The 90s.
Eclectic style, music and taste. I was born in 1994, and the thing I remember most about being a 90s kid was the nostalgia factor of all the toys, styles and pop culture. Although it seems like forever ago, the ’90s were simpler and not so tech-oriented as we are today. Gone were the days of texting, social media and FaceTime with your best friends. Let me take you on a throwback of what my favorite parts of being a 90’s kid consisted of.
- Blockbuster – Such a thing of the past now, but video rental stores were the best parts of Friday and Saturday nights. Your parents would take you to blockbuster pick out some movies to watch with the family and maybe grab a few movie-theater-sized boxes of sour worms or milk duds. Video rental stores are completely phased out now due to streaming movies at the click of a button from whatever streaming service you have. But there is nothing like picking up a VHS, a video cassette tape and having to put that in your VCR and hear it ramp up to screeching decibels just to get it to the start of the movie. After all, be kind rewind, right?
2. Lip Smacker’s – When I read this, I can still smell it. I remember having bags full of different flavors of Lip Smacker’s lip balm. It was all about collecting the best flavors and being the “cool girl” in elementary school who didn’t have just the ordinary Chapstick. What were my flavor choices? It had to be cookie dough, strawberry and sapphire berry.
3. Lisa Frank – From pencil pouches to folders, Lisa Frank was by far the most popular brand when it came to school supplies. We were mesmerized by the bright, out-of-this-world color scheme with fun characters like tigers, golden retrievers and dolphins. Even to this day, I will sometimes see some Lisa Frank pencil pouches or folders and it makes me wonder, how is this still a thing?
4. Gel Pens – I think I literally had one in every color. If you wanted fun pens that were so satisfying to write with, gel pens understood the assignment. You had to have the black colored paper to make whatever you were drawing pop. It gave it the illusion it was like you were creating a neon sign. I don’t know if gel pens are still a thing, but they really should be.
5. Backstreet Boys – It wouldn’t be the 90s if we didn’t have at least one boy band in the mix. It was no contest between the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC; it was Backstreet Boys all the way. I probably knew every song and owned every CD they made. Yes, I said CD, compact disc, and I would pop that into my portable CD player, with my headphones and pretend it was me at the concert knowing every single lyric to every single song.
6. Sticker Gem Earrings – I had a love-hate relationship with these things. Loved it because I couldn’t get my ears pierced yet because of my parents. Hated it because they stayed on for a matter of 2.5 seconds. Either way, they were the best accessory that went with anything, until they fell off and you didn’t even realize it. I’m sure you found them months later randomly in your house.
7. Shania Twain – My country queen. Your songs are the ones I still listen to, to this day. The lyrics never fade away in my head. You had to love her, the style, the sass, the relatable songs. She was the “it” countrywoman.
8. Furby – Creepy, yet cute? All I know is those eyes staring into my soul, even looking at pictures of them is still scary. Do you remember how the more you got and grew your collection, they would be able to communicate with one another? All through a sensor, that was the pivotal technology happening in the ’90s.
9. Clueless – By far one of my favorite movies of all time. Cher, the iconic fashion, the high school drama. I mean, I was totally buggin’ over this movie.
10. Beanie Babies – If you haven’t heard the news Beanie Babies are worth a fortune if you hung on to the right ones. If you ditched them at the Goodwill or the yard sale pile, you are out of luck kids. I had the biggest collection of Beanie Babies growing up: the bears, the monkey, the rabbit and the pug. You had your favorite, and you know it. You could tell because it went with you everywhere.
The ’90s were the age of uniqueness. So many different products that we wish would somehow make a comeback or maybe we just want to leave in the past. All I know is, 90s kids, do you miss the days when we weren’t glued to the screens, and we had things to do other than worrying about the next selfie we took?