Nostalgic Items That Will Take You Back to the “Good Old Days”

There’s nothing that discloses your age, like feeling nostalgia for items that no longer exist, like a phone line with a cord or Mcdonald’s pizza. It’s mind-blowing when you think of all the technological advancements we’ve lived through and the changes in fashion and style we’ve witnessed throughout the years. 

We’re confident that if any kid nowadays is asked what this is, they won’t know. But to us, this was the portal to a great time. This, friends, is the TV game switch, an item you would plug into the TV to connect games that are now vintage and almost extinct, like the original Atari and Tetris. 

The moment you heard the catchy first notes of the theme song, you knew it was time to leave the TV and head off to bed. M*A*S*H hits differently, considering how far television shows have evolved since then.  

These bring back some good road trip memories for those of us who were around at the time! Although compared to nowadays standards, they would only change the temperature from hot to warm/cold-ish. Still, it was awesome owning one of these cool aircon. 

If you saw these at the dinner table, you knew that you were about to have a nice meal because these were the charger plates used to make your dinner look extra-fancy. They were also common for holding Hawaiian rolls and buns.   

This is an archeological item we last saw a long time ago! Legend says people had to have a particular device like this to wake them up. Can you believe it? We much preferred the one with radio because there would be some great morning shows back in the day.  

This isn’t your average toilet roll. This one contained ice cream inside. And it was terrific. One of these on a hot summer day was the perfect way to cool down and sweeten up. You didn’t have a million flavors to choose from. Actually, there was just the pink-green-orange flavor, but it was delicious! 

To be fair, many home sewers still use these iconic tomatoes nowadays, but they used to be so common it has become part of the imagination of things of the past. Now we know they’re called pin cushions, but back in the day, they were mom’s prickly plush tomato toy. 

Although this brand of chocolate milk mix is still readily available, before the rebrand to Nesquik, it used to be simply called Quik. It only came in chocolate flavor, unlike nowadays, where there is vanilla, strawberry, and even banana, but chocolate remains a classic.  

These iconic chairs meant summer and backaches, they were awfully uncomfortable to sit on, but the upside was that you’d need to go for a swim for a longer period of time just to avoid them. On the other hand, they weren’t sturdy enough to carry too much weight, so they would break easily.   

Remember when we had to share a phone line with our entire family? Geez! Everyone had to be conscious about spending less time on a call because it was expensive and in case another phone call came through. 

Back in the day, toys weren’t always battery-powered; they were good old mechanical elements that, once broken, couldn’t be replaced. But this parking was something different, hours of ensured fun making the cars go up the ramp and down the elevator, over and over again! 

Every baby deserves the fisher price activity center. No batteries were needed! Everything was good old analogous sound-making, twisting, and moving. It was as interactive as it could possibly get. This piece of vintage memorabilia is fondly remembered by many generations, especially those that were born between the 70s and 80s. 

It wasn’t enough to own CDs; you had to make sure everyone knew what you owned. It was the equivalent of sharing your Spotify playlists, except way heavier and difficult to access. The CD portfolio is one of those items we forget ever existed because it seems a bit inconvenient.   

We still drink soft drinks from a can nowadays, but you have to flick the top to open the allocated drinking gap. Hawaiian fruit punch was a whole other ball game—it was a literal can that you could only open with a can opener. So why did anyone come up with this?

This was the real deal when it was time to play in the park. Everyone wanted to be on the wheel, never the one spinning it, but this probably taught us more about democracy than school because if you were voted to be the spinner, you had to do it. 

This was THE salad bowl, back when salad meant iceberg lettuce with ranch dressing on top. They were allocated only for salads because they couldn’t stand much heat and couldn’t properly retain liquids, but our moms knew they were the most fashionable salad bowls available.

If one of these was in the fridge, you knew the good stuff was there. These were grandma’s lending Pyrex that you would have to return once you finished eating whatever delicious meal it contained originally. Finding these for sale at vintage and thrift shops is still possible. 

If your mom had a late shift at work or wasn’t feeling like cooking, this was the go-to meal to ensure everyone was very happy. The hamburger helper is a baked macaroni pasta dish with ground meat, cheese, and seasoning. You can make it in one pot, and it takes around thirty minutes.

We were all artists with Lite Brite—no need for technique or talent, just pure messing around with the order of the plastic pieces to come up with a bright composition. It seems like it was only yesterday when this toy gave us hope to become the best artist in the world. 

This was THE tapestry design that everyone wanted back in the day. The most fashionable living rooms had all matching floral sofas. And questionable color palettes. Although floral tapestry is making a comeback, it will never equal the tackiness of the originals.

If you were around in the 70s or in a house built around that time, you very likely had a rug like this in your house. It was an extremely common style that was considered very trendy, and to be honest, we’re still wondering why. 

This picture doesn’t even show the whole car and we can already picture the exterior. These doors were so heavy there was no need for a childproof lock. If you opened one too fast, someone could get knocked over, and the door wouldn’t even shift.  

These desks were excruciating, especially if you had to sit through an awfully dull class. Not only have the desks evolved, but also teaching methods have become more modern and interactive. Back then, students had to memorize their lessons through rote learning and writing down their lessons repeatedly.

If you remember these floor tiles, you had a good childhood. These were the absolute best for floor sock skating and sliding. They don’t make them like they used to. They gave any kitchen a lot of personality, even if cleaning wasn’t as easy as modern floor tiles. 

If these walls could speak, honestly, we don’t know what they would say about their owner’s design choices. Even though wooden panel walls like these are purely decorative and are still used today, it isn’t common to find them in natural wood color. Now they’re painted over and have a more elegant twist. 

The Poo-Chi Robot Dog was what dreams were made of—it was listed in every child’s letter to Santa Claus. It was also the embodiment of technological advancement. The dog’s eyes were very expressive, and it made weird sounds when you talked to it. 

If the teacher came into the classroom pushing one of these overhead projectors, you knew it would be a good class. Before Powerpoint presentations, these bad boys were the equivalent of showing your exposition skills in front of the class. 

Before Netflix, Prime, HBO Max, and all of the thousands of streaming services we have nowadays are only a few clicks away. We had to buy the movies we wanted to watch at home. Not only that, but they were extremely bulky. 

Teachers had it tough in the past! This is an example of an archaic attendance book, it was super easy to mess up, and teachers had to carry them around to each class. This seemed very normal back then, but nowadays, teachers can just take attendance through their laptops or iPads, and the apps will do the math for them. 

It was either this or Solitaire. These were the computer games we would have access to in the 90s-early 00s, and they were the bomb! This game was a logic puzzle. You had to click through to avoid the “mines,” The point was to clear the whole board without detonating them.     

Kids nowadays will never know the excitement of having a physical paper note message sent to them in the middle of a class. It was an adrenaline-loaded group effort that could be easily sabotaged by any of the students in between the sender and the recipient. 

If you lived in a shady part of town, you probably had one of these. Having a car stereo was expensive, and you didn’t want anyone getting their hands on it. The “face” was the most valuable part of the console and couldn’t function without it, hence why there were even special pouches made to carry them. 

Some kids were really talented with this toy, it was one of the best-selling toys in the 1960s, and the hype remained well into the 90s. There have been many versions, but the original remains the best, with its red frame, gray screen, and white knobs, an ultimate classic.

Longer movies weren’t popular in the past because they meant extra expenses for production and distribution companies. VHSs could only hold so many minutes of a film, so sometimes it was necessary to put the movie in two cassettes. Titanic is one of those that is remembered most fondly. 

This was such a fun outdoor activity, although eventually, it was possible to find store-bought versions made of plastic and with nice designs, the original meant to craft them yourself. Two cans and two pieces of rope would suffice to train your legs for walking on “stilts.” 

Laser pointers are still easily available, but they’re mostly in the pet section since they’re a great cat entertainer. Back in the day, they were used as toys, which they shouldn’t have been, but caution wasn’t the norm. 

Hours and hours of fun would go past, especially on those hot summer days. There were many rules that could be bent depending on who you were playing with. But the goal was basically to wrap the rope around the pole by hitting the ball past your opponent.

If you were a kid in the 90s, you probably bought a pack of chips just for the Tazo. They were small plastic circular chips that every schoolyard craved. There were various types of games that kids came up with in order to swap their collectible toys. 

The Snap Wrap was a fashion statement reserved for only the coolest kids on the block. Slapping one of these on your wrist was super fun, although if you hit hard enough, they could also cause some bruises—that’s the price of beauty!  

More like a helicopter ballerina! The Sky Dancer was the most fabulous doll to own in the 90s because it could reach far heights. Although the landing was unpredictable, Sky Dancers were very fun to operate. You just had to pull the string, and off she would go!