10 Things That Will Take Every Iowa ’80s Kid Straight Back Home

I have a birthday coming up this week. And it has me looking back at my younger years. Having raised three children, I can't believe just how different my childhood was compared to theirs. They have items and technology that my younger self could only dream of! But that doesn't mean growing up in the 1980s was bad. Here are just a few things that I remember growing up with in our home during that decade, and I bet you do too!

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1. Encyclopedia Set - In the 1980s, we didn't have the internet. There was no Google. If you wanted to look up a fact, you had to look it up in your musty, old set of encyclopedias. Why go to the library when your parents brought the library home? But make no mistake, these things were NOT cheap!

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2. Juicer - While I don't have memories of my parents using one, a juicer was a staple at my grandparents' house. Why buy orange juice at the store when you can watch Grandpa make you a freshly squeezed glass in the kitchen! And great news! It has extra pulp!

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3. Cabbage Patch Doll - Did my parents have a girl to buy dolls for? No. It was just my brother and I. But that didn't stop them from getting us the hottest toy of the 1980s, a Cabbage Patch doll. If only I had saved it to sell later in life to help fund my kids' college education.

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4. Metal Lunchbox - The lunchbox pictured above, which is selling for over $100 on eBay, was the exact same one that I used at school. Han and Chewie stored my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Yoda kept my beverage cool. My brother had a 'Clash of the Titans' lunchbox. I win.

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5. Atari Game Console - Were the graphics great? No. But we didn't care. The Atari was the first home game console our house had. We didn't have to waste quarters anymore to play Pac-Man! It was the beginning of the video game revolution, and my brother and I had a front-row seat.

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6. A HUGE Television - The television has always been the centerpiece of the living room. But during the 1980s, it was an immovable object! Housed in solid oak and barely in color, you prayed that it worked so you wouldn't have to haul it out of the house and replace it with an even heavier model.

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7. Boombox - Nothing screamed the 1980s like a boombox. It was a radio. It played cassette tapes. And it could go everywhere you did! To the playground, the gym, even the backseat of your car! Sure, it ate D batteries for breakfast, but it was a small price to pay to take your tunes anywhere you wanted!

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8. Wall Phone - Cell phones? Not even close. I didn't get my first one until I was an adult. In our house, you had the wall phone, tethered to the wall, ensuring NO conversation was private. Ours hung in the kitchen, and I never had my own in my bedroom.

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9. Popcorn Popper - Before microwave bags were a thing, you had the electric popcorn popper. It was always a special night when my mom would fire it up, add the oil and corn, and butter us up with fresh popcorn.

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10. Answering Machine - Our first answering machine hooked up to our home phone. Eventually we upgraded to a phone/answering machine combo! Who got to record the 'leave us a message' greeting? It better be creative!

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