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Casio F91W Watch
“black digital watch”
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Foam Disc Shooter
“foam disc gun”
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Flying Saucers Candy
“edible ufo candy”
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Nerds Candy
“tiny crunchy candy”
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Nik-L-Nip Wax Bottles
“wax bottle candy”
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Fisher Space Pen
“Famous for writing upside down and supposedly used on NASA missions, the Fisher Space Pen was the pen every kid wanted in their pencil case just to brag about it.”
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Scented erasers
“Novelty fruit- and dessert-shaped erasers that smelled amazing and barely erased anything, traded and collected more than actually used on paper.”
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Jelly shoes
“Translucent, jelly-bean-colored plastic sandals that squeaked with every step and left waffle-pattern tan lines all summer long.”
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Scrunchie
“A fabric-covered elastic hair tie that ballooned out your ponytail, worn in stacks up the wrist between hairstyles.”
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Mood ring
“A ring with a heat-sensitive stone that supposedly revealed your emotional state by changing color, when really it was just reacting to your finger temperature.”
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Doc Martens boots
“Chunky, air-cushioned leather boots with yellow stitching that went from British workwear to a grunge and Britpop uniform practically overnight.”
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Fanny pack
“A zippered pouch worn on a belt around the waist, endlessly mocked and endlessly practical for keeping your hands free at theme parks and concerts.”
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Platform sneakers
“Chunky sneakers with a thick raised sole popularized by Spice Girls-era pop culture, adding a few extra inches to every outfit.”
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Wooden ruler
“A hard wooden ruler with metal edge and inked measurement lines, used for drawing straight lines, measuring, and -- unofficially -- flicking rubber bands across the room.”
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Vintage pencil sharpener
“A hand-crank pencil sharpener bolted to the classroom wall, cranked by hand until a perfect point (or a very short pencil) came out the other side.”
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TI-83 graphing calculator
“The boxy graphing calculator every high schooler needed for algebra and calculus class, doubling as a covert gaming device once you found the games.”
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Loose-leaf paper
“Three-hole-punched sheets of wide-ruled paper sold in reams, the backbone of every school binder and the source of endless paper-cut memories.”
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Scientific calculator
“A basic scientific calculator with trig and log functions, standard classroom equipment before graphing calculators took over.”
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Skateboard
“A flat wooden deck on four wheels that turned sidewalks and empty pools into a playground, sparking a subculture that never really went away.”
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Roller skates
“Four-wheeled skates that strapped or laced onto shoes, essential gear for the sidewalk, the driveway, and every roller rink birthday party.”
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Boomerang
“A curved throwing toy that, when thrown correctly, looped through the air and returned to the thrower -- and, more often, ended up stuck in a tree.”
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Cassette tape
“A compact magnetic tape cartridge used for music and mixtapes, rewound with a pencil when the tape deck ate it.”
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8-track tape
“A bulky magnetic tape cartridge format popular briefly in cars and home stereos before cassettes took over, known for its audible click between tracks.”
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Floppy disk
“A thin magnetic storage disk in a plastic sleeve, used to save and transport computer files back when 1.44MB felt like plenty of space.”
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