Millennials Are Looking Back At '90s Trends And Realizing How Old They Really Are

How many of us remember the angry and frustrating moments of trying to watch our favorite movies while having to change tapes, since many movies exceeded the time limit of each VHS tape? The luxury of streaming a movie nonstop, rewinding whenever we want, and having a list of hundreds of movies waiting was unthinkable back then. We would either have to watch the movies we had at home or rent it in video clubs that had annoying policies such as the “please rewind” policy.

The shock chewing gum was introduced to customers around the 1950s and was a pretty innovative idea in the market back then. The device became a practical joke amongst teenagers who would buy the gum, disguise it as normal gum, and then would offer it to their friends who would in turn get a mild shock once they touched it. At some point, the gum became kind of controversial when it was found out that some militaries used it as a form of torture.

Slap bracelets came through in 1983 and were actually invented by a high school shop teacher called Stuart Anders. Anders first created “slap wraps” that were basically a long piece of steel that was curved into the shape of a bracelet that would eventually slap into an unsuspecting wrist. The idea was bought by Main Street Toy Co., who introduced the bracelet not only as a toy but also as one of the biggest children fashion statements of the 90s.

Kids who grew up in the 90s absolutely loved their sky dancers. Although the toy can be barely found today, back then, kids would actually collect them and play with them for hours. The animated spin-off was made of a pull-string base with a dol that had foam wings. When the string was pulled the doll would gracefully launch into the air and would “fly” while spinning its wings. The toy was so successful that in 1996 an animated TV spinoff was produced by Gaumont Multimedia.