“Don’t grow up: It’s a trap!” – is this much-quoted saying your credo too? Then you’ve probably kept more beautiful childhood memories than some dead serious adults. Perhaps it has happened to you that you came across one or the other object in your parents’ old youth room at home that made you feel like a little boy or girl again.
We rummaged in the attic – and came across ten things that at least catapulted us straight into our childhood days. If they also look familiar to you, then you clearly stayed a child.
But before we start the little journey through time, one more question for you:
It was a hit in the outdoor pool summer! As early as 1980 Ed von Schleck was launched by ice cream manufacturer Langnese. The iconic white and red swirled ice cream cone with the words “Ed v. Schleck” was so popular that competitor Schöller copied the idea with the “Orange Pop” variety.
For Ed von Schleck, however, the good old days are a thing of the past: the ice cream is no longer available to buy and so we have to do without the sayings on the lid such as “don’t make a lick, or I’ll lick you off the spot”. If you want to make a snack these days, there is an alternative: Langnese’s “Push Up with Haribo” sliding ice cream works on the same principle.
Anyone who was a child in the eighties really wanted to have such a cuddly plastic creature. Even if, strictly speaking, they come straight from the wild seventies: The monkey-like dolls saw the light of day in Japan in 1974. At first, you could put the plastic thumb in the doll’s mouth.
The Monchhichis produced from 1980 got smaller thumbs that could no longer get stuck in the mouth. In return, the cute cult figures now held a pacifier in the other hand, which loving children were happy to give their new furry friend to calm them down. What could have accelerated the success of the toy was the fact that from 1980 there was even an anime series with the monkey-like dolls on TV.
One of the most popular tricks was probably the monkey swing, better known in yo-yo circles as “rock the baby”: While the yo-yo rotates freely, you form a triangle with the string. In this triangle you let your yo-yo rock back and forth. And enjoy the amazed looks of your schoolyard audience.
While in the 1980s people were more likely to be satisfied with the basic models, for children in the 1990s it had to be at least a neon light-up yo-yo. The yo-yo is actually a historical toy: young and old were already enjoying the game of skill in ancient Greece.
Was a must at every (children’s) birthday party: In this game, also known as “chair dance”, the children trotted around chairs as long as the music was playing on the CD player (any children’s party hit like “Smurf Cowboy Joe”).
When the music stopped, everyone sat down on a chair – since there was always one chair less than players, one had to go away empty-handed. Yes, children could still lose games from back then. Whoever got the last chair won!
“The crazy labyrinth” is a board and placement game for up to four players, ages eight and up, by Ravensburger that was published in 1986 – and it’s a real success story. It has been sold more than 13 million times and there are countless variants.
Each player attempted to complete the goals given by the mystery cards. For this you had to move the labyrinth corridors. The winner is the player who has reached the goals of all mystery cards and returned to his starting position. Without getting lost, of course!
The term Tamagotchi is a portmanteau of the words “tamago”, which means “egg” in Japanese, and the syllable “-tchi”, which is derived from “wottchi”, which is the English noun “watch” (German: “Uhr”). is meant. In 1996 the Bandai company developed the first Tamagotchi in Japan.
The mini computer swept over Europe and the USA in 1997. At the beginning of the game, the on-screen Tamagotchi, a virtual chick, hatched from the egg. From then on, the device beeped sporadically and the proud owner then had to ensure that the chick got enough sleep, food and drink and lots of love. If you didn’t do that, the virtual pet died.
Of course, we’re not talking about the carpets that still lie on the stairs in old hallways. We mean the spiral stair runners that tumbled down the stairs after various tangles had been resolved. They usually came in rainbow or glitter colors and looked pretty spectacular tumbling down the stairs.
Even if today we associate spiral springs primarily with the colorful 1980s, they were invented back in 1945. At the time sales started in Philadelphia, 400 were said to have been sold in the first 90 minutes.
Anyone who didn’t have a Diddl mouse in the late 1990s and 2000s simply wasn’t cool. They were on everything: pads, pens, cups, plates, stuffed animals, sweets, clothes – there was even a magazine called “Käseblatt”. The Diddl Mouse hype started in 1990 as a postcard motif by graphic artist Thomas Goletz from Franconia.
There was no escaping her in the 90s: she adorned every envelope, every pencil, every eraser, every pencil case and was depicted on many a happy schoolgirl’s satchel. She was like the “Hello Kitty” from Bavaria. Swapping Diddl sheets was a completely normal activity during breaks in the schoolyards of the 1990s.
The troll dolls, also called “magic trolls” or simply “trolls”, were invented by the Danish woodcarver Thomas Dam (1915-1989). They burst over the western world in several cult waves. Troll populations date back to the United States in the early 1960s. In the 1990s, toy manufacturer Hasbro successfully marketed the trolls. In 2016, the animated film “Trolls” produced by DreamWorks was released, which gave the characters a comeback again. Special distinguishing feature: the motley matted hair.
“BiFi Carazza – the pocket pizza” has been around since 1994. The 40 gram sin for on the go consists of dough, tomato sauce, cheese and salami. Mama’s fruit could stay at home. In the advertising clip, an Italian relaxed in the middle of the worst love affair and pulled the imitation pizza out of his shirt pocket – it worked. What didn’t work: keep Carazza in your back pocket!
The snack wasn’t particularly healthy and probably contained so many preservatives that it would still be edible years later.
What are the things that you particularly remember from your childhood? Share it with us in a comment! And if you want to indulge even more in nostalgia:
