FUN AND GAMES January 17, 2025

“Unlock the Nostalgia: 10 Unforgettable 90s UK Childhood Memories That Will Take You Back in Time!”

Hard to believe it now, but life without Wi-Fi was full of fun. Whilst we didn’t have electronic tablets to play on like the kids of today, our lives were full of interesting real life games instead. The highlight of your day would be running to your friend’s house after school to knock on the door and find out if they could come out to play.

Sometimes it was a yes, sometimes it was a no, but whatever happened you knew there would be kids to play with in the park. “Can I play?” became a frequently used phrase in your vocabulary and the world without Wi-Fi was your oyster.

Wearing A Football Shirt On Non School Uniform Day Was Everything

In the ’90s footie shirts weren’t just for a kick about down the park with your pals, they were for showing off. Depending on what club you supported, you were judged by the other kids when non-school uniform day came around.

Glory hunting was top of the agenda, and Liverpool, Man United, and Arsenal were always safe bets. Wearing a football short in support of a local team was a brave move and often frowned upon, so you had to be careful. If you were a ’90s kid who liked football, your shirt on non-school uniform day was everything.

Going To The Local Pub Meant Crayons

Weird? Slightly. Fun? Very. Whilst the parents chatted and drank away the week’s woes, Friday nights down the pub were all about the colouring in as a kid.

In reality, the adults probably didn’t care what we were drawing but they always played along and encouraged us to have drawing competitions that they assessed at the end of the night. Colouring outside the lines was a huge no-no, and using special techniques like a smudge here and there always looked great. It was modern art at it’s finest and became synonymous with ’90s kid living.

Blue Peter Was Life

If you grew up as a ’90s kid in the UK, you’ll know all about Blue Peter. This program has been around since the 1950s and is a vintage TV gem. As a kid, there was nothing more exciting than getting a new Blue Peter badge and taking it to show and tell at school.

It’s the longest running children’s TV show in the world, and has stood the test of time because of its lovable presenters, great events, and pets that everyone fell in love with. If you grew up in the ’90s, Blue Peter was life.

Pillow Fights Were Serious

If you were lucky, at the weekend you were allowed to invite a friend over to stay. This meant one thing — pillow fights.

What would start as a friendly pillow fight would nearly always end in tears. Either your mum would come and shout at you for making a racket and messing up your room (that had just been tidied for your guest), or you’d accidentally hit your mate too hard with the pillow. Tears or no tears, pillow fights were a right of passage for any child growing up in the ’90s — oh the fun we had!

Free Milk In Schools

The dairy-free five-year-olds of today would probably shudder at the thought of drinking milk everyday like we did, but it was great at the time. Free milk in schools has been going on since the 1946 Free School Milk Act, but came under contention in the ’70s under Margaret Thatcher who stopped children over seven having access to free school milk.

For those kids who grew up in the ’90s and were still under seven, free school milk in little cartons was still very much a thing.

You Were Royalty If You Could Do The Rubik’s Cube

2018 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia continues in Moscow

The Rubik’s cube was a serious game – a challenge of both intellect and control under pressure. Most kids said they could do it, but when it came to the crunch they bottled it.

If, however, you were one of the chosen ones who could fix up a Rubik’s Cube in front of a crowd, then you would be crowned the coolest kid in school. The Rubik’s cube was actually made popular in the ’80s, but in the UK it was the ’90s that saw the rise of the puzzle.

Next: did you have one of these toys?

Gameboy Made Gaming Portable

In the ’90s the Gameboy made gaming a portable thing and as a child if you were lucky enough to own one, you were probably one of the coolest kids in school. Games like Super Mario, Tetris and Tennis were classics, and the when the GameBoy Colour came out it revolutionised the handheld gaming market.

There was nothing quite like hitting a new high score and challenging your sibling or best friend to beat it. If they didn’t manage to, you would gain bragging right for a little while. But if they did, you’d probably throw a massive strop.

Troll Dolls Were Everywhere

Troll Dolls were versatile little toys that had crazy hair that stuck up. You could rest these little guys on your TV, on your mum’s car dashboard (much to her dismay!), or on your bedside table to give you a giggle.