What I Miss Most From my Childhood

Everyone has something they remember fondly from their childhood. I used to miss slap bracelets, until I found them for sale in CVS for Valentine’s Day a couple of years ago. I’ve now satisfied my longing for slap bracelets. I still miss other things from my younger years, though. Things like Crystal Pepsi, little radios that fit in your ears and are powered by watch batteries, unusually flavored Hidden Valley salad dressings, Fruitopia, etc.

The thing I miss the most from my childhood is by far the Hidden Valley Pizza flavored salad dressing. The taco flavored dressing comes in a close second. I’m a child of the 90’s. I was born in the late 80’s, but my first memories are in the early 1990’s, and I look back fondly on so many things I can no longer have. Hidden Valley dressings are by far the things I miss the most, because I love salads so much. My mother had to keep a bottle of each on hand at all times, because I devoured them like they were going out of style (which, apparently, they were!) Do you remember these amazing salad dressings? Here’s an ad I found by Hidden Valley for their “NEW” flavors.

Oh my stars! These were amazing dressings!

Crystal Pepsi was also something I remember with a certain fondness. I guess it was assumed that because the soda was clear, it was somehow good for you, and that was the reason Pepsi created it. All I know is that I liked it more than regular Pepsi because I thought it tasted better. I don’t know if it was just my mind playing tricks on me, but I still remember that I would beg my mother to buy it rather than any other flavor of soda. I don’t remember exactly when Pepsi stopped selling it, but I look back now and wish they’d bring it back. Please tell me I’m not the only person who remembers this soda!

Some of the things I’m glad went the way of the Dodo bird are those horrible refillable pencils that AREN’T Bic. Do you remember them? They were usually brightly colored plastic barrels filled with these little white pellets that fit inside each other with a small piece of sharp pencil lead in them. These horrible little things.

UGH!

What about Lisa Frank? Remember all that psychedelic art little girls would get for school? We’d have our Trapper Keepers stuffed full of Lisa Frank folders, we had Lisa Frank pens and pencils and notebooks, and we even had Lisa Frank scotch tape. Bright colors seemed to be all the rage during the 90’s, and I was no exception to this rule. If you can’t remember Lisa Frank, here’s a great example.

This is enough to give anyone a headache!

What are some of the things you miss from your childhood, and what are some things you wish were still around or still popular? Maybe I’ve forgotten something. Let me know what you look back on fondly or in horror.