AD | I was born in 1992, so I have a lot of memories of things from the end of the 90’s to the early 2000’s that send huge waves of nostalgia through me. God, times were so much simpler back then, weren’t they?

We all have to grow up, I know. And time moves on (albeit quickly than we would like) but honestly, I really would love to go back to those carefree times again and be reminded of what life was like. I do miss being younger!

There are SO many things that I remember from the late 90’s and early 2000’s, I would literally be here all day if I was going to name them all. Once I got thinking, more and more kept coming to me.

But I’ve listed just SOME of the nostalgic things from the late 90’s and early 2000’s that, if you were born in the late 80’s or early 90’s like me, you’re likely to remember!

Dial up and having to get off the internet when someone needed the phone

Anyone around my age will remember this. The legendary dial-up computers. That were like, the size of a small building. And your Mum screaming from the hallway to get off the internet because she wanted to call her mate Carol. Good times.

PlayStation 1

Tell you the truth, I don’t feel that much nostalgia from the PlayStation 1 because I STILL play the games I used to play as a kid, only on the PlayStation 3 because the disks are still compatible. But I do miss those neat little consoles.

Nostalgic old-school sweets

There’s always going to be certain tastes and foods that bring it right back to you and sweets I think are one of the MAIN things that do that, considering how many sweets you used to eat as a kid, especially in my sort of era.

I was sent the 299g Personalised Letterbox-Friendly Sweet Hamper from Swizzles, to reignite my taste buds with some old sweeties and bring back some nostalgia. These little hampers would make excellent gifts; and so convenient as this particular one can fit through the letterbox too!

For anyone looking for a blast from the past, these hampers are a fantastic idea. Included are,

  • Sour Cherry & Apple Squashies
  • Original Raspberry & Milk Squashies
  • Giant Fizzers
  • Giant Parma Violets
  • Love Hearts
  • Bubblegum Flavour Drumstick
  • Strawberry and Lemon Flavour Refreshers
  • Stingers

Blockbuster

OH BLOCKBUSTER. I actually used Blockbuster way up until it closed down in 2014 because I lived right around the corner from one, so this store has a long reining nostalgic streak in my mind.

Furbies

I remember my Furbie was white with bright green eyes. I don’t remember much else about it, only that everyone had one and suddenly they started to experience paranormal activity with them talking by themselves. I don’t know either.

Bear in the Big Blue House

I have a LOT of memories of this goddamn show. When I was in primary school, I used to come home for lunch most days (I had attachment issues with my Mum back then) and it would always coincide with this show being on. There’s even polaroid photos of me sitting there on my little plastic table and chair, with my lunch, watching this bloody show.

Polaroids

Speaking of polaroids. Is there anything better than sifting through hundreds of old polaroid photos? I just love them and I wish photography and capturing moments wasn’t so curated as it is now.

The Scholastic Book Fair

I have always been the biggest book nerd so at Primary School, the yearly Scholastic Book Fair was the highlight of my life. I was always *that* kid, turning up early and the last one to leave with a pile of books bigger than I could carry. Not much has changed – I still do that at the library!

Green tomato ketchup

Why? That is all.

Shag bands

I’m not sure if they were officially called shag bands but according to Urban Dictionary, they were plastic bracelets worn by “grungers and punks”, which was basically me, as a young teen. All my friends had shag bands and the different colours meant different things.

I’ve loved researching some of these old school 90’s and 2000’s things for this post. I could continue to go down a huge rabbit hole but for the sake of time, I won’t! I’d definitely recommend checking out Swizzels for some amazing old school sweet hampers!

Over to you! How many of these things do you remember? Anything to add?

36 Comments

  1. This article was great. It was really well written and very easy to understand as my my English is not that good but I still understood it, thanks for sharing with us!<

  2. Ha ha ha, you mentioned SHAG BANDS! To be honest, I thought you’d be too young to remember those, I’m born in 1984 and they were HUGE when I was in Years 9/10. This list really made me laugh, I had no idea PS discs were compatible across the consoles… Do Xbox do that too?

  3. Damn did this take me back! It makes me feel proper old thinking that kids of this generation wouldn’t have a clue what most of these are. I use to love bear in the big blue house, I even went to see it live once’s. I remember it like it was yesterday! These sweets… unreal! I love this post, thank you so much for sharing lovely Xo

    Elle – ellegracedeveson.com

  4. It is always fun to look back at all the things we remember from our childhood. It is said that everything old is new again, so some of our favorite things might reappear! 🙂

  5. OOh i absolutely love the smell of Parma Violets but could never stand the taste of them, drumstick lollies though, im there x

  6. Like Michelle was saying, I don’t recognize the candies either which is likely d/t to living in a different country but I really want to try that refresher candy. It looks good and I am curious to know if it’s fizzy!

    My husband loved the 90’s and his music playlists mostly consist of 90’s songs. A lot of TV shows we downloaded are from the 90’s as well, like Arthur. We are raising our daughter on Arthur, Pingu, the Magic School Bus, and Zoboomafoo. I remember watching Bear in the Big Blue house with my dad although he has no memory of it and says I was too old for that show?? I believe it was around during my time, and the song that I still remember is that rub-a-dub-dub song with that silly green raccoon. I think he’s a racoon!

      1. There’s some US candy that we don’t have here in Canada. We have different things but most of it is the same! Tbh I actually prefer Canadian candy over US candy, especially chocolate.

  7. Ahh I do NOT miss furbies! They totally creeped me out. But I miss everything else! N64 was my jam – in with you though, I pretty much still play the same games. There was something simpler about that time, even though we had technology. Wasn’t as addicting as tic tok to use dial up while chatting with friends on aim. 😂

  8. I loved blockbuster. We had one across the road, we would chose a film to rent, but popcorn, drink, Doritos and a dip. Loved that!
    I love old school sweets like fruit salad and black Jack – they don’t make them like they use too! Ooo and green frogs/toads.
    Shag bands – remember them in secondary school ha ha. Used to twist two colours and make a loop to wear them differently. Bear in the big blue house was more one of my little sister’s shows. I used to Sabrina the teenage witch, sister sister, Kennan and Kel etc. Thank you for this nostalgic post and thinking about what I use to experience.

    Lauren xx

  9. Wow this list has some things that bring back memories. Polaroids are awesome, and we have forgotten that Furbies even existed! Thank you for sharing this list. It really brought some things back for us.

  10. Oh the late 90’s and early 2000’s are definietly back! The things that were most memorable to me were MTV, tamagotchi and Mean Girls. I don’t know if they were popular there, but I would love to have a tamagotchi again!

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