Inspired by NaBloPoMo writing prompt for Monday, July 7, 2014:
Which former decade do you wish you could time travel and visit? Why?
While I’m sure I’d answer this question differently on another day, today I’m going to vote for taking a quick trip back in time to the 1970s. Why the ’70s? Just because I think it would be great fun to look in on my childhood self and revisit some of the things I did and the life I lived back in the day. Since time travel isn’t yet possible, however (too bad!), I think I’ll satisfy my nostalgic impulses by indulging in a thoroughly random, rambling little “Remember when…” session here on Alphabet Salad.
Perhaps (some of) you will be able to relate to (some of) my memories!
Allowance
As a kid, my allowance of $1.00 per week was given to me every Saturday morning. The hardest part was deciding how to spend it and get the very most out of every penny. Of course, a trip to the corner store for candy always figured into the picture! One of my favourite treats was Dubble Bubble – a hard piece of pink bubble gum that included a tiny printed comic tucked between the gum and the outer wrapper, all for just a penny. I remember my first experience with inflation – the day when the cost of a piece of my beloved gum increased to 2¢. Oh, the tragedy!
Chinese Skipping
Hours, upon hours, upon HOURS were spent playing what Wikipedia calls Chinese jump rope but which my cohorts and I knew as Chinese skipping. I think this may have been a game played mostly by girls – each of whom had their own set of elastics – though I do remember some neighbourhood boys joining in on occasion. Chinese skipping involved an elaborate set of routines and rules, some of which we made up as we went along (“tag, tag, no erasies!”), and “good elastics” (not too thick, not too thin, and just the right amount of tension) were highly coveted treasures.
That’s me in the cream-coloured sweater.
Television
We didn’t get a whole lot of channels when I was growing up, but the favourites from my (Canadian) childhood included Sesame Street, Mr. Dressup, The Friendly Giant, Little House on the Prairie, Gilligan’s Island, and the Brady Bunch.
Hot Dog Days
None of the elementary schools I attended had a cafeteria, so kids either went home for lunch or were herded into the school gymnasium where we hurriedly wolfed down the meal our moms had packed in a plastic lunchbox or brown paper bag – usually a sandwich, an apple, and some cookies – before rushing outside to play. A few times throughout the year, however, came the much-loved and long-anticipated Hot Dog Days. Even though our choices were usually limited to nothing more than a hot dog or two with a drink to wash it all down, we were always tremendously excited by the novelty of these special days! A week or so ahead of time an order form was sent home with each of us for our parents to fill out and return to the school along with the appropriate amount of money to pay for our lunch. Drink choices were regular milk, chocolate milk, or raspberry cocktail, each presented in a little square carton – since this was LONG before the days of juice boxes! (I wonder if you can guess which drink was always my first choice?)
Dixie Cups
Dixie Cups – little plastic containers of vanilla ice cream accompanied by a small, flat, wooden spoon – were a fixture on our school Sports Days (usually held right before we broke up for summer), and sometimes even featured in the aforementioned Hot Dog Days. They were tiny – not more than a few bites, really – but we loved them.
Toys & Games
Anyone remember Spirograph, Silly Putty, Etch-A-Sketch, Doodle Art, Lite-Brite, Tinkertoys, or Magic Slate? How about Sorry!, Battleship, Clue, or Payday? All favourites of mine.
So, there you have it – a random handful of my 1970s childhood memories. (P.S. – Want some visuals? Check out the “My Childhood Memories” board I’m curating on Pinterest!)
Now, what are some of your childhood memories, 1970s or otherwise?
Please share!
{ 40 comments… add one }
Twitter: BatteredHope
July 7, 2014
I remember all of those — except they were for my kids, not me
Carol Graham recently posted… 10 Best Excuses Not To Do Something
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 7, 2014
Ah, the ’70s…!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Today’s Gratitude List – Linkup No. 37
Twitter: nourish_strat
July 7, 2014
I so SO wish I could go back to the time when my mom was a little girl. Though I’m not so sure about the outhouse, I think a time when the mixed family farm and eating real food was just a way of life, and not a hipster dream. But if I could return to a time in my CHILDHOOD I’m with ya on the 70′s. THOSE PANTS!! Bike riding in the sun (without sunscreen) all day and night, without having helicopter parents watching over our every moment. And I loved Happy Days and Dukes Of Hazard, though we had 2 channels and barely ever watched it. A long time away from Netflix
Sara recently posted… Real Food LUNCH BOX #70: Summer Camp Lunchbox Season
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 7, 2014
Yes! Good memories, all of those. Thank you for sharing!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Today’s Gratitude List – Linkup No. 37
Twitter: kebbabutton
July 7, 2014
Laurel, if I could time travel back, I would like to revisit the Europe I saw when I was 13, driving through for 3 weeks with my parents. So many castles and cafés, so little time! I don’t want to see the same areas now, so much as I want to see things and people as they were. Thanks for the invitation to say so.
Kebba Buckley Button recently posted… UpBeat Living: 5 Top Tips to Beat Credit Card Stress
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 7, 2014
That sounds like a wonderful wish, Kebba! Wouldn’t it be fun.
Laurel Regan recently posted… Today’s Gratitude List – Linkup No. 37
Twitter: onehandtyping
July 7, 2014
I’d want to go back to the Seventies as well, mostly because that’s when everything happened: I graduated grammar school, high school, college, got married and had my first job. By 1980, I was exhausted…
John Holton recently posted… Image Quotes (#blogboost)
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 7, 2014
LOL, I’ll bet!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Today’s Gratitude List – Linkup No. 37
Twitter: atime2shine
July 7, 2014
Oh my did this bring back some memories. Lol! you really did take me back down memory lane. Great post.
Kimberley Wiggins recently posted… It’s Rock Your Brilliance Week!
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 7, 2014
Thank you, Kimberley! Glad you could relate.
Laurel Regan recently posted… Today’s Gratitude List – Linkup No. 37
Twitter: NanetteLevin
July 7, 2014
How funny. I grew up in the 70s too, but so little of what you mention is familiar (south of the boarder in the US). I guess if I were to travel back, I’d go a lot farther. History is so fascinating to me I think I’d choose to see what it was like to be a pioneer here a couple of centuries ago. Thanks for the fun post and retrospect on those things that I saw in my life when I was a kid.
Nanette recently posted… Small business marketing is about community
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 7, 2014
I would imagine so many of our memories from that time are regional – I’d be interested to hear some of the differences!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Today’s Gratitude List – Linkup No. 37
That was fun reading your “skip” down memory lane. I grew up in a (ahem) earlier decade, but the bubble gum with comic and dixie cups were both treats.
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 7, 2014
Thanks, Sammy – glad you remember some of my memories!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Today’s Gratitude List – Linkup No. 37
Twitter: shyvish
July 7, 2014
Oh the inhumanity of inflation
Well captured moments, Laurel. And a great idea for a post too!
Shailaja V recently posted… Home again- #WriteTribe #drabble
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 7, 2014
Thanks, Shailaja!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Today’s Gratitude List – Linkup No. 37
Oh such a lovely trip down the lane… but revisiting childhood is such a cool idea
Shiva recently posted… Home an abode of Hope
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 8, 2014
It was rather fun!
Twitter: shilpaagarg
July 8, 2014
This just pushed my heart to a time travel too. I remember collecting picture stories and messages that would come with some candies Lovely and beautiful memories of childhood. You look so cute in that pic, Laurel
Shilpa Garg recently posted… The Walls We Build
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 8, 2014
Thank you, Shilpa!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Today’s Gratitude List – Linkup No. 37
Twitter: ellytreehugger
July 8, 2014
I loved reading this post Laurel. I remember ALL those things from the 70′s, but what I loved most of all was the music. One of my most favourite eras of music. How ’bout you?
elly stornebrink recently posted… 100 Ways to Kneel & Kiss the Ground
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 8, 2014
I didn’t really become aware of music until the 80s, so I have to admit to having a soft spot for that decade – terrible (music-wise) as it may have been!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Today’s Gratitude List – Linkup No. 37
Memories of the past are always exciting. In the seventies I was a mother of two teenaged kids. I am shifting backward to the fifties. I was in my teens. There was no TV , so we were crazy after music. There were no transistors. I remember we (I and my sister) connected a speaker with the radio and carried it every where. It was really funny. Sometime if someone fell down(due to a long wire) we got a big lecture from mom.
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 8, 2014
I love these memories of yours – thank you so much for sharing!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Today’s Gratitude List – Linkup No. 37
Now I want to time travel too…
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 8, 2014
Wouldn’t it be nice?!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Today’s Gratitude List – Linkup No. 37
Twitter: Boomeresque
July 8, 2014
I grew up in your neighboring country to the south, but recognized many of the things you mentioned—-Chinese jump rope (we called elastics, rubber bands), packed school lunches and little cartons of milk, same bubblegum and dixie cups. My TV watching was done in the 1960′s—so, no Sesame Street, but we had Captain Kangaroo.
Suzanne Fluhr recently posted… “You went where?” – A Visit to Luang Prabang, Laos
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 8, 2014
Nice to meet another former Chinese skipping/jump rope fan! I really can’t believe just how much time we spent on that particular pastime.
Laurel Regan recently posted… Today’s Gratitude List – Linkup No. 37
OMG! Your post made me so nostalgic. I’m seven years older than you but I remember all those things you mentioned, the games, the penny candy, the TV shows. I used to love that Chinese skipping elastic game. We played it all the time.
Love the cute photo of you as a little seventies kid. Weren’t those bell bottom pants funny? I remember how in wintertime, they’d get wet and freeze. You’d walk along with them clunking against your boots. Ah, the memories. You are being nostalgic this week, aren’t you?
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 8, 2014
Wasn’t Chinese skipping the best?! I think that one lasted throughout most of my childhood. Thankfully bell bottoms didn’t last TOO long!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Today’s Gratitude List – Linkup No. 37
Twitter: ccassara
July 8, 2014
These things are part of my memory banks from childhood, too, although I was a 50s baby. thanks for the walk down memory lane!
Carol Cassara recently posted… Journeying to shamanism
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 8, 2014
You’re most welcome!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Today’s Gratitude List – Linkup No. 37
Twitter: ar_anmolrawat
July 8, 2014
This was a fun read
Some memories are worth cherishing forever 
Anmol Rawat recently posted… Quintet of Radiance Award
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 8, 2014
Thank you! I think so too.
Laurel Regan recently posted… Today’s Gratitude List – Linkup No. 37
I never played Chinese Skipping. It looks so interesting and you look very cute
Lovely memories.
Rajlakshmi recently posted… Of Winter Mornings and Nails
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 8, 2014
Thank you!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Tangled Tuesday No. 10
Twitter: DebbieDoglady
July 9, 2014
Loved your nostalgia post Laurel and you’re so cute in the photos.
I was a child in the 60s, but remember most of those things you mentioned, except the Chinese Jump Rope. Our big thing was Double Dutch.
The 70s was party time for hubby and me and it sure would be fun to revisit.
Debbie recently posted… GRAVITY! AN ODE TO AGEING
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 9, 2014
I vaguely remember Double Dutch, but it wasn’t something we played as kids. I would imagine you had a lot of fun in the 70s!
Laurel Regan recently posted… The dreaded elevator pitch
Twitter: SusanF_mt
July 9, 2014
Mr. Dress Up and the Friendly Giant! Thanks for reminding me of those old friends from my Canadian childhood! Great article.
Susan- ofeverymoment recently posted… World Cup Soccer Players Kept Me Awake Last Night
Twitter: alphabetsalad
July 9, 2014
You’re welcome! They were mainstays.
Laurel Regan recently posted… The dreaded elevator pitch
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