90 Things We Loved About Growing Up a ’90s Kid
Here are 90 things that all ’90s kids remember and love:
FASHION AND BEAUTY TRENDS
Circling everything you wanted in the dELiA*s and Alloy catalogs.
Yin-Yangs on EVERYTHING.
Peace signs on EVERYTHING.
Lip Smackers Vanilla Roll on Lip Gloss. Tasted like frosting.
Dyeing your hair with Kool-Aid to be more like Gwen Stefani, but ending up with a sticky, fruit punch mess.
Covering your face and body in glitter before the school dance, specifically Bath and Body Works Art Stuff (berry-go-round, electric apple, blazin’ blueberry).
Going to Claire’s because they had EVERYTHING you needed – inflatable chairs, butterfly clips, a visor, and packs of like 76 earrings for $5.
Bandana-print tank tops. Thanks Destiny’s Child.
Dousing yourself in CK One, Tommy Girl, or Clinique Happy.
L.E.I. and Mudd jeans with glitter.
50 inch JNCO jeans.
Shark tooth necklaces.
Adidas velcro sandals.
No Fear shirts.
Slicking your hair back with L.A. Looks so tight that it gave you a headache.
Bowl cuts for every single boy until about age 13 when he decided to part his hair down the middle.
Having a necklace with your name written on a grain of rice.
BOOKS/TV/MOVIES/MUSIC
Assigning which Spice Girl you and each of your friends were and praying they wouldn’t make you Sporty.
Rushing home after school to watch Zoom on PBS and knowing the theme song word for word.
Waking up early to watch Pappy Drew-It so you could feel like a true artist.
Being SO excited for the Scholastic Book Fair – but mostly because you just loved the smell of the giant eraser tips.
The satisfaction that came with opening and closing the plastic VHS boxes.
Never missing an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the WB.
Speaking of the WB…the dancing frog.
Staying tuned for California Dreams after Saved By the Bell.
The pages falling out of your Where’s Waldo book because you’d looked through it so many times.
I Spy books and how creepy the pictures and riddles were (like looking for the ghost??).
Goosebumps Choose your Own Adventures.
Thinking that your Middle School self could relate to the angst of Alanis Morrissette, Sheryl Crow, Savage Garden or Third Eye Blind.
Having serious twin envy – thanks a lot Olsen twins and Tia and Tamara.
Wishing you had a couch like Loonette and Molly in the Big Comfy Couch.
Celebrity Deathmatch.
Watching Bill Nye and his spinning head intro – “Science Ruuuules.”
How you felt when you learned that Stacey from Babysitters Club had diabetes.
Reading the Boxcar Children series which made homelessness seem kiiiinda fun.
Feeling so adult when you read The Face on the Milk Carton.
The creepy close-ups of boogers and toe nails in cartoons like Ren & Stimpy and Rocko’s Modern Life.
No Scrubs.
When Destiny’s Child had more than 3 members.
Knowing that Cory and Topanga were the closest thing you’d ever see to everlasting love.
Loving The Lion King even more when you found out that JTT voiced Simba.
Wondering where Julie disappeared to on Family Matters when she went upstairs.
Watching American Gladiator before or after Sunday church.
Having at least two VHS tapes of different Looney Tunes episodes you recorded on TV.
Ain’t No Party Like an S-Club Party.
FOOD AND DRINK
Trading War Heads at lunch (Blue Raspberry was the bomb).
The lies we were told about the Indian shooting a star on the Tootsie Pop wrapper (it meant NOTHING!)
Hi-C Ecto Cooler flavor.
Drinking Hugs at Little League.
Grape Fruit Roll-ups (why were they discontinued?)
The Fruit Roll-up vs. Fruit by the Foot debate.
3-D Doritos.
The color-changing spoons in cereal boxes.
A time when there were light brown M&Ms and no blue M&Ms.
That awful red plastic stick you had to use to spread the cheese on your Handi-Snacks.
Double Tape and Big League Chew, because we needed THAT much gum.
TOYS, GAMES, AND TECHNOLOGY
The courage it took to call your crush on their parents’ land-line.
Begging your parents to put a phone in your bedroom (preferably the clear one).
Searching for about eight D-batteries for your boom box.
Writing your milky pens on everything, but mostly just all over your body.
That barking, flipping dog outside of EVERY K.B. Toys.
Wanting a Barbie car because you thought it might mean you could drive to the mall.
Playing MASH (Mansion/Jonathan Taylor Thomas/2 kids/corvette).
How easy it was to shoot buffalo and damn near impossible it was to shoot squirrels in Oregon Trail.
Mastering Cat’s Cradle.
Finally learning how to fold a fortune-teller.
Wooden playgrounds before they were rebuilt for safety reasons.
Parachute day in gym class.
Listing your best friends’ initials at the bottom of your AIM profile, alongside some Vitamin C lyrics, of course.
Talking to SmarterChild on AIM.
Kid Pix computer art.
Carefully ripping off the edges of your dot matrix printer paper (so you could display your awesome Kid Pix creations).
Spinograph Artwork. Another masterpiece.
Perler bead artwork – and having a parent or grown up iron it for you.
Collecting Garbage Pail Kids cards.
Earthworm Jim on Sega.
Thinking Magic Eye was going to change the art world forever.
Learning how to spell out BOOBS on your calculator.
Thinking you could break the world record on your Skip-It.
Begging your teacher to play Head’s Up 7-Up every day.
Convincing yourself that having the Princess Diana Beenie Baby would make you a millionaire someday.
Sketch scented markers (pink and blue were the BEST!)
Glow in the dark stars all over your bedroom ceiling, and noticing them still there 20 years later when you stay at your parents’ house.
Trying to perfectly time out recording a song on the radio.
Koosh balls!
Collecting Pogs but never actually playing the game.
Beating Kirby’s Dream Land on your Gameboy and finding out there was another world.
Miraculously NOT breaking both your ankles wearing Moon Shoes.
Being afraid that your Furby would come to life and murder you in your sleep.
Summers in your neighborhood and just showing up at friends’ houses because no one had cellphones to make plans.