Rachel Toy If you grew up in the 70s and 80s, chances are you had more of a carefree childhood than kids do today. We played like our parents did before us, with tangible toys and simple games, without social media and endless technology weighing us down. We could grow up playing outside, and have adventures with our friends, without our parents really knowing what we got up to. They were just glad to have us out of the house! However technology was also coming along, ready to change our lives forever, with the advent of video games, home computers and entertainment systems.
These memories are given, but I bet there are some things you have totally forgotten about from your Gen X childhood. So take a trip with me as I unlock your memory banks!
1. Cigarette sweets
It wouldn’t even be heard of today but yes, we did have candy cigarettes in packets that resembled the real thing! There were also joke cigarettes that you filled with talcum powder and once you blew through the straw, a puff of smoke would come out! Smoking was still everywhere in the 70s and 80s, so it was no wonder people didn’t notice the next generation was being primed to do the same. And the big tobacco companies probably had something to do with it too!
2. Picture Box
Picture Box was a programme for schools produced by Granada TV and ran from 1966 to 1990. It was presented for most of its run by Alan Rothwell, and featured short films from around the world, designed to inspire creativity. The part that most children remember however is the eerie opening title. It featured a rotating antique glass box to the tune of Manège, by French composers François and Bernard Baschet. If you didn’t already have nightmares because of it, you will now!
3. Jelly bags
Jelly bags were all the rage in the 1980s and were a must have for school. They were brightly coloured basket bags, in a range of bright colours that went with every outfit. However they were slightly impractical as once you filled them with your school stuff, inevitably your pens and things would fall out of the holes! So a plastic bag inside the bag became normal. Slightly defeating the object but you looked good anyway so who cared!
4. This sign at the swimming pool
Most of us went swimming, whether it was after school lessons, or mucking about with your mates in the local pool over the summer. This public information sign was a regular feature of those days, as a well intended guide to safety in the pool. Under the heading ‘Will patrons kindly refrain from’, there were illustrations of various things you were not supposed to do including running, pushing, aerobics or gymnastics, shouting, ducking, petting, bombing, swimming in diving area and smoking. The petting one always had us laughing as kids, and can you imagine anyone smoking in a pool now? Yuck!
5. Whistling key finder
One of those inventions that didn’t catch on was this Echo Key finder. It was a keyring that you could add to your jangle of keys. The idea was that if you lost them, a whistle would find them again as it would make a beeping sound. Unfortunately it was battery operated so the power often ran out, making it useless when you actually needed it. The design on the front was nice anyway!
6. Little Chef lollipops
Little chef restaurants were a roadside staple from the late 1950s until the last restaurant closed in 2017. Its heyday in the 70s and 80s is probably what us Gen X kids mostly remember. The lollipops were given to kids when they had eaten all their food and were either given with the bill or in a cup at the till. They came in three flavours, raspberry, orange or lemon, and had a sherbet centre. Yum!
7. Matey bubble bath
The premise of this was that it miraculously cleaned kids in the bath without them needing to wash themselves (and I think, even the bath too!). I don’t know if this worked but having a character shaped bottle did help to help make bathtime fun, and these ones are instantly recogniseable. It was first introduced as a brand in 1958 and is still manufactured and sold today.
8. Foil ceiling decorations at Christmas
Yes we did maximalism really well in the 70s and 80s! No living room at Christmas was complete without a foil garland attached to the ceiling. They were usually available from woolworths and you could even buy a lantern shaped one for the middle of the ceiling. Garlands were attached at each corner and either brought diagonally into the centre, or horizontally at the edge of the ceiling.
9. Plastic counting blocks
Core memory unlocked! To help with learning for maths at school, the teacher would bring out these colourful blocks. The colours represented various things and aided in addition, subtraction, multiplication etc. I seem to remember arranging them in thousands, tens and units for some reason too!
10. Baby William matchbox doll
Who can forget this cute little baby doll in his matchbox? They had cloth bean filled bodies and plastic heads with a little bobble hat. Why they were in a matchbox we will never know! There were loads to collect too; friends for William, plus animals etc.
That’s it! I hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane. What else do you remember from your own Gen X childhood that you think people may have forgotten about? Let us know in the comments below!
This blog post is written by Rachel Toy, owner of Rachel’s Vintage & Retro. I am a 20th Century Vintage Blogger and Dealer writing about the vintage lifestyle, collecting, nostalgia and selling vintage. I also sell carefully curated 20th century antiques and collectables from my online vintage shop. I am happy to work with related brands on collaborations and also accept guest blogs. Find out how to work with me.
