Do You Remember? - Items from Bygone Times

Taking a trip down memory lane to remember some of the products and fashions that have passed us by.

Do you remember...

When Spam cans had a key? I can vaguely remember the days before pop-top containers, when SPAM cans opened with a key just like old sardine cans. Due to the fact that SPAM is now used to describe unwanted email, I couldn't find the exact date when SPAM stopped using the turn-key opener. I'm glad they changed the design though, cans that open with a key are a nightmare.

Do you remember...

When CrackerJack snacks contained real prizes? I'm not sure if I remember when there were still real toys inside CrackerJacks or if I just remember people telling me about it. Now all they contain are lame bits of paper. I know it used to be fun to find the prize in cereal boxes, finding a tiny paper thing is just not the same.

Do you remember...

When prizes in cereal didn't require shipping and a bunch of UPC codes? There are a few brands that still, on occasion, put the prize right in the box. Unfortunately, kids don't have that joy as much anymore. Now they see the offer on the box only to find that they need to have 10 UPC labels and $4.95 shipping to get the prize. I wish I still had all the cereal prizes that I collected as a kid. They'd probably be worth a mint these days.

Do you remember...

Slap Bracelets? Oh my goodness, those were an annoying trend. Everyone was slapping with them and making too much noise. I'm not positive, but I seem to recall them being banned and falling out of style because they could actually cut and injure people. I guess some trends were not well thought out. Oddly, I have seen some of them coming out again, but now they're sold as a hair styling tool.

Do you remember...

Parachute pants? Ah, I doubt anyone can forget MC Hammer's contribution to the world with parachute pants. I'll admit it, I owned a pair back in middle school, but then again so did nearly every kid back then. I look back and think about how hideous they were, but they were really comfortable. I'd actually rather see parachute pants come back into style that see the continuing trend of saggy pants that show of people's underwear.

Do you remember...

When men used as much hair spray as women? Oh, the 80's! Men using styling products is making a resurgence in modern culture, but hair spray isn't as popular as it was in the 1980's. It wouldn't surprise me in the least to find a statistic somewhere saying that men in the 80's used as much hair spray as women, or more. Sometimes the hair was so big and heavily styled that it was hard to tell men from women. The liberal use of makeup didn't help either. Big hair is a trend I hope never comes back.

Oh, there are so many things and trends that have come and gone over the years, I could make a list a mile long if I wanted to. Some of these bygone things will come around again, especially anything that relates to fashion. Some of them are gone for good, even though we may want them back. What do you remember from times gone by?