Childhood Fads/Trends

[Lee]

spinning tops

Ooo! Like Beyblade?

[Phlameseeker]

Football stickers were the longest lasting fad. I used to buy packets every day on my way home from school, then have to try n trade em cos you got pretty much the same ones in every packet xD Erm, jacks (you bounce a bouncy ball n have to pick up these little metal things in between bounces), Pogs, Krazybones, Yo Yos, Scooters, Pokemon, Roller Blades etc. I'm sure theres more but nothing else comes to mind.

[Yixzy]

Oh, and of course SCOOBIES!

Wow, how could I forget them?

[theonlysaneone]

Some very popular fads were yo-yos, collecting and swapping Spice Girls post cards, Tamagotchis (the only fad I actually participated in), bouncy balls, and plastic pacifiers in all colours and sizes. Oh, and the 'Push Pop' lollipops. 10 years ago that was THE candy. Man, fads are so weird.

Pacifiers aren't exactly a fad. There's a drug-related reason for them, and because of that, they've been banned in a lot of schools (including my own).

Anyway, I remember yo-yos, heelies (shoes with wheels in the heels), scooters, Pokemon (which is coming back thanks to the DS wireless capabilities), snap bracelets, boybands, tech decks (finger skateboards), and tamagotchis/giga pets.

[Pickles]

Snap bracelets - those ones that you could straighten and then you'd smack it on your wrist and it would wrap around you. Those things hurt if you did it too many times in a row.

OMG. Snap Wraps! (at least, that's what we called 'em). I still even have one around somewhere. I remember they were rather quickly banned from school because people were getting hurt on 'em.

{blanks} I can't remember any other fads that haven't been mentioned. I wasn't really one of the "in" crowd, so I never really paid too much attention.

[Regan]

I'm not sure if this is a fad, but I remember in early elementary school, all the girls wearing those stirrup pants. They had elastic at the bottom of the legs, that went underneath the foot. I had so many pairs of those... Thanks mom.

[MarchingDuck]

kindergarten: new kids on the block (Jas understands lol)
1st grade was side pony tails and crimped hair.
2nd grade was generally when everyone joined girl scouts (if you wernt already in brownies, which I was)
3rd and 4th grade were pogs and yo-yos (the trick kinds)
5th grade was when you started band

also elementary school for me had Jirassic park toys, the ones that moved or make noises. Also the populatization of the american girl dolls. Also the ever banned (and I still dont know why) trapper keepers.

middle school was clip on or magnetic body jewerly, skate boards, scrunchies (the return of...*shudder*), henna tattoos and ripped jeans (in the knee mostly)

[munduses]

Some very popular fads were yo-yos, collecting and swapping Spice Girls post cards, Tamagotchis (the only fad I actually participated in), bouncy balls, and plastic pacifiers in all colours and sizes. Oh, and the 'Push Pop' lollipops. 10 years ago that was THE candy. Man, fads are so weird.

Pacifiers aren't exactly a fad. There's a drug-related reason for them, and because of that, they've been banned in a lot of schools (including my own).

Well, I don't know. That may be so, but it still was a fad, at least in my school. It lasted for a long time, too. And what kind of drug-related issue are you talking about? Never heard (just as a note, I hope you know I'm not talking about normal baby pacifiers, but of full plastic ones that you collect, check the picture).

[KMB1933]

Oh yeah, I forgot!! Last year, there was a short craze where everyone started playing with rubik's cubes but I don't know why it became outdated so quickly.

[Christopher]

Ah, even before the marbles were Oddbodz cards.

[shapu]

I was never really plugged into what was cool and what wasn't, but I'll give it a whirl:

Kindergarten: Animal-like backpacks. Even I had one. Not. A. Word.
Also Transformers, Go-Bots, M.A.S.K., and G.I. Joe.
1st grade: Candy jewelry. All the freakin' time.
3rd grade: Hypercolor shirts.
5th grade: Billy Ray Cyrus, M.C. Hammer, Vanilla Ice. Zubaz pants. Skateboarding - this was when it first got really popular on a national scale, I think.
6th grade: Body Glove logos on anything.
7th grade: The invention of fire.

[MarchingDuck]

I was never really plugged into what was cool and what wasn't, but I'll give it a whirl:

Kindergarten: Animal-like backpacks. Even I had one. Not. A. Word.
Also Transformers, Go-Bots, M.A.S.K., and G.I. Joe.
1st grade: Candy jewelry. All the freakin' time.
3rd grade: Hypercolor shirts.
5th grade: Billy Ray Cyrus, M.C. Hammer, Vanilla Ice. Zubaz pants. Skateboarding - this was when it first got really popular on a national scale, I think.
6th grade: Body Glove logos on anything.
7th grade: The invention of fire.

Shapu, I still have an animal backpack from elementary school. Its tigger I think.
And I still love candy jewerly, but it sucks when you sweat and it stains your skin.

and Shapu, remember dayglo? that stuff was crazy! And Jelly shoes! They're so cute but murder your feet.

Pacifiers aren't exactly a fad. There's a drug-related reason for them, and because of that, they've been banned in a lot of schools (including my own).

I used to go to Raves my freshmen & sophomore year of high school. Trust me, you want to see pacifiers? go to a rave. Its the easiest way to spot a "candy kid". (a candy kid is generally someone dressed in neon colours who, as the name suggests, eats candy generally laced with LSD or "X").
*please note I just went to raves for the awesome techno, not the crazy drugs...infact after seeing what alot of those drugs did to people, I never want to go near them.

[Ange]

Hi-top sneakers and scrunched socks!
Day-glo shirts and shorts.
Care Bears, My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake...the list goes on.

Also, can't forget...Starter jackets and windbreakers. My goodness lol.

The weird thing is, half those things have come back again recently!

(And ohmygosh May, I used to get those slap-on wrist bracelets every time I went to the grocery store out of those 25 cent toy machines!)

[DarkAngel]

I used to own a couple of crimpers... and admit to wearing a side ponytail in elementary school

Snap bracelets ~ My kids have a fuzzy one floating around the house.
Friendship bracelets ~ I always wanted one
Animal backpacks ~ I so loved those.
Garbage pale kids cards ~ I don't miss those.
Baseball cards with the gum inside the pack.
Pogs ~ my brother was so into those.
Wearing several pairs of colored (usually neon) socks and scrunching them down.

And most of the same stuff shapu, MarchingDuck and angisfab mentioned lol.

I still love My Little Ponies, Care Bears, etc. I gave all my old stuff to my daughter since those 80s toys have come back. Now we have fun buying the newer ones, even though they were way better in the "old days"

[shapu]

I totally forgot about everything Punky Brewster when I was in the 2nd grade or so - mismatched laces, hightops when the situation didn't call for them...

And I *do* remember jellies, from like kindergarten probably through 3rd grade.

Here's another one: British Knights Lights shoes (also called BK Lights). They were endorsed by Joe Montana, of all people - you'd think a guy with four super bowl championships could find better products to endorse, but whatever. Anyway, those things were really big when I was in I guess 7th or 8th grade, although mostly for younger kids - in the 5th grade or thereabouts.