Breakfast Cereals of the 70s and 80s

I love cereal. I think it is my favorite food. The best is Fruity Pebbles, by Post.
I loved this box so much, I put it up in my room when I was a little kid. I know, I was mental.

I remember when Purple Rain was out, there was a Fruity Pebbles commercial with Barney on a Purple Bike and outfit. pimping out the new grape flavor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opU8MDNadiQ&feature=PlayList&p=3C6C097332A573FC&index=10

Today we are going to view some specifically 80's breakfast cereals
and then we will take a look the way other popular cereal boxes used to look.
Remember these little boxes, below? They look a lot cooler and more alive these
days.


1980's Cereals

Here is Pac-Man cereal. It was kind of a knock off of Lucky Charms,
which I didn't like because I didn't like marshmallows. I did love Pac-Man though.
Who didn't? I was even Ms. Pac-Man for Halloween in third grade. Here is the commercial for the cereal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBUQX4G5oYQ

I kinda sorta remember this Nerds cereal. Again, I really appreciate the packaging on
these Willy Wonka products. They were pretty innovative.

Dude...Dinky Donuts. I don't think I was ever lucky
enough to eat these! But they were big in the 80s. They may or may not still
be around. I seem to recall some sort of faux powdering on a powdered doughnut version of these, that was mildly disturbing.

I couldn't find a close up of the box for Cabbage Patch Kids cereal.
My mom broke down and bought these one time and that was it!
I was a Cabbage Patch Kid freak, along with every other girl in the 80s.
Here is the commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3am26nA6m8

Donkey Kong cereal! Nice!

Cookie Crisp is still around, but this is what the box used to look
like. These little guys really tore up the roof of your mouth!
Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd_6dmCsBM4

Smurfberry Crunch was actually really good!

Other Vintage Cereal Boxes

Remember when Apple Jacks looked like this?


Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfNgtFL8VHw&feature=related




I was a big Cap'n Crunch Fan, but these Peanut Butter puffs
made me thirsty and were strangely greasy for a cereal.

Here is the original Cap'n Crunch in all of it's 80's glory.
These also left the roof of your mouth raw, but it was worth it.

Man oh man. Crunch Berries! These are my runner up behind

Fruity Pebbles. I developed a theory based on Crunch Berries: Crunch Berries were special because there was only one or maybe two berries in every bite, while there were tons of yellow squares. Then, Cap'n Crunch came out with an All Crunch Berries cereal (no yellow squares) and the berries weren't as...special. I apply that theory to anything of value that is suddenly mass produced or too readily available. I mean, what would happen if Christmas went on every day of the year? Keeping things very limited raises their value substantially! Okay, okay, so that is already a well known theory..I like the sound of the Crunch Berry Theory a lot better.
Moving on.

As I said, I hated Lucky Charms. I ate the oat pieces and left the marshmallows.

But I wanted to show the box for those of you who remember it looking like this.

Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK2zcKqFLf0&feature=related

We all liked these boxes, did we not? I never had a bite of

Boo-Berry or the two others below, but I liked the cartoon-y boxes.

Now pour yourself a bowl of cereal and watch This clip of Schoolhouse Rock!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkO87mkgcNo

1980's Junk Food

Lik-m-Aid (later called Fun Dip) was one of my favorite candy products. Probably because it was straight sugar, but that is neither here nor there. I got some of my best ideas wired on this
stuff.

I was a Willy Wonka fan. I loved the packaging most of all. Rinky Dinks were really neat. The box was like Nerds, but there were three different openings for the three flavors. I was really impressed with the boxes of Willy Wonka candy.

Dude...Dinosour Eggs were my favorite!!!! My dad would buy my sister and I these at the Zuma Beach food stand. Each black box contained one special jawbreaker egg that changed colors several times until it left you with a sweet tart in your mouth. We would swing on the swings at Zuma while sucking on these eggs. Not the safest thing to do, but it was the 80's.

Gobstoppers were what I turned to when I couldn't get Dinosour Eggs. I did like that there was less sucking involved. I was impatient and wanted to bite into the candy.

Now on to gum.

This gum was very grainy- you could taste the sugar in it.

The flavor didnt last, but I didnt care because I liked the hot pink

package.

If we asked for gum, my mom would buy us care free because it

was sugarless. Gag.

This was the best tasting gum- my favorite.

Freshen up was kind of groce because there was a liquid center.

I loved to smoosh them open though. Once I chewed the liquid into the gum, I lost interest.

I liked the Bubble Yum packaging because of the bubble letters.

All girls in the 80's were into bubble letters!

I liked these tiny Chiclets. I would pour the entire bag in my mouth

at once (*hangs head in shame*)

Sometimes I would talk my grandparents into buying me Fruit Striped Gum. I liked the packaging a lot and the flavor was very different.

Sometimes my sister and I would get lucky and get some cookies

with our burgers at McDonalds. McDonalds burgers werent considered

bad for you back then!

My mom did buy Otter Pops! Rejoice! I liked Poncho Punch.

My dad sometimes treated us to Slush Puppies or Icees (slurpies?)at the liquor store

I would always choose a Bomb Pop from the ice cream man, because I

thought it was the biggest thing you could get.

Things other kids had in their lunch boxes that I coveted:

Anything by Dolly Madison or Hostess. The most I would get in the

way of junk food in my lunch was a granola bar with chocolate chips

or a capri sun.

I was so jealous of kids who had Hawaiian Punch drink boxes.

I would be drinking Hansen's soda and shit.

Chips from the 80's

We werent really into chips, but I had to show the retro packaging!

My mom bought me these- I liked them better than the orange ones.

My sister and I would get one of these on a good night. We got into a brawl once because I swiped my finger through her mashed potatoes.

Remember when Del Taco bags looked like this? No? Just me?...okay then...

Now that we have looked at all of this junk food, let's watch the commercial for

Yuck Mouth! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkukCEncadc&feature=related

See more vintage packaging at http://www.theimaginaryworld.com/page4.html
and on grickily's photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/60585948@N00/3133541665/ .

More great wrappers and packaging at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mankatt ! Check it out!

Lilly Pulitzer: Fugly Yet Happy Prints

These are Lilly dresses from the 1960's

Lilly Pulitzer is another designer I love but don't wear. I never wear prints, which is what the brand is all about! Lilly was married to the grandson of Joseph Pulitzer in the 60's (yes, the guy who came up with the Pulitzer Prize.) They owned a bunch of citrus groves in Palm Beach, Florida. She was rich and bored so she started a fresh juice stand. Her clothes kept becoming stained from all the juice, so she had her dressmaker make her a shift dress with a bright, colorful, printed pattern. Lilly's former classmate, Jackie O, wore one of the shift dresses on the cover of Life magazine and made the brand world famous. The rest is history, people. Lilly Pulitzer was most famous in the 80's, when the preppy fad was prominent. Women had to have Lilly Beach dresses and golf skirts.





Lilly Patterns: Don't ask me to remember them all

Cute beach dresses for the Palm Beach set

Colorful, happy patterns

Lilly golf skirts, above and below