I am depressed. I am still clinging to summer with every fiber in my body. Now that it’s over, I am forced to do some real parenting. I have dreaded getting my kids back on a schedule.
The process involves lots of yelling on the back end of the day (to get in bed) and lots of yelling on the front end of the day (to get the eff up). I was still screaming last May and by then I should’ve had the process down. It is sad that my kids begin and end their day with me screaming at them – making a mental note to knock it off.
The end of summer also triggers memories of some elementary school “h
ad to haves”. Each back-to-school season, the nostalgia washes over me and although I can’t remember what I had for dinner last night, some of the most frivolous of memories remain etched onto my brain.
I don’t remember many trends from junior high and high school because we had moved on to very boring mainstream stuff that is back in style today – cutoff Levi’s from Goodwill, Ray Ban aviators, anything from J Crew, low top Converse, Tretorns and Izod shirts (what the hell happened? we called the
m Izod and now it’s Lacoste?). All are back in style today, which is so lame.
Here are some vintage “had to haves” from my elementary school days (mine was kindergarten through 6th grade) that I remember so vividly. All of these were affordable and oh-so-memorable.
- Plastic charm necklace – So tacky yet so wonderful.
- Village Lip Lickers lip gloss – I remember the smell, the taste and how the tin top slid off.
- Roller ball lip gloss – Now, I do not remember it being called “Kissing Pot
ion” but this clear, syrupy sweet lip gloss in the funky roller ball dispenser was the bomb.com. Why did my parents let their 6 year old wear something called “Kissing Potion”? Inappropriate. - Braided ribbon barrettes – If you were a girl and had hair and lived in Easley, SC then you wore these in elementary school.
- Swatch watches – Unless you were a total loser, then you had at least 2 that you wore on the same arm at the same time.
- Friendship pins – If you were a girl and you had friends, you had frien
dship pins and you created a butt load of your own and gave them to your girlfriends. - Poodle skirt – We were all about the poodle skirt in elementary school. We wore it with a button down shirt with rolled up sleeves, white rollover socks and white Keds. This trend makes me want to barf so I’m not as nostalgic about it because I think it’s stupid. However, like a good little 80’s soldier I wore this silly get-up with pride.
Smarties, what “had to haves” were on your list back in they day?
16 comments
OMG, I had all of those on the list and I STILL HAVE my plastic charm necklace. It’s AWESOME. I recently wore it to an 80s party – most of the people there weren’t from the South and hadn’t seen them before – were they a Southern thing? Or maybe it was because it was for someone’s 30th birthday and everyone was actually too young to have had them. (I’m OLD.) And I really want braided barrettes to come back in style!! I wanted to wear a poodle skirt but couldn’t because were wore uniforms, so I had to settle on Halloween instead. Other must-haves for me were a Trapper Keeper, Sebagos, Tretorns or Keds (depending on the year), and a Members Only jacket.
Charm Necklaces were not Southern, we rocked them in New Jersey big time!! I loved them.
Lauren has all of my old charm necklaces. Yes, I had several. She actually put a few othese charms on her backpack yesterday! I was super excited, but I attempted to play it cool lest she decide to remove them because of my happiness (7 going on 13, that child).
I envy at the fact that Cheryl still has her charm necklace (I have even held it in my hand). My mom saved so much – why not that pile of lovely plastic?!
Ribbon barretts ROCKED Vero Beach, FL! I’m breaking mine down by category:
Shoes: when Nike launched their first canvas tennis shoe with the rubber tow, that was all she wrote. Other honorable mentions – Kangaroo shoes with revolutionary velcro zipper side pocket, Minnetonka moccasins, Sperry’s (original topsiders only, knock-offs were rejects) and Tretorns.
Clothes: Izod polos, Ralph Lauren polos, ESPRIT DE CORP was the bomb.com
Jeans: Gets its own category. Gloria Vanderbilt swan jeans, uh huh. Jordache jeans then Calvin Kleins. Don’t even get me started on Guess zipper jeans (I was TOO SHORT for zippers!! Or maybe too chubby – I always told myself it was the height:-)
Accessories: you nailed them. And flourescent everything.
Don’t forget swatch watches (with guards)!
Hold up: MADONNNA BRACELETS!!!!!!!
One word: Jellies. Those awful uncomfortable plastic shoes. I HAD to have a pair and they only gave me blisters.
I had everything on this list and loved it! We put our friendship pins along the straight lace of our keds and the more the better. And you better make sure your jeans were pegged when wearing the keds or tretorns!
I would give just about anything right now to get my charm necklace back. Anything. Still have my swatches somewhere.
Got one you can borrow. My mom saved the most random things.
My swatch turned colors – did you get the blue mint or the pink strawberry band that after two weeks, turned orange? What a waste!
Talk about a blast from the past! I can actually smell the Kissing Potion lipgloss when I look at that, lol. I do remember in 3rd & 4th grade Luv-It jeans were all the rage in Baton Rouge, LA.
They were all in Towson, MD too!
Benetton sweatshirts! Colored guess zipper jeans – strangely something similar is back in style. Who knew I should’ve saved those flowered and black and white zig zag skinny jeans!!
This came later than elementary school I think but slap bracelets and those little t-shirt holder things so your baggy tshirt could be tied off to the side….over the cool floresencent umbros I was rockin’!