Nostalgic Photos That Take Us Back to the Good Old Days

At this stage of your life, playing with a substance that will make your fingers sticky and leave traces of slime across your house would send shivers down your spine. But back in the 1990s, Silly Putty was all the rage! This stuff gave us all hours of fun, and there was something so magical about pressing this stuff down on a drawing and seeing it lift off the paper. 

Most people use GPS on their smartphones or in their vehicles to get them to where they need to go. It’s virtually impossible to get lost in today’s day and age! But if you lived during the 1990s, you’ll know that this wasn’t always the case. There was a time between maps and GPS that Mapquest found its time to shine, and who else remembers printing off directions before heading off on a road trip?

Remember New Year’s Eve in 1999? Although most people were excited about the turn of the millennium, there’s no doubt about the fact that this evening came with a lot of questions. After all, nobody knew what would happen after the 1990s! Some people thought the world would end, while others thought a life-changing event would take place. To be safe, many companies asked their customers to turn off their computers before midnight.

If you had one of these, you did the 1990s right. Of course, most 90s kids didn’t want to spend their days stuck inside putting puzzle pieces together, but there was something about this cereal puzzle that made us obsess over corner pieces and lettering. And looking at this picture now, this puzzle is giving us some serious nostalgia. We can taste all of the cereals in this photo right now!

Let’s be honest; the device you’re reading this on right now probably doesn’t have this kind of mouse. Today’s phones don’t even have a mouse, and the mouses found on laptops are wireless and laser-tracked. But these were the good old days, right? 90s kids will remember the little ball that came with every single desktop computer mouse, and you might even remember breaking it all apart. Much to your parents’ dismay.

If you had a balancing sparrow when you were a 90s kid, did you uncover its secret? We still have absolutely no idea how these things work, but somehow we managed to balance the tip of this bird on the tip of our finger – and it still doesn’t make sense! But it was this weird and wonderful feat of gravity that allowed us to spend hours with this thing balancing on our fingers. 

Back in the day, these things were the best thing since sliced bread. Bloonies Magic Plastic Bubbles gave us hours of fun, and there was nothing cooler than blowing up the most perfect plastic bubble by ourselves. And everyone loves a bit of healthy competition amongst friends to see who could blow the biggest bubble, right? And while this is giving some serious nostalgia, we don’t think we’d use these things today.

Now that we’re old enough to make our own meals, we hate it. Trying to think of something new and nutritious to eat for three meals a day is a nightmare, and we’d rather not have to do it at all. But back in the 1990s, that was all we wanted! We begged our parents to buy us Lunchables so that we could turn into the ultimate lunchtime chef and impress our friends.

Who else remembers Lip Smackers? Oh, boy. These things were good. Although most of us 90s kids didn’t need to apply chapstick every five minutes in class, that’s exactly what we did. After all, that was what was expected of those who had Lip Smackers! That’s because these chapsticks smelled absolutely delicious, especially flavors like Candy Confetti and Berry Jelly Donut. But did anyone go a little too far with these things?

If you don’t think you’ve amounted to that much in your adult life, don’t worry! You’re probably feeling that way because you’ve already achieved superstardom and unquantifiable levels of coolness. Yes, if you managed to perfect epic finger skateboard tricks, then you made it in life years ago. And nothing will ever compare to that achievement, right? The finger skateboard was the epitome of success, and only a select few could nail it.

In today’s day and age, many people spend their hard-earned money on tarot card readers and fortune tellers. They want to know what the future has in store for them, and they want to be prepared for any eventuality. But why spend money when you could just figure out your fortune for free? 90s kids did just that when they built these origami fortune tellers during recess. And they were pretty accurate, right?

Did anyone else completely forget that this game existed? Well, we don’t blame you. As adults, we don’t play too many games and instead have to focus on paying bills and going to work. But these were good times, right? This electric fishing game brought us a lot of stress, but trying to catch the piranhas with our fishing poles was a task that we were more than willing to spend hours on. 

As adults, we realize just how annoying it is when you can’t find a pen. But back in the 1990s, not having a pen was an instant result! After all, every 90s kid wanted to use a pencil at school, and that’s because they had one very simple mission in their minds. They wanted to sharpen their pencils until looked like the impressive specimen below. It needed to be small and sharp, and we’d take nothing less.

The nostalgia is real with this one, isn’t it? After all, this is something that 90s kids across the whole world will relate to. This was the time when school uniform rules went out of the window, and Sharpies would reign supreme. Yes, getting your school shirt signed on the last day of school was a rite of passage, and you might even still have this shirt in your closet today!

If you told a youngster today that you were “burning a CD” they would have absolutely no idea what you were talking about. They might think that you have a thing for arson, though. But those were the days, right? Where 90s kids would turn into a DJ for the night as they burned their favorite songs onto a CD for a road trip or to tell their crush that they had feelings for them.

It’s amazing how one nostalgic photo can awaken all of your senses, but that’s exactly what this photo has done for us. Are any other 90s kids experiencing the same? Opening a fresh pot of Play-Doh was honestly one of the best joys that anyone in the 1990s could have, and the smell was heavenly. It smelled fresh and pungent and was a sign of some serious mess to come. 

Is anyone else falling more and more in love with 90s nostalgia the more they see these photos? Well, this one might have just sent us over the edge – as we’d completely forgotten about these things! Tazos were the ultimate lunchtime surprise, and we couldn’t wait until the lunch break to open up our chips and see what disk we’d got that day. We even tried to collect all of them.

If you were a young teenager during the 1990s, you probably thought you were too old for a night light. But the dark was still pretty scary, right? That’s why these glow-in-the-dark stars were the perfect alternative. Not only were they super cool, but they also emitted a little bit of light to make the nighttime less scary. Although the truth of the matter is that they never really worked.

Sure, this picture is hitting us with some serious nostalgia. But it’s also hitting us with some seriously painful memories! While everyone likes to talk about the fun that LEGO blocks brought them, not enough people talk about the pain associated with these building blocks. While we loved building farms and skyscrapers during the 1990s, we didn’t enjoy being impaled every time we forgot to clear them up off the floor. 

Kids these days just won’t understand this game. If it doesn’t have a screen, a controller, or special effects, they’re not interested! But 90s kids will understand the true power of this game, as it gave us hours of fun back in the day. All you had to do was press the button to push the rings around in the hope of getting them stuck on the rod. But it was harder than it looked.

While we’re glad that Pizza Hut is still going and wasn’t just reserved for 90s kids, there’s no doubt about the fact that this restaurant has changed over the years. Sure, we understand that Pizza Hut has had to modernize to keep up with the times and keep up with the competition – but does anyone else miss how this place used to look? Oh, we’re feeling so much nostalgia right now!

If you were a 90s kid and have nerves of steel today, then you might have this game to thank for that. After all, this game taught us patience and how to handle our emotions, especially when we were on the edge! This game was all about keeping the penguin safe while breaking the ice it was standing on. And keeping your eyes on the penguin required some serious stamina.

So many trends took over the 1990s, and one that we could definitely get behind was the clear craze. There was something about the kids who lived during this era that made them want to see through everything they had in their homes – and this included their telephone. Yes, long before cell phones we had one of these in our rooms, and 90s kids couldn’t get enough of seeing the interior components.

Hands up if you wore way too much lipgloss during the 1990s? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. 90s kids were all about applying that lipgloss every 30 minutes – and this worked wonders for the shine of their lips. But anyone who wore layers upon layers of lipgloss on a windy day will understand the struggle of having to peel away their hair from their lips! It was a whole ordeal. 

You probably don’t need us to tell you that it’s not appropriate to slap people. It’s never really been appropriate to slap people. Not around the face, anyway. But during the 1990s, it was totally appropriate to slap people around the wrist – especially if you had a slap bracelet on your hand! These things dominated the playgrounds, and the sound probably haunts your nightmares today. After all, they were sometimes a little painful.

We’re not going to lie; we’re pretty happy that Tamagotchis have gone through a second coming. That way, a new generation of kids can understand the burden and the responsibility of having something rely on you! That’s exactly what 90s kids went through, anyway. We would spend our lunch breaks feeding these things and making sure they had gone to the bathroom, and it was a whole ordeal that took time and energy.

If you were a 90s kid, how did you spend your recess? Maybe you ran around like a headless chicken trying to expel some of your energy, maybe you fed your Tamagotchi, or maybe you dedicated your free time to trading your Gogo’s Crazy Bones. If that was the case, we don’t blame you! These nostalgic toys were all the rage back in the 1990s, and they basically formed our childhood currency.

During your late teens and early 20s, you probably spent every night partying and hanging out with your friends. But now that you’re a little older, you’re probably feeling nostalgic over the good old days before your inner party animal came out. In fact, we’d give anything to bring Blockbuster back – as this video rental store offered the ultimate Friday night out! And fellow 90s kids agree with me, right?

Although we all know that 1990 was technically in the Common Era or AD, we think it should have been called 1990 BS. Of course, we’re talking about “Before Spotify.” the world was pretty different before this streaming service, after all. Smartphones weren’t a thing, streaming services weren’t a thing, and iPods weren’t even a thing. Back then, it was all about the Walkman – and this picture is so nostalgic!

Now this is a serious taste of nostalgia. Does anyone else remember Crazy Dips? More importantly, does anyone remember what these things taste like? Although the foot-shaped lollipop will forever confuse us due to its strange shape and slightly weird taste, the powdered sherbert and popping candy was always a hit for 90s kids back in the day. Yes, nothing compares to the feeling of popping candy at the back of your throat. 

If you were a 90s kid who loved stickers, you’ll know that there were two kinds of stickers. There were the normal, flat stickers. And then there were the most impressive stickers in the land. Yes, we’re talking about those 3D puffy stickers. We didn’t mess around when it came to those stickers. Although they were our favorites, we couldn’t just stick them anywhere! Their position needed to be perfect, and well thought-out.

There were two kinds of 90s kids. There were those who read actual books, and then there were those who read books of Pokemon cards. If you were part of the latter category, then we salute you. It took a lot of patience and work to build up an impressive collection of cards, especially as most of the time you got the same cards over and over again when you bought a new pack from the store!

If you had a Game Boy, you got to experience one of the best video game consoles of the 1990s. In fact, we’d go as far as to say that the Game Boy is one of the best video game consoles of all time! This handheld device let us play games like Super Mario and Pokemon, and we were utterly obsessed. We’d do anything to feel the hit of nostalgia we’d get from holding one of these again.

Let’s be honest; Twister was one of the best games of our childhood. 90s kids spent hours playing this in the basement of their friend’s houses. But there was one problem; anyone who played Twister instantly became the most competitive version of themselves to have ever existed. As you can imagine, the 1990s was full of arguments – and this was mostly as a result of this very specific game. 

Oh, the nostalgia! This picture has left us dreaming of the days when we would trick or treat during the 1990s, and other 90s kids will undoubtedly relate to us. That’s because no trick-or-treating adventure would be complete without finding the best candy of them all; the Chiclets gum. There was something so amazing about this gum, and while we can’t quite put our finger on why, we still know it to be true. 

If you’re not a 90s kid, you’ll be forgiven for thinking that this is just a normal set of stickers. But these things are so much more, and they’re filling us with a sense of nostalgia we can’t quite contain right now! That’s because these stickers were actually scratch-and-sniff stickers, which meant that they smelled of the picture on the sticker when you scratched it! Our favorite was always the plum.

Do you want to know the thing we miss most about the 90s? Novelty products! Most of the novelty items released today are extremely tacky and boring, but 90s kids will remember that these things were the coolest things around. Don’t believe us? Just check out this Lion King cutlery set. We’d happily replace all of our adult cutlery with these nostalgia-inducing knives and forks if we could find a whole set for the family. 

If you were the kind of 90s kid that didn’t like to read full-on books with lots of words, Where’s Waldo? was the next best thing. This way, you could trick your parents into thinking that you were chilling out before bedtime with a book when really you were just on a search and rescue mission trying to find the main man himself. But the big question is, did you ever find Waldo?

If you grew up in the 1990s, there’s a high chance that you also grew up watching Nickelodeon. This channel had everything a 90s kid could possibly want, but we were always pretty jealous when we saw celebrities get slimed on the channel. Sure, the neon-green slime made a mess, but they only slimed the best of the best – and we wanted to be the best of the best. 

Hands up if you got one of these art sets for your birthday or Christmas? Well, we’re not surprised. So many 90s kids opened up one of these sets over the years, and they were a pretty awesome gift. This set had everything you needed to cover all of the art bases, including colored pens, crayons, watercolors, and pencils. When you got this, you felt as though you could become the world’s next big artist.