Righteous Facts You’ll Know if You Were an ‘80s Kid
"I want an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!" —Ralphie Parker in "A Christmas Story" (1983)
Childhood in the ‘80s was much different than it is now. Kids who grew up in the ‘80s remember things like rubber bracelets, Cabbage Patch Kids, the first video game console, tween book series, The Goonies, and Alf. They grew up with computers but not the internet, the original Transformers toys, VCRs and not PVRs, and Sony Walkmans that played tapes instead of MP3 Players. Below are 42 Righteous facts you’ll know if you were a kid in the 80s.
80s Facts
42. Growing in the Garden
Cabbage Patch Kids went from craze to frenzy in the early 80s and by 1983, 3 million dolls had been ‘adopted.’ The toy was a soft, sculpted doll with a vinyl head, fabric body, and yarn hair.
The dolls had different hairstyles and outfits and came with a birth certificate and adoption papers.
They became the most successful introduction of a doll in toy history, and were the must-have toy in Christmas of ‘83, and the demand resulted in outbursts of violence in retail stores from customers.
41. Read Me a Story
Reading Rainbow debuted on PBS in 1983 and was a half-hour TV show that encouraged children to read. Each episode had a different book and theme, and the story was often narrated by a celebrity reader. The show also featured a book review segment at the end, where children would give reviews of books they liked.
40. An Accessory and a Watch
The Swatch watch was a must-have accessory of the 1980s. They were designed to be casual and fun, and totally interchangeable. The straps were in different colors, and the watch faces had different designs.
One popular trend was to wear multiple styles at the same time, sometimes as many as 6. By 1987, more than 10 million watches had been produced, including scented ones.
