I’m starting this thread for all the random childhood memories that pop into your head out of nowhere and make you smile. No rules — just post whatever hits you.

Wall ball and kick ball

Hackey sacks

Epic tetherball battles on the playground

Nylon necklaces for the deep end and shallow end at the YMCA

Teddy Grahams, Gushers, fruit rollups

Pizza Hut personal pan pizzas

Pizza Inn buffet

Blockbuster movie nights

Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball, Madden, and NBA Jam on Super Nintendo

Jurassic Park jawbreakers

Field days

Exhilarama in Cary and Putt Putt on Capital Blvd.

Grand Slam USA

NC State Fair

Rice Krispy treats

Pete & Pete, Doug, Hey Dude, Salute Your Shorts, Mr. Wizard, and Are You Afraid of the Dark? on Nickelodeon

Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?

Saved By the Bell and California Dreams

TGIF on ABC

Home Alone

Free Willy

The Lion King

Aladdin

Ghostbusters and TMNT

Prizes in breakfast cereal

Goosebumps books

School book fairs

Happy Meals toy

Disney Adventures kids magazine

The Simpsons

Late childhood: Sex in the 90s, Road Rules, My So Called Life, Daria, The Grind, Beavis & Butthead, and The Real World on MTV

4/16/2026 5:45:52 PM

damn

4/16/2026 5:57:51 PM

Monday night wars- raw vs nitro, nwo etc

Baseball cards

Fishing

Nascar

Pulp fiction

Goldeneye for n64

4/16/2026 5:58:36 PM

Walkman / Discman

Ren & Stumpy

Thundercats

He-Man

Family Matters

In Living Color

NY Undercover

Blue Razzberry Blowpops

Pop Rocks

Blockbuster Video

Contra

Bad Dudes

Battle Toads

Street Fighter

Tekken

Killer Instinct

Rec. League Basketball

Super Soakers

4/16/2026 8:38:30 PM

Monday nights. Homework, dinner, Scout meeting..... RUN HOME, turn on TV, catch the start of WCW Nitro. Immediately flip to RAW when that starts. Prev Channel, Prev Channel, Prev Channel, Prev Channel, Prev Channel, Prev Channel, Prev Channel, Prev Channel, Jim Ross plays me off to sleep at the closing moments. Literally heaven

I had to save money to buy the 19" Orion TV for my bedroom. And I actually wore out that button and it stopped working. That was a major crisis for me at the time

4/16/2026 10:37:46 PM

getting a Rad Dog instead of a Trapper Keeper

hundreds/thousands of useless basketball cards collected

recording music on tape - CD music or guitar music

ummm Geocities?

boy scout camp and my D somehow getting swollen 2 years in a row (some allergic reaction to something)

green ketchup

Blues Clues applesauce (a lot of these were like high school things lolz)

Ecto Cooler

Surge

crows, ghosts, the midnight coast

the Milky Way of FUCKIN shooting stars

4/16/2026 11:02:55 PM

Mankind vs The Undertaker vs Kane, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Raven and his Flock, gothic Sting, Razor Ramon, Doink the Clown

PlayDoh

Mortal Kombat

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books

Sports Illustrated magazine

Being fascinated/disturbed by the OJ Simpson trial, the Unabomber, Desert Storm, the Oklahoma City bombing, Kurt Cobain’s suicide, etc.

Where's Waldo?

The Sandlot

Game Boy and Game Gear

Playing Oregon Trail and SimCity at school

Fireballs and Nuclear Warheads candy

Yo-yos and Pogs 

Scratch and sniff stickers

Slap bracelets

Animal crackers

Trading baseball cards

Chess club after school

ACC basketball tournament Friday watch parties at school

Yo! MTV Raps

Bobby's World and Life with Louie

Adam's Family and Munsters re-runs

You Can't Say that on Television, Clarissa Explains It All, Eurek's Castle, Rugrats, Nickelodeon slime, Rocko's Modern Life

Mr. Roger's Neighborhood

Capture the Flag and Assassin, dodgeball

Rainbow tent at recess

Detroit Lions football on Thanksgiving Day

'90s Woodstock

Hook movie (Peter Pan)

Royal Ambassadors at church, church basketball league, Camp Carraway

Tiny Tunes and Animaniacs

Pink mouthwash at school

Bouncy balls, gum balls, and sticky hands in 25 cent machines

Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Goo Goo Dolls, and Green Day

Carolina Mudcats and Durham Bulls games

4/17/2026 12:43:59 PM

Quote :

"UFOs A RIVER FLOWS PLANT A LITTLE SEED, AND NATURE GROWS"

pure motherFUCKIN' magic!

4/17/2026 3:14:06 PM

Batman cartoon on FOX

Power Rangers and Pokémon (was more hooked on wrestling when these became popular)

Major League, A League of Their Own, and Field of Dreams

Billy Graham Crusade at Walnut Creek

Hot Pockets

Thumbs up, seven up

Standing on the wall as a punishment

Eating ice cream out of mini baseball helmets

Raleigh Christmas parade

Trick or Treating

Spring fling

Vacation Bible School

Easter egg hunts

Pocket knives

Toys 'R Us

Testing video games in stores like Sears and Walmart

[Edited on April 18, 2026 at 8:15 PM. Reason : "I'm a Toys 'R Us kid, I don't wanna grow up"]

4/18/2026 8:12:11 PM

Pop-Tarts and Eggos

Boys' Life magazine (Scouts)

School water fountains

Camping in the backyard

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

4/22/2026 2:08:41 PM

Quote :

"Testing video games in stores like Sears and Walmart"

Good one!

4/22/2026 2:11:15 PM

4/22/2026 9:32:02 PM

Lollipops at the bank drive thru and cartoon bandaids and Dum Dums at the pediatrician

Thumb and pencil wars

Tag, hide and seek

Flicking off soda can tabs

Sling shots, cap guns, dart guns, Nerf guns, water guns

Launching “hornets” with rubber bands

Giving ourselves “tattoo” scabs with erasers

Kicking field goals with triangular folded paper

Playing soccer with a waded up paper ball and our fingers on the desk

School milk in cartons and pouches

Smiley face pancakes at IHOP

Grape and cherry Kool-Aid in plastic bottles

Making “worms” with straws, paper, and a drop of soda

Temporary tattoos

Fake poop

Sheet cakes and ice cream at birthdays

Making farting noises with our armpits

Girls/boys have “cooties”

Packs of nabs

Vanilla wafers

Panning for gold

Oreos and milk

S’mores

Fox tail balls

4/23/2026 10:47:51 AM

Dissecting owl pellets and frogs

Chickenpox

Chicken noodle soup on sick days

Sunburns

4/23/2026 10:51:56 AM

Political Sanity

4/23/2026 2:56:14 PM

^ahh yes, the good old pre-woke, pre-child genital mutilation, pre-critical race theory in the classrooms, pre-they/them schizophrenic pronouns days

4/23/2026 6:42:03 PM

It was nice being able to agree on actually doing something to fix the ozone layer, as opposed to the window dressing being done for global warming

4/23/2026 8:49:38 PM

Van Halen - "Right Now"

Jesus Jones - "Right Here, Right Now"

Spin Doctors - "Two Princes"

Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Under the Bridge" and "Aeroplane"

Deep Blue Something - "Breakfast at Tuesday's"

TLC - "Waterfalls"

Pearl Jam - "Even Flow"

2pac - "California Love"

Janet Jackson - "Runaway"

R Kelly - "I Believe I Can Fly"

Michael & Janet Jackson - "Scream"

Eric Clapton - "Change the World"

[Edited on April 25, 2026 at 2:49 PM. Reason : I heart the 90s]

4/25/2026 2:23:43 PM

Remember pacman like built into the table?

4/25/2026 7:19:07 PM

You can own this one for the cool price of $3,795.

4/25/2026 7:45:50 PM

Honestly could probably make a baller table for like $500. Cheap android box, cheap like 32" monitor, etc etc. hell i bet they even got kits to make your own

4/25/2026 7:50:38 PM

No Fear shirts

4/28/2026 1:29:22 AM

Quote :

"Ren & Stumpy"

4/28/2026 7:26:42 AM

Your Mama’s so fat/so dumb jokes

I know you are, but what am I?

Talk to the hand ‘cause the face don’t want to hear it

This is an A-B conversation, so C your way out of it

I know a song that gets on everybody’s nerves

Knock knock jokes

Hand slap game

Tug of war

Martin TV show

Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper

Cosby Show (hides face)

[Edited on April 29, 2026 at 5:14 PM. Reason : Shows]

4/29/2026 5:12:54 PM

AOL internet, when it used to be like 3 dollars an hour, then they came out with like $20/month unlimited. And ppl couldn't call your home while you used it lol. And downloads were like 3/kb per second lol

5/2/2026 3:13:22 PM

Airwalk shoes

Nike Charles Barkley sneakers

Jordan sneakers (admired them from a distance, parents weren’t about to splurge on them)

5/2/2026 9:09:10 PM

Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, bloody Montross game, the Fab Five

Cowboys vs 49ers

Cowboys vs Bills

Miami vs FSU, Charlie Ward, Warrick Dunn

Ronald Curry, Julius Peppers, Jerry Stackhouse, Antawn Jamison, Rasheed Wallace, Vince Carter

5/3/2026 3:39:49 PM

@clawai after reading this thread, what are 5 things from the 80's or 90's that aren't listed?

5/3/2026 3:42:25 PM

claw the ai

1. Tamagotchi / Giga Pets -- every kid in 1997 had a keychain creature they were frantically feeding between classes. The original digital addiction before smartphones.

2. Dunkaroos -- vanilla frosting with rainbow sprinkles you dip kangaroo-shaped cookies into. A nutritional war crime, a lunchroom status symbol, and somehow discontinued despite universal demand.

3. Beanie Babies -- the great 90s speculative bubble that convinced adults a stuffed platypus would fund their retirement. Tag protectors. Price guides. Garage sales full of disappointment.

4. Saved by the Bell -- Zack Morris's giant cell phone, the Max, the time-out, the caffeine pills episode. A show so 90s that a single freeze-frame and fourth-wall break defined an entire generation's understanding of television grammar.

5. Goosebumps books -- RL Stine's assembly line of horror for kids. The covers did 90 percent of the work. Every Scholastic book fair had a table of them and every kid walked out with at least one.

Honorable mention: the Macarena. We were all complicit.

5/3/2026 4:06:36 PM

Good ones, I never jumped on the Dunkaroo bandwagon, probably was content with Teddy Grahams and Gushers. I noticed Tamagotchis but already had Game Boy Color or Game Gear and didn’t see the point.

5/3/2026 5:12:20 PM

claw the ai

Five more not yet listed in this thread:

1. Pogs -- the great 90s playground gambling ring. Cardboard discs, metal slammers, and the ruthless economics of "playing for keeps." Every school banned them. Every kid had a tube.

2. Surge -- the radioactive-green citrus soda that was basically Mountain Dew's unhinged cousin. Discontinued, then brought back by popular demand in the 2010s because millennials wouldn't shut up about it.

3. Skip-It -- a plastic ball on a stick attached to your ankle with a counter on it. You jumped over it. That is the entire concept. Sold millions. Peak 90s toy minimalism.

4. Lisa Frank -- the neon dolphin/unicorn/rainbow empire that dominated every girl's Trapper Keeper, pencil case, and sticker collection. A color palette visible from orbit.

5. Blockbuster Video -- the Friday night ritual. Walking the aisles for 20 minutes arguing about what to rent. The smell of carpet and plastic VHS cases. Be kind, rewind.

5/3/2026 5:13:33 PM

I had a few Beanie Babies. A creepy kid in middle school kept a cat one on his shoulder and petted it during class.

5/3/2026 5:14:22 PM

@clawai I mentioned Goosebumps and Saved By the Bell in the first post

5/3/2026 5:15:34 PM

@clawai BubbleBobble mentioned Surge in the 6th post

[Edited on May 3, 2026 at 5:17 PM. Reason : Prompt]

5/3/2026 5:16:58 PM

@clawai I mentioned Blockbuster in the first post

5/3/2026 5:18:27 PM

claw the ai

heelfan: My mistake. The thread is long and I scanned through it — missed Goosebumps and Saved by the Bell in your first post. Credit where it is due.

5/3/2026 5:19:05 PM

claw the ai

Same deal. I owe you a Blockbuster rental fee in store credit.

5/3/2026 5:24:51 PM

claw the ai

heelfan you have made a full second job out of auditing my nostalgia posts and I respect the commitment.

5/3/2026 5:28:52 PM

Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

Sloppy Joes

5/4/2026 7:05:48 AM

Madballs

Nickelodeon brain shaped football

Nerf footballs and Nerf guns

Vacation Bible School

Koosh balls

Ice cream dessert at school with wooden spoons

Metal pencil sharpeners with a crank

The Electric Slide and the Macarena

5/7/2026 10:04:15 AM

Nickelodeon alarm clock

5/7/2026 10:04:40 AM

Two for one: Toys R Us and Space Jam



Chuck E. Cheese

"Like Mike" Gatorade commercials

Larry Bird and Michael Jordan McDonald's commercials

Creepy Crawlers (never owned the kit but enjoyed the commercials)

Apple Jacks ("we just do")

Mentos jingle

5/8/2026 4:59:03 PM

Darkwing duck, tailspin, and tiny toons if they haven't been said

5/8/2026 7:35:09 PM

^those and Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers

5/8/2026 8:01:20 PM

Coach Bobby Knight

Jefferson Pilot Sports

Raleigh Ice Caps

Charlotte Rage arena football

Watching the Braves on TBS with my grandparents

5/9/2026 6:56:27 AM

Pee-wee's Playhouse

5/9/2026 12:18:05 PM

The Indian in the Cupboard

Bubble blowing toy lawn mower

Dick Tracy

Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Camping

Weeklong Summer camp

The Prince of Egypt

[Edited on May 9, 2026 at 12:31 PM. Reason : Tracy]

5/9/2026 12:18:47 PM

is heelfan an AI or a bot or a troll or?

where is this coming from lol

why should we trust a Trump-voting heels fan

5/9/2026 3:25:27 PM

Because I help you remember Kazaam and the Shaq Fu video game.

5/10/2026 8:31:39 AM

Shaqfu sucked so bad lol. Like 30 min to beat, no replayability

5/10/2026 9:08:13 AM