In no particular order …

31) Koosh Balls

Everyone had at least one of these things for some reason! These were the weirdest thing, a ball made up of thin rubber strands. They felt really weird in your hand, but fun to play with pulling the strands, swinging them around by one of the strands, throwing them at your buddy …

30) Shoulder Pads

Why was this a thing in woman’s fashion? Did they really want to have broad shoulders? Was this an empowerment thing in the age of the working mom, or women executives? Motivational clothing to inspire confidence? I have no idea.

29) Crimped Hair

This is still weirdly hot to a boy who grew up in the 80’s. Even Alyssa Milano rocked this look for a bit. This was always more of a valley girl type thing around here, but if you could pull it off, more power to you.

28) Hacky Sack

Did you have a nice hacky sack or the crappy one? There was definitely a quality level of hacky sack from cheap-o grocery store/dept store knock-offs to super expensive leather or crocheted bags that needed to be broken in. This was serious business!

27) Breakdancing

Everyone wanted in on this fad, but only a small percentage could pull it off, but that didn’t stop people from trying! So many breakdancing books are probably sitting in a box in nana’s basement. Maybe even some VHS instructional tapes, I think I had one those to go along with the book.

26) Slap Bracelets 

Someone would inevitably get hurt by one of these

25) Swatch Watches

If you were a cool kid, you had at least one swatch watch, and extra bonus points if you had the swatch watch guard! Preferably worn with a Banana Republic shirt knotted to the side and a pair of Bugle Boy jeans.

24) Leg Warmers

I didn’t understand these as a boy, but they sure were popular with the ladies.

23) Mullets

Was this a regional thing? Did your area nurture the mullet? Leave a comment below. They were pretty popular here (Colorado) for a short period of time along with rat tails, and one side of the head shaved and/or spiked skater cuts. As you can see, Andre Agassi rocked a super mullet.

22) Big Hair (bangs)

Big hair-sprayed bangs on girls…no idea why this was a thing. You could bounce something off these bangs. Did you have this?

21) Trapper Keepers

The must have back to school item, and it needed to have a cool print on it such as a Lamborghini or teen heartthrob. I had this exact one in 7th grade with the red Countach. You also needed the plastic zip-up bag that clipped into the 3-ring system for storing your pencils and pencil sharpener, lunch money, and whatever else you could fit in there.

20) Garbage Pail Kids

I STILL have my garbage pail kids collection of cards, and I’m not even sure why. These were so popular when they came out and some of them even got banned for being too gross or inappropriate. They certainly were creative and hilarious to a young lad.

19) Yo-Yo’s

It seems like every elementary school had some yo-yo thing once a year that hyped kids on the yo-yo and subsequently sold a ton of yo-yos to said kids. I suspect big yo-yo is involved here, but I distinctly remember at least 1-2 weeks every single year where the playground was full of kids doing yo-yo things, then it would disappear again until the next year.

18) Walkman

Another cool item to be seen with, carrying your tunes on a mix tape in your Walkman and sporty headphones was totally rad. Bonus points if you (or your parents) could afford the yellow “waterproof” one, for some reason it was the coolest of the cool.

17) Finger Monsters

You know you had at least a few of these…and still remember the smell they left on your fingers.

16) M.U.S.C.L.E. Men

I will admit, I had a lot of these, and we would trade them pretty frequently. I cannot for the life of me remember what we actually did with them though? I think there might have been a whole wresting ring set you could get for them as well, but I definitely remember playing with these.

15) Cabbage Patch Kids

This was the first truly insane Christmas gift fad I can remember. Parents trampling each other at the store to get their kid one, fights breaking out, and the necessity of one of these dolls to maintain your social order amongst your friends.

14) Micro Machines

Just like hot-wheels but smaller! I blame home alone for making these as popular as they were.

13) Rubik’s Cube

Every single household in the country had a Rubik’s cube. Some had 2 or 3, but nobody had one completed unless they never messed it up out of the box (or took it apart or swapped stickers, you know who you are!).

12) Ghettoblasters

The proper way to carry your ghettoblaster was on your shoulder, speakers facing your head, at an unreasonable volume. Bonus points if you could barely get your arm around it, and for how many “EQ” sliders there were.

11) Polly Pocket

I myself was not into these, but I remember them being quite popular with the girls. Was that you? Let us know below!

10) Acid Washed Jean Jackets

Jean jackets were too cool for school. Bonus points for an iron on patch of a heavy metal band on the back, and/or round buttons with witty sayings pinned to the front.

9) Jams Shorts

You either had the official Jams shorts or some knock-off brand, but these were huge in the summer in all their Hawaiian shirt inspired glory.

8) Croakies

Your shades needed a pair of croakies to be complete, that you could dangle from your neck when not wearing. Bonus points for bright obnoxious colors and patterns, it was the 80’s after all.

7) Jane Fonda and her workout book (and leggings)

Boys and girls were both into Jane Fonda and her super popular workout book and videos, but for different reasons.

6) NEON

Everyone was rocking something neon at some point in the 80’s, and not even ironically.

5) Ray Bans Wayfarers

If you could afford it, these were the coolest shades you could wear, made popular by many Hollywood movies, but I mainly remember Tom Cruise in Risky Business inspiring my lust for these. They are still popular today, so they’ve got legs, but the 80’s was where they really came up.

4) Fanny Packs

Believe it or not, these were considered pretty cool when they first came out. Not so much anymore.

3) Scrunchies

A staple of the pony tail, side pony tail, or however you wanted to style your hair “up”, a scrunchy was a must. Wear a few extras on your wrist just in case.

2) ALF

Alien Life Form, this show was huge! There was ALF everything; plushies, pogs, shirts, backpacks, you name it. No problem!

1) Transformers

This was perhaps the coolest toy ever unleashed on the world at the time. Cars and trucks that turned into ROBOTS! And the accompanying after school cartoon kept them front and center in the toy lineup.

And that’s our list!  Did we miss anything you remember as an 80’s nostalgia staple?  Let us know below, and I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane.