! We stayed outside from sun up to sundown, and only came inside to eat.

Cool topic!

Post by **labdog03** » Sun Aug 12, 2018 11:40 am

First thing that came to my mind is CREEPY CRAWLERS. This was a toy that you put a liquid (Plasti-Goop) in a metal mold and cooked it to make little rubber critters. I LOVED this toy. Could make rubber spiders, worms, all sorts of bugs and other things too (could make your own rubber Army Men!). The metal molds got blast furnace HOT when you "cooked" the liquid. I remember there was a water bath you had to drop the molds in to cool...it would sizzle and send up a cloud of steam. It's a wonder I didn't burn the house down or get 3rd degree burns. They were making a "toned down" safer version of this still a few years ago (not sure it's still around)?...but was not NEAR as cool as the Original "Creepy Crawlers" set.

Post by **magick_cat** » Sun Aug 12, 2018 1:43 pm

Video tapes in giant clamshell cases

Planters PB Crisps

Those black and red DARE shirts. Every kid at my elementary school wanted one, lol

Post by **WotAnAtti2d** » Sun Aug 12, 2018 2:52 pm

labdog03 wrote:First thing that came to my mind is CREEPY CRAWLERS. This was a toy that you put a liquid (Plasti-Goop) in a metal mold and cooked it to make little rubber critters. I LOVED this toy. Could make rubber spiders, worms, all sorts of bugs and other things too (could make your own rubber Army Men!). The metal molds got blast furnace HOT when you "cooked" the liquid. I remember there was a water bath you had to drop the molds in to cool...it would sizzle and send up a cloud of steam. It's a wonder I didn't burn the house down or get 3rd degree burns. They were making a "toned down" safer version of this still a few years ago (not sure it's still around)?...but was not NEAR as cool as the Original "Creepy Crawlers" set.

I wanted to put this one down, but it was later in my childhood..... Slime! It came in a plastic garbage can. First, it was green, then I think it came out in purple. You know, it really IS funny how most of us had "toys" that could have maimed or killed us (remember the junior chemistry set?), but never did. You couldn't sell that stuff nowadays.

Edit: I wanted to throw in a joke about Barbie, because I'm sure we'll see a few more posts about that. A mother asked her daughter what she wanted for Christmas. The girl said, "I want Barbie and G.I. Joe." The mother said, "I thought that Barbie came with Ken." The girl replied, "No, Barbie fakes it with Ken, she comes with G.I. Joe."

Post by **wavering_radiant** » Sun Aug 12, 2018 6:13 pm

I have fond memories of Stretch Armstrong, Crashtest Dummies and old floppy disc computer games like King’s Quest and Star Quest. Have to give a shout out to Pogs too. I wish I still had my old collection. Thanks for bringing back the memories.

Sun Aug 12, 2018 9:09 pm

Great thread! I'm a child of the Sixties so the first toys that sprang to mind were the gimmicky ones you could order out of comic books. Sea Monkeys, X-Ray Specs, that soap that grew "hair."

Some of the more coveted toys I remember from my childhood: Clackers (heavy glass spheres on a string that you "clacked" together up and down); Fun Tunnel (a giant spring covered with a tube of cloth that made a tunnel you could crawl through), Super Elastic Bubble Plastic, Incredible Edibles (same as the Creepy Crawlers labdog03 posted about above, tasted like burnt licorice), Silly Sand, Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs, Easy Bake Oven (never got to really use mine because I was destructo-kid and cut the electrical cord off of mine with scissors the day I got it), Barbie townhouse and corvette, ViewMaster, Etch-a-Sketch and the ultra-cool Spirograph. I think you can still get some of these.

Post by **MetalMamaRocks** » Sun Aug 12, 2018 11:32 pm

A friend of mine had a bomb shelter in his basement. It was the coolest thing! There were concrete bunkbeds built into the walls and boxes and boxes of canned food. My friends used to play Dungeons and Dragons down there all weekend long.

Post by **BlendsAreMyFriends** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 12:51 am

Lionel Trains, Cap Pistols and Baseball Cards with bubble gum.

Post by **WotAnAtti2d** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 12:55 am

MissOuterBorough1982 wrote:Great thread! I'm a child of the Sixties so the first toys that sprang to mind were the gimmicky ones you could order out of comic books. Sea Monkeys, X-Ray Specs, that soap that grew "hair."

Some of the more coveted toys I remember from my childhood: Clackers (heavy glass spheres on a string that you "clacked" together up and down); Fun Tunnel (a giant spring covered with a tube of cloth that made a tunnel you could crawl through), Super Elastic Bubble Plastic, Incredible Edibles (same as the Creepy Crawlers labdog03 posted about above, tasted like burnt licorice), Silly Sand, Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs, Easy Bake Oven (never got to really use mine because I was destructo-kid and cut the electrical cord off of mine with scissors the day I got it), Barbie townhouse and corvette, ViewMaster, Etch-a-Sketch and the ultra-cool Spirograph. I think you can still get some of these.

@Miss, was the Super Elastic Bubble Plastic the stuff that you put on an end of a straw and blew up bubbles? After mentioning Tinkertoys (the wooden ones, not today's cheap plastic) and Spirograph (many hours playing with that), I thought of Lite Brite. The GAF Viewmaster, I forgot about that, too. Man, thanks for reminding me off all of these.

@Blends, did you have the paper whippets?

Post by **djulain** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 9:09 am

OK, grandpas.

Post by **MetalMamaRocks** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 9:50 am

djulain wrote:OK, grandpas.

Kids these days!!

Post by **e_poison** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 11:14 am

wavering_radiant wrote:I have fond memories of Stretch Armstrong, Crashtest Dummies and old floppy disc computer games like King’s Quest and Star Quest. Have to give a shout out to Pogs too. I wish I still had my old collection. Thanks for bringing back the memories.

King's Quest, Space Quest, and Quest for Glory - the old Sierra classics. I remember playing those when I was young, and those video games (along with the old Lucasarts point-and-click adventures like Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island) are responsible for sparking a life long interest in gaming. The first game I ever modded was Dark Forces back in like 95 or 96.

3 things I can remember from being a kid:

He-man and G.I. Joe action figures
Commodore 64
Construx

Post by **g-otis** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 1:42 pm

MissOuterBorough1982 wrote:Great thread! I'm a child of the Sixties so the first toys that sprang to mind were the gimmicky ones you could order out of comic books. Sea Monkeys, X-Ray Specs, that soap that grew "hair."
.

Oh lord, Miss O. I actually bought the X-ray specs. I was pretty damn disappointed in them too. Probably paid 4-5 bucks for order + s&h, and that was a good bit of money for an 8 yr old in the 70s.

Post by **HappyHulu** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:23 pm

When I was a very young kid, I loved my Big Wheel. Zooming around my basement for hours, love it. Then, came my baby blue Schwinn bike. Back then, all the cool kids had Schwinns, and I finally got mine. Used to pop wheelies, city blocks long, haha, so much fun. Also, I remember getting my first stereo and collecting 45's and albums. I had a great selection. My first album was Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, then came Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced

As far as 45's, I think my first purchase was Edgar Winter Group - Frankenstein. Also, I had Hocus Pocus by Focus. Who remembers that song? LOL

Mon Aug 13, 2018 10:37 pm

WotAnAtti2d wrote:@Miss, was the Super Elastic Bubble Plastic the stuff that you put on an end of a straw and blew up bubbles? After mentioning Tinkertoys (the wooden ones, not today's cheap plastic) and Spirograph (many hours playing with that), I thought of Lite Brite. The GAF Viewmaster, I forgot about that, too. Man, thanks for reminding me off all of these.

Yes on the Super Elastic Bubble Plastic. It smelled like paint thinner, no telling what sort of noxious chemicals were in it. And Lite Brite! I had forgotten all about that one. Loved it!

g-otis wrote:Oh lord, Miss O. I actually bought the X-ray specs. I was pretty damn disappointed in them too. Probably paid 4-5 bucks for order + s&h, and that was a good bit of money for an 8 yr old in the 70s.

Well if it makes you feel better, I bought the Sea Monkeys. SO excited waiting for them to arrive, and what a letdown. All I can remember about them (they were actually brine shrimp) is that they were so tiny you couldn't even really see them — a far cry from the frolicking, crown-wearing little creatures depicted in the ad (the ad also claimed they could be trained, LOL) — and they stank to high heaven.

Post by **herbalhippie** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 10:37 pm

HappyHulu wrote: Also, I had Hocus Pocus by Focus. Who remembers that song? LOL

I do! And I just saw a live version YouTube not two days ago.

My kid's daddy was/is a big Focus fan. Up until I met him, the only piece I had heard was Hocus Pocus. He had the Moving Waves cassette and I fell in love with this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx-JzRzsCss

My first album was Santana Abraxas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqZceAQSJvc

Post by **Madison808** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 11:14 pm

Scented Markers, scungi hair ties, balloon pants.

Post by **Stimie** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 2:23 am

Hot Wheels Snake and Mongoose drag set, Sizzlers Indy 500, SSP smash Up derby, and the Evel Knevil motorcycle for jumping things, hours and hours of fun.

Post by **WotAnAtti2d** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 3:11 am

Hey e_, guess what my first video game was? Pong. I bet you didn't see that coming, huh? lol

My first LP was Back In Black by AC/DC. Going from Elton John to Jimi Hendrix is a hell of a leap. I had a Big Wheel with the brake. I'd come screaming down the sidewalk, yank up on the brake, and my mom would have a heart attack thinking I was going to roll into the street. Big Green Machines came next....

Smash Up Derby! Man, that was an awesome toy set! I feel bad for kids nowadays, all of them glued to those video game consoles.

Post by **HappyHulu** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 6:14 am

Hey, Hippie, thanks for the videos! That's a cool version of that song. Santana... what a great band. I saw a lot of great concerts, back in the day, but I didn't see Santana. The one thing I really regret is not seeing Led Zeppelin. John Bonham was, by far, one of the best drummers ever.

Wot, I know, that was a big jump, lol. Not too shabby on the AC/DC, great band, as well. Here's a funny story... when Kiss first became popular, I saw them in concert, and the opening band was Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. At that time, no one knew who they were. The majority of the crowd hated them, and started booing and throwing stuff on the stage. Little did they know, what Bob Seger would become...

Post by **MetalMamaRocks** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 6:31 am

HappyHulu wrote:Hey, Hippie, thanks for the videos! That's a cool version of that song. Santana... what a great band. I saw a lot of great concerts, back in the day, but I didn't see Santana. The one thing I really regret is not seeing Led Zeppelin. John Bonham was, by far, one of the best drummers ever.

Wot, I know, that is a big jump, lol. Not too shabby on the AC/DC, great band, as well. Here's a funny story... when Kiss first became popular, I saw them in concert, and the opening band was Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. At that time, no one knew who they were. The majority of the crowd hated them, and started booing and throwing stuff on the stage. Little did they know, what Bob Seger would become...

I know what you mean about Zeppelin! I had a chance to go see them in New York around 78 (?) but didn't do it, and we all know what happened after that so I never got to.

Speaking of unknown opening acts, I went to see Black Sabbath in Nashville in the late seventies. Ozzy was a no-show so they cancelled their concert. Talk about a literal riot! It was all worth it though because their opening act was an unknown band called Van Halen. Their first album had just come out and they were kicking ass on this tour.

Post by **herbalhippie** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 7:54 am

I got to see Led Zeppelin once, in 1973. And Jethro Tull either two weeks before or after, I can never remember which order they came in. That was a great month!

Post by **MetalMamaRocks** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 1:34 pm

herbalhippie wrote:I got to see Led Zeppelin once, in 1973. And Jethro Tull either two weeks before or after, I can never remember which order they came in. That was a great month!

Cool! Tull was my very first concert. I barely remember it.

Post by **Stimie** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 3:33 pm

I went to a Blue Oyster cult concert and the second band that played was Thin Lizzy, the opening band had a crazy guitarist come on stage in a suit and started ripping it off while he was shredding.

Some kind of a nut, ended up in shorts riding around in the audience playing a wireless guitar in '77.

No one had ever heard of them before but they did soon after, it was Angus Young...

Post by **herbalhippie** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 3:55 pm

MetalMamaRocks wrote:
herbalhippie wrote:I got to see Led Zeppelin once, in 1973. And Jethro Tull either two weeks before or after, I can never remember which order they came in. That was a great month!
Cool! Tull was my very first concert. I barely remember it.

That is an EXCELLENT first concert!!

Truthfully, I barely remember any of the concerts I went to in the 70s. I was usually severely medicated.

Post by **WotAnAtti2d** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 9:23 pm

I saw Jethro Tull at Darien Lake, an amusement park in my tri-state area. Two of my buddies and I were going. We bought tickets and the ticket company charged me for a seat while my friends had general seating in the ampitheater. I wasn't about to turn down the seat, so I went looking for it. It was like the eighth freakin' row! I got to sit next to some hippies and they shared some of their "greenery", way back when I dabbled in that stuff.

My very first concert was Aldo Nova and Sammy Hagar. It was when lasers first came out, and Aldo Nova played their song, "Fantasy," to it. They had the helicopter sounds and the lasers, it was awesome!

My absolute best concert ever, was the Division Bell tour by Pink Floyd, in Pittsburgh, 1994. They gave all of their profits from the concert to the Pittsburgh Childrens' Hospital... what a great bunch of guys. They played, "Time," and the drummer had these glowing drumsticks in the dark, so all you could see were the sticks. Every time one hit the drums, it would change color. They had a dirigible flying pig with glowing eyes. I was, um, altered. I don't think I'll ever be at another concert like that, ever again.

Post by **HappyHulu** » Wed Aug 15, 2018 6:53 am

It's great seeing all of these responses about concerts. Jethro Tull, Blue Oyster Cult, Zeppelin, Sabbath.... brings back great memories for me. I loved going to concerts with my friends. Back then, we just smoked weed and drank, everything was so mellow. I did see the Stones, I was pretty sloshed, lol, but was great. It's funny, either you're a Who fan or a Stones fan, I was def a big Stones fan. Also, I saw Rush a few times. Neal Peart's drum solo... can still hear it.

Also, I saw that tour with Gun n Roses, Metallica and Faith No More. Of course we all had to wait for f'ing Axl to decide when to come on stage. Because of him, GNR didn't play until 10:30pm... they were due on stage at 9.

Post by **livi2fly** » Wed Aug 15, 2018 5:33 pm

I'm only 22 but I remember playing snake on my grandpa's cell phone and when I had to use dial up to get on the internet Lololol

Post by **Stimie** » Fri Aug 17, 2018 4:03 pm

Life before the internet was sure different, people used to have things like encyclopedia sets, dictionaries and phone books...

Post by **labdog03** » Fri Aug 17, 2018 4:16 pm

Stimie wrote:Life before the internet was sure different, people used to have things like encyclopedia sets, dictionaries and phone books...

I had an Encyclopedia set at home growing up! (Yes, back in the "Dark Ages"). I know the Internet is fast and "all inclusive" now, but there was something, something I miss, about the FEEL of having that book of knowledge in my hands. I actually used to read the whole set Aa to Z (Zebra)...I was all excited when we actually got a NEW set every few years...I know, I'm a NERD.

Post by **herbalhippie** » Fri Aug 17, 2018 5:21 pm

labdog03 wrote:
Stimie wrote:Life before the internet was sure different, people used to have things like encyclopedia sets, dictionaries and phone books...

I had an Encyclopedia set at home growing up! (Yes, back in the "Dark Ages"). I know the Internet is fast and "all inclusive" now, but there was something, something I miss, about the FEEL of having that book of knowledge in my hands. I actually used to read the whole set Aa to Z (Zebra)...I was all excited when we actually got a NEW set every few years...I know, I'm a NERD.

My mother had a small collection of paperbacks and one hardback which was The Egg & I by Betty MacDonald (which she gave me to read when I was about 10 and which set me off on a lifelong love for this woman's books), my father never read anything but the newspaper, but we had a set of Colliers Encyclopedia. 1961 I think. I read that set front to back and probably more than once. The only other two books in that part of the house were a dictionary and a huge, wonderful medical book. It had transparencies you could lay one over the other for the skeleton, musculature, blood vessels. There was a fascinating section on psychology and mental illness. I actually kept that medical book in my room and thumbed through it over and over.

Now. My own bedroom was book city. My mom started teaching me to read very young and took me to the library every week from about the age of three. All the relatives gave me books along with other gifts for Xmas and my birthday.

Post by **WotAnAtti2d** » Fri Aug 17, 2018 5:30 pm

Oh okay, we're on books now? I had (and still have them) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Charlotte's Web, and many Dr. Seuss books. Those were my first ones. I could probably fill up this text box with ones that I had later in life.

Post by **MetalMamaRocks** » Fri Aug 17, 2018 5:33 pm

herbalhippie wrote:
labdog03 wrote:
Stimie wrote:Life before the internet was sure different, people used to have things like encyclopedia sets, dictionaries and phone books...

I had an Encyclopedia set at home growing up! (Yes, back in the "Dark Ages"). I know the Internet is fast and "all inclusive" now, but there was something, something I miss, about the FEEL of having that book of knowledge in my hands. I actually used to read the whole set Aa to Z (Zebra)...I was all excited when we actually got a NEW set every few years...I know, I'm a NERD.
My mother had a small collection of paperbacks and one hardback which was The Egg & I by Betty MacDonald (which she gave me to read when I was about 10 and which set me off on a lifelong love for this woman's books), my father never read anything but the newspaper, but we had a set of Colliers Encyclopedia. 1961 I think. I read that set front to back and probably more than once. The only other two books in that part of the house were a dictionary and a huge, wonderful medical book. It had transparencies you could lay one over the other for the skeleton, musculature, blood vessels. There was a fascinating section on psychology and mental illness. I actually kept that medical book in my room and thumbed through it over and over.

Now. My own bedroom was book city. My mom started teaching me to read very young and took me to the library every week from about the age of three. All the relatives gave me books along with other gifts for Xmas and my birthday.

When I was a young girl I read all of the Nancy Drew and Bobbsey Twins mysteries. I also had a Grimm's Fairy Tales book. Now that was some scary stuff!

Post by **Stimie** » Sat Aug 18, 2018 3:44 am

Another thing that was a staple before the internet were board games like Headache, Yahtzee, and The Game of Life and there was a way that a simple deck of cards could keep you busy for all kinds of hours and late into the night.

Kind of like the power going out, it's a lot bigger today then it was years ago, wow and I'm starting to sound like I'm old now...