Category: Summer Time

6 min 0

Sit Down and Stay Awhile: The Plastic Folding Lawn Chairs of the 1980s

For anyone who grew up in the 1980s, memories of family barbecues, Fourth of July fireworks, weekend camping trips, or backyard birthday parties often come with one common, indestructible artifact: the plastic folding lawn chair. With their aluminum frames and woven polypropylene straps in faded colors like avocado green, mustard yellow, sky blue, or sun-bleached white, these chairs weren’t just pieces of outdoor furniture—they were part of the fabric of suburban life. They squeaked, they wobbled, they left waffle marks on the backs of your legs—but they were everywhere. In an era before sleek patio sets and collapsible zero-gravity loungers,…
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5 min 0

The Icon of Refreshment: The 1980s Tupperware Pitcher That Made Every Glass of Kool-Aid Magic

If you grew up in the 1980s, there’s a good chance that the taste of your childhood was poured from a squat, plastic pitcher that sat in nearly every American refrigerator: the classic Tupperware pitcher. Usually pastel in color—mint green, baby blue, faded orange, or that unmistakable mustard yellow—this unassuming container was a kitchen staple. It wasn’t high-tech or flashy. It didn’t need to be. It was a workhorse. It sat proudly on the fridge shelf or the picnic table, ready to dispense sugary joy with a quick twist of its lid. And inside it? Almost always: Kool-Aid. The Tupperware…
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6 min 0

Summer’s Wildest Ride: The 1980s Slip ‘N Slide Craze

Long before water parks dotted every suburb, and before backyard playsets looked like miniature amusement rides, there was one universal, chaotic symbol of summer in the 1980s: the Slip ‘N Slide. That long, thin, plastic sheet—bright yellow and daringly slick—was the key to turning a backyard into a gravity-defying, belly-flopping thrill ride. It was cheap, exhilarating, slightly dangerous, and absolutely essential. On any given afternoon between June and August, you could hear the screams and laughter of kids flinging themselves headfirst down a watery runway, chasing a fleeting moment of coolness, adrenaline, and joy. Invented in the 1960s and sold…
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6 min 0

Rust, Rattles, and Romance: The Metal Backyard Swing Sets of the 1980s

Before playgrounds became rubber-coated wonderlands of molded plastic and padded flooring, before every suburban backyard featured a cedar-stained fortress with stainless steel slides and climbing walls, there was the humble 1980s metal swing set. Usually tucked into a corner of the backyard, often a hand-me-down or assembled during a long Saturday afternoon with a wrench and an open beer, these steel-framed contraptions were the crown jewel of childhood. They weren’t sleek. They weren’t particularly safe. But to a kid growing up in the ’80s, they were everything—our jungle gyms, our rocket ships, our roller coasters, and our launching pads into…
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6 min 0

Lawn Darts: The Lethal Backyard Game of the 1980s That Parents Regret Ever Allowing

Few 1980s toys hold a reputation as wild and controversial as lawn darts. Known officially as “Jarts,” these backyard game pieces weren’t your average playthings. They were heavy, sharp-tipped metal projectiles disguised as family fun. Sold alongside croquet sets and badminton rackets, they were marketed as wholesome outdoor entertainment for the whole family—except they had the curious distinction of being capable of piercing skulls. For a generation of kids raised on free-range summers and very little adult supervision, lawn darts weren’t just a game—they were a gamble. The concept behind lawn darts was deceptively simple. Players stood at one end…
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6 min 0

Yes, Gen Z—Millennials Drank Out of the Hose Because We Were Never Inside in the Summer

Dear Gen Z, we see your TikToks, your memes, your concerned faces when someone mentions drinking out of a garden hose. To you, it’s baffling. “Why didn’t they use a Brita?” “Wasn’t the water hot and full of rubber flavor?” “Did they not care about heavy metals?” You’re not wrong to wonder—but we need to talk. We, the millennials born roughly between 1981 and 1996, didn’t drink out of the garden hose because we were too lazy to go inside or because filtered water didn’t exist. We drank out of the hose because in the summertime, we were never inside.…
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