Posted on 07/02/2010 10:31:26 AM PDT by MissTed
They were the best of fads, they were the worst of fads—all at the same time. The faddish objects or our childhood were sometimes loved and sometimes hated but they were hard to ignore. Here are a list of the 50 best/worst from the 1960s to today:
1. Beanie Babies What made it the best: You and your friends loved collecting them. What made it the worst: Old ladies loved collecting them too.
2. Bratz Dolls What made it the best: 559 different dolls to choose from. What made it the worst: They all looked like strippers.
3. Cabbage Patch Dolls What made it the best: You got a birth certificate certifying when you “adopted” them. What made it the worst: They were just an overpriced stuffed doll.
4. Charm necklaces What made it the best: You could create them to match your personality. What made it the worst: For every birthday someone would give you a cheap charm instead of a real gift.
5. Cheap cologne What made it the best: The girl you had a crush on loved the way you smelled. What made it the worst: Every other six grade boy smelled like Old Spice/Polo/Drakkar Noir too.
6. Chia Pets What made it the best: They were easy to grow. What made it the worst: Not matter what shape they were supposed to be, they always ended up looking like a green afro.
7. Cinnamon Toothpicks What made it the best: Liquid cinnamon on a stick to make your tongue burn—in a good way. What made it the worst: Because you couldn’t stop at just one, your tongue blistered—in a bad way.
8. Clackers What made it the best: You could scare your little brother by clacking them right beside his head. What made it the worst: You were a little brother.
9. Energy Drinks What made it the best: After a can of Red Bull you could stay up all night texting. What made it the worst: After the sugar crash, you felt like you needed to go to rehab.
10. Friendship Bracelets What made it the best: Getting them from your friends. What made it the worst: Not getting them from people who you thought were your friends—but obviously not since they gave them to every one but you, even to that ugly girl that they talked about behind her back and that other girl . . .
11. Friendship pins What made it the best: They were cheap and easy to make, all you needed was colored beads and safety pins. What made it the worst: Whenever you opened the pins the beads would spill everywhere.
12. Frisbees What made it the best: Could make anyone feel like a minor athlete. What made it the worst: Unless you had a frisbee-catching dog, they quickly became boring.
13. Furbies What made it the best: Your first robot! What made it the worst: Big-eyed robots are kinda creepy.
14. Garbage Pail Kids What made it the best: They were disgusting. What made it the worst: They were disgusting.
15. Gel Pens What made it the best: Notes to friends looked better in neon orange. What made it the worst: They always smeared.
16. Hacky Sack What made it the best: They were easy to carry around; you could start a game anywhere. What made it the worst: Phish-listening hippies made them uncool
17. Hello Kitty What made it the best: They’re so cute. What made it the worst: Good grief, they’re everywhere!
18. Hula Hoops What made it the best: Having “hooping” contest with friends. What made it the worst: Trying to find a place to store them.
19. Kewpie Dolls What made it the best: They’re cute. What made it the worst: They’re creepy.
20. Koosh Balls What made it the best: You could throw them around without fear of breaking anything. What made it the worst: They were only fun for five minutes.
21. Lava Lamps What made it the best: The calming effect of watching the lava go up and down. What made it the worst: They turned you into a hippie.
22. Lipsmackers What made it the best: What could be better than makeup that taste like root beer? What made it the worst: Realizing that it was just flavored chapstick.
23. Mad Libs What made it the best: The fun of thinking up strange/funny/naughty words to fill in the blanks. What made it the worst: After the third one they started to seem all the same.
24. Magic 8-Ball What made it the best: More fun than flipping a coin. What made it the worst: Ask again later.
25. Choose Your Own Adventure Novels What made it the best: You got to be the hero of the story. What made it the worst: The stories usually weren’t worth the page-flipping effort.
26. Matchbox Cars/Hot Wheels What made it the best: They were almost as cool as having a real Ferrari/Corevette/Camaro/etc. What made it the worst: Dad stepping on them in the middle of the night on his way to the bathroom.
27. Mood Rings What made it the best: People could tell what mood you were in by looking at your finger. What made it the worst: Unless “hot and sweaty” counts as a mood, they couldn’t detect anything.
28. Nerf Balls What made it the best: Finally, a ball that you could bean your siblings with and not get in trouble! What made it the worst: If they came in contact with nature (water, dogs, etc) they’d become a mess.
29. Ouija Boards What made it the best: They were dangerous and mysterious. What made it the worst: They were a starter kit to occultism.
30. Paper Footballs What made it the best: They were easy to make. What made it the worst: No matter how many you made, the teacher always took them away.
31. Pet Rocks What made it the best: It’s a rock. . . and a pet! Get it? What made it the worst: What? I paid how much for a rock?
32. Pez What made it the best: They were cheap and easy to collect. What made it the worst: The candy was terrible.
33. Pogs What made it the best: You could both collect them and win them. What made it the worst: Your friends would always get them taken away by the teacher.
34. Pokemon What made it the best: You could collect them all. What made it the worst: No matter how much money you spent, you could never collect them all.
35. Pop Rocks What made it the best: The fizz and the pop. What made it the worst: Didn’t they kill that Mikey kid from the LIFE cereal commercial?
36. Rubik’s Cube What made it the best: They made you think you were smart enough to solve them. What made it the worst: They made you realize you weren’t smart enough to solve them.
37. Scratch ’n’ Sniff Stickers What made it the best: The cherry and banana stickers that smelled like cherry and banana (sort of). What made it the worst: The licorice one that smelled like the inside of a baby’s diaper.
38. Sea Monkeys What made it the best: The ad in the back of the comic books made it look like they were people from the lost city of Atlantis. What made it the worst: Brine shrimp? Seriously?
39. Silly Bandz What made it the best: They are cheap and easy to collect. What made it the worst: Realizing that your generation is getting stuck with one of the lamest fads ever.
40. Silly Putty What made it the best: You could press them on the Sunday comics and make a colored copy of the picture. What made it the worst: There wasn’t much else you could do with them.
41. Skateboarding What made it the best: The rush of riding for the first time. What made it the worst: The first rush to the ER after you fell off and broke your arm.
42. Slime What made it the best: Sliming your friends, brothers, and sisters. What made it the worst: Trying to get snot green plastic out of the carpet.
43. Slinky What made it the best: Those cool television ads that showed it “walking” down the stairs. What made it the worst: They taught you the meaning of false advertising.
44. Super Balls What made it the best: Nothing could bounce higher. What made it the worst: They’d always bounce to a place you couldn’t find them.
45. Swatch Watches What made it the best: They made you feel sophisticated. What made it the worst: Your parents wouldn’t buy you an overpriced piece of Swiss plastic.
46. Tamagotchi What made it the best: Like having a pet that you could carry around in your pocket. What made it the worst: Like having all the responsibility of having a pet without the loyalty, love, etc.
47. Troll Dolls What made it the best: They were adorable. What made it the worst: When you’re not looking, they eat your soul.
48. Yo-Yos What made it the best: The sense of accomplishment you got from learning to “walk the dog.” What made it the worst: The stupid string always got tangled and knotted up.
49. Waxed lips candy What made it the best: You could convince that cute girl/boy to give you “kiss” on your wax lips. What made it the worst: The heartbreaking let-down of wax lip kisses.
50. Whiffle balls What made it the best: The bat. What made it the worst: You could never figure out how to actually play Whiffle ball.
‘Mad Libs. I missed that one but it is a redundancy anyway and these days we have a plethora of them starting with the current White House occupant.’
What a great idea for the July 4th BBQ! Might be more fun that ‘Apples to Apples’!!!! Thanks!!
Transcripts..... I need transcripts.....!!!!!
‘Mad Libs. I missed that one but it is a redundancy anyway and these days we have a plethora of them starting with the current White House occupant.’
What a great idea for the July 4th BBQ! Might be more fun than ‘Apples to Apples’!!!! Thanks!!
Transcripts..... I need transcripts.....!!!!!
Tamagotchi was a little electronic device that created a virtual “pet” on an LCD screen. They were usually attached to a keychain, and were maybe two inches by two inches. Instead of being a game where you played the whole thing at once, you had to feed them every few hours, play with them, clean them, and turn the lights on and off at intervals so they could sleep. If you neglected them for too long, they would run away or die. Depending upon how you tended to them, you could make a game go on for several weeks, giving it a few minutes of attention every few hours. The way you tended to the pet also affected the way it grew up. It would become either a monster or a lovable pet depending upon how you treated it.
Thanks! I don’t know how I missed out on that one.
Slime was awesome. Until it came in contact with hair, carpet, dirt, food, pets, water, etc.
I liked the timeless classics best: legos, playdough, army men, toy guns, matchbox cars. Note to the author, matchbox cars have been around waaay to long and sold waaay to many to several generations to be classified as a fad.
“Also try playing catch with a frisbee where you have to “catch” it with a hunting knife.”
So, I am going to run around with a 6” blade and try to catch a frisbee. What could possibly go wrong?
Every boy and girl had their own individual marble bag.
We played a version of marbles that required digging a small hole in the ground. The teachers finally banned us from playing that version when one of the teachers sprained her ankle after stepping into one of them.
I had clackers too. All the kids at school had massively bruised right arms. They were finally banned from school because the string broke on one and sent the glass clacker hurtling thru the air, narrowing missing a kids head. What were people thinking?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.