Best of Halloween 2022

What a great year this was for Halloween festivities! My kids are getting older, but their love for the holiday is still there. The whole thing started this year when my Mom sent us this pretty sweet inflatable ghost lawn ornament. Never had one of these before, so it was cool to add some spooky decor to the front yard of our house! Thanks Mom!

We made our annual trip to the corn maze and pumpkin patch. This year nobody got lost and we all had a great time by taking a hayride and tromping through the pumpkin patch in search for the biggest, best pumpkins we could find!

Our old friend Linus was there, and he is still waiting for the Great Pumpkin to arrive. I guess he needs to be a little more sincere? Anyway, we found our pumpkins and had a blast carving them on the night before Halloween.

I chose to carve the visage of pure evil himself, Skeletor! My kids carved images of Morticia, King Boo and Eevee into there pumpkins while we watched "Ernest Scared Stupid" and the new Netflix film "The Curse of Bridge Hallow".

The Curse of Bridge Hallow is the story of Stingy Jack and how he is accidentally brought back by a young girl who letshim out of his turnip prison. This causes all of the Halloween decorations in the town to come to life! In all honesty, this movie was pretty fun and a lot better than I thought it would be. The kids enjoyed it, so it will probably become a staple in our Halloween viewing for years to come.

Lucky me! I won a Halloween themed contest on Twitter just by liking a post! The prize pack was very cool and included some packs of Halloween themed Pokemon cards, a big Slimer sticker a Sloth key ring and of course lots of candy treats!

Speaking of sweet treats, my wife picked up these Vampire O's donuts. I don't usually like powdered donuts, but these were really good. The powder wasn't overpowering, and the ring of raspberry filling was tasty! The wife also picked up some zombie themed, chocolate covered donuts, but they all got eaten before I could snap a picture!

In addition to all the sweets, we got some savory offerings from two of the biggest burger chains around. Burger King kicked up their Whopper, by creating the Ghost Pepper Whopper which has to be my favorite new burger of the last few years. If you like a little bit of spice with your beef, definitely give this a try. It is so good! This limited-time burger features a classic flame-grilled beef patty topped with spicy queso, bacon, jalapeños, and ghost pepper cheese on a seasonally appropriate orange-and-black sesame seed bun.

Not to be outdone on the Halloween front, McDonald's resurrected their Boo Buckets! I took the kids to McDonald's, and we all got the McBoo Pail, which is totally cool because that was the one, we all wanted. The food was not Halloween themed, but it doesn't get much better than eating your food out of the head of a ghost themed bucket!

My twins went trick or treating as Luke & Leia from Star Wars, so of course I had to be their Dad aka Darth Vader! I went nuts looking for an affordable costume and, in the end, I ended up with this Ben Cooper Darth Vader ensemble. I saw it at Spirit Halloween for $9.97 and immediately snapped it up! 

What a great 2022 Halloween season this turned out to be. I hope you and your family had a fantastically scary time. Can't wait to see what 2023 brings us! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Remembering Fast Food Glasses

Back in the 80's & 90's every fast food restaurant had an array of high end glasses for sale in an attempt to get customers to saunter through their doors in hopes that they would keep returning to finish the whole set and buy some food & drink while at the establishment. Some of the most fondly remembered of these glasses include Star Wars, E.T., The Muppets, Garfield and of course Batman! On the rare occasion that my parents would take us to one of the restaurants, I always fawned over these sweet looking glasses with amazing artwork, but alas, we never ended up taking any home! Recently, my wife was at a community yard sale and found some of these glasses for a fairly cheap price. She picked them up thinking the kids would love them, little did she know that I would be the one who would be using them every night during dinner! Below you can view the small collection of glasses that currently hang out in our kitchen cabinet.

Care Bears from Pizza Hut (1983)

Pizza Hut gave us all one heck of a deal with these Care Bear glasses. You could get 2 glasses for 99 cents with the purchase of any Pizza Hut pizza! That is a freakin' steal! There were 4 glasses in total and the set included Funshine, Tenderheart, Grumpy and Cheer Bear. I just need 1 more to complete the collection!

Peanuts "Camp Snoopy" from McDonalds (1983)

These glasses were 49 cents with the purchase of any Coca-Cola drink at McDonalds in the early 80's. There were 5 in total and I have 2 of them. The glasses are nice and as the commercial says, they were designed by Peanuts creator Charles Shulz himself, but the real star here is a brand new animated Peanuts commercial featuring Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy & Sally. We need more great promotions like this!

Smurfs "Happy Smurfday" from Hardee's (1983)

Hardee's went all out with this promotion and dubbed July 25th as "Smurfday"!. The glasses were available until September 4th at their restaurants, but they also offered a new drink just for the occasion! This drink was called "Smurfberry Punch". I have no idea what it tasted like, but it looked like a fruit punch sort of drink. Wonder if we'll ever see this return?

80's Day 2021!

80's Day was something I started a few years ago to show my kids how cool the decade was. I share some of my favorite 80's music, movies, video games and food with them and they seem to really enjoy it! Typically we head out and take part in some activities that I liked as a kid, but of course, again this year we had to make some changes and I think we were able to pull it off and everyone seemed to have a good time. Here's what we did!

We started the day as most kids in the 80's did, eating cereal in front of the TV while watching cartoons! This year was extra special because I was able to track down some Ghostbusters cereal thanks to an acquaintance on Twitter. The taste was good and fruity, but I just wish they made the cereal pieces look like the "No-Ghost" symbol like the original cereal had. I guess nothing is perfect and I should be thankful Ghostbusters cereal is a thing at all in 2021! I did enjoy the Ghost shaped marshmallows though!

Anyway, to the cartoons! My son chose the Boogeyman episode of The Real Ghostbusters, my youngest daughter and wife chose My Little Pony and my oldest daughter chose Jem! My choice for the morning led to some head scratching as the kids and even my wife had never heard of the Centurions! I seem to do this to them every year and pick a semi-obscure cartoon from my youth. After all was said and done, I don't think I created any new fans to the sci-fi super hero series. The kids had so many questions and could not grasp the concept of an outer space base that beams down parts of an exo-suit to our heroes back on Earth when they yell "POWER EXTREME"! Also, they questioned how the bad guy set the atmosphere on fire and why there was a monkey. My response to that was "Why not?". Anyway, you can view a clip of the episode we watched at the YouTube link below:

Even though they did not care for the Centurions, I did discover that they all have a lot of love for the "Where's The Beef?" lady! I added some 80's commercials in between cartoons and they thought Clara Peller's portrayal of an annoyed fast food customer was hilarious. I told them how popular she was and that I even had stickers of her saying her well known catch phrase. This truly was the golden age of advertising.

After cartoons it was time to throw on some of our best 80's licensed character t-shirts, so we could go out and hit the town! Represented in my kids' attire were the Ghostbusters and Care Bears. I chose to wear my Masters of the Universe shirt and my wife had her My Little Pony shirt on. 

Looking good and ready for some adventure! We hopped in the van and the soundtrack for the day would be a random assortment of CDs containing some of the biggest hits from the 80's! My kids favorite, which led to a car ride sing along, was "Careless Whisper" by George Michael!

Our first stop was the local mini-golf course! On our way in we were greeted by what we thought was an abandoned dog with 3 legs and one eye. He was sweet and we thought he was probably a dog from one of the nearby ranches. So we went inside and hit the mini-links! 

I usually kick everyone butts, but this time around my wife was on fire and I only beat her by 2 strokes! Too close for me. We left and that dog was still outside and my daughter and her big heart did not want to leave the dog by himself without water, so I dug through the van and found a bowl and she poured the water from her water bottle out so the dog could have a drink. We let the folks inside know about the dog and as we were leaving a bunch of what can only be described as "Yokels" came out of the arcade area and it was their dog! Ugh! BTW, that is my son wearing the Proton-Pack Backpack.

By this time we were ready for lunch, so we hit up McDonalds and the kids all grabbed cheeseburger Happy Meals, my wife got a spicy chicken meal and I got a Double Quarter Pounder Meal with a Hi-C Orange Lavaburst for my drink! I loved this stuff when I was a kid and I am ecstatic that it is back at McDonalds restaurants!

We fueled up and were ready for our next stop at the local comic shop! I picked a Spider-Man book and let the kids each pick out an item. Their picks included an IDW Godzilla comic and a Pokemon binder. It had been a while since I had taken them to the comic shop and they had fun perusing the shelves and looking for something new to read and help with their overflowing Pokemon collection.

After the comic shop we decided it was time to head home and play some retro video games. We played many NES classics like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game, Super Pit Fall and the kids favorite of the day Bubble Bobble!

We had a great time playing games and I was able to share some of my old favorites with the kids, but we were getting hungry, so it was time to head to the hut...Pizza Hut that is!

Every year I gush about how much I loved our local Pizza Hut in Newton, NJ back in the 80's. It had a Rygar arcade cabinet and a juke box loaded with all the hits. I still vividly remember going there one afternoon after my Mom took us shopping. 

I had just bought the Inhumanoid Auger action figure and I made him dance to "Burning Down The House" by The Talking Heads on our table while we waited for our pizza! Too bad this Pizza Hut didn't have a juke box or arcade, but at least we got what we wanted, a Stuffed Crust Pizza!

We chowed down and after dinner, we got ready for the night's movie. Our local zoo does a "Movies Under The Stars" series each summer where people can go to the zoo and view some movies in the common area of the zoo. This past weekend was supposed to be "The Never Ending Story", but at the last minute the zoo pulled a switcheroo and instead ran Disney's "Lilo & Stitch". This is one of my daughter's favorite movies and she had never seen it on a big screen before, so that was cool. Just kind of bummed that the 80's vibe went a few years off track. 

It was late when we got home, so myself and my wife put the kids to bed and we watched the 1988 horror classic "Pumpkinhead". My wife had never seen it before and it had been decades since I last saw it. The wife was surprised at how good it was and wondered why Pumpkinhead doesn't have the same type of following as Freddy or Jason? We'll have to add the sequels to our Halloween watchlist this year. Overall a pretty successful 80's day was enjoyed by all. Hopefully next year we can make it bigger and better! Thanks for taking this journey with me. I hope you'll start your own 80's Day traditions. 

80's Day 2020!

80's Day was something I started a few years ago to show my kids how cool the decade was. I share some of my favorite 80's music, movies, video games and food with them and they seem to really enjoy it! Typically we head out and take part in some activities that I liked as a kid, but of course this year we had to make some changes and I think we were able to pull it off and everyone seemed to have a good time. Here's what we did!

We started the day as most kids in the 80s did, eating cereal in front of the TV while watching cartoons! My son chose The Legend of Zelda, my daughters chose Gummi Bears & Muppet Babies and my wife chose Jem! My choice for the morning led to some head scratching as the kids and even my wife had never heard of the BIONIC 6! After all was said and done, I don't think I created any new fans to the sci-fi super hero series. If you haven't seen this cartoon for yourself check out the episode below. You may not like the show, but I think we can all agree that Bionic 6 has one of the best intro songs of the decade!

After cartoons it was time to throw on some of our best 80s licensed character t-shirts, so we could go out and hit the town!

My kids had on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Wars and Legend of Zelda. I chose to wear my Thundercats shirt and my wife had her My Little Pony shirt on. Looking good and ready for some adventure!

We hopped in the van and the soundtrack for the day would be some old school DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince and the soundtrack from Ghostbusters II!

Our first stop was the local comic shop. I picked up a few Spider-Man, Batman and Ninja Turtles comics and let the kids each pick out a book. Their picks included Care Bears, My Little Pony and Duck Tales. It had been a while since I had taken them to the comic shop and they had fun perusing the shelves and looking for something new to read. Coincidentally, all of the books they picked were 80s related!

After the comic shop, we had to make a quick stop at Target which was within walking distance. Of course since we were there I checked the store for any NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures I could find and as usual I struck out! The main reason we went to Target was to pick up a classic movie for the night's main feature! Also checked for some My Little Pony CCG cards for my youngest daughter and bought a new soccer ball.

After all that shopping, the kids were hungry. What better place to stop than McDonalds. Growing up, they had some of the best Happy Meal toys like Fraggle Rock, Muppet Babies, Garfield and Berenstain Bears. This time around the Happy Meals featured plush toys from Disney/Pixar movies. Each kid got the main character from the new movie "Soul" and I got a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese meal. I just wish they still had that old school Orange Drink. It tasted so good, but for some reason always made my throat feel weird afterwards.

With all that delicious food in our bodies, it was decided that we needed to work some of it off. I pumped up the tires in our bikes and we rode to the kids' school for some RAD action! My son was riding like crazy and he rode around the school for a good hour.

The girls and I took a break from riding and shot some hoops in an epic game of H-O-R-S-E! Trick shots were aplenty, but somehow I edged out a win over my 8 & 11 year old kids. We drank some water, ate some fruit snacks and headed on our journey home.

It was almost 100 degrees out, so that bike ride really wore us out! What better way to cool off than with a Klondike bar? My kids loved them! I could have sworn we had these before, but they said they had never had them. As a kid, we never had the name brand Klondike bars, but it was always AWESOME when my Dad brought us home some knock-off "Polar Bars" from the A&P supermarket! Anyone else ever have these growing up?

We finally went inside and got away from the heat and the kids insisted we play some retro video games. Who was I to argue with them? We played many NES classics like Super Mario Bros. 2, Bubble Bobble, Contra and Adventure Island.

By the time we wrapped up our retro gaming session, it was time for dinner. The kids and I wanted pizza, but from where? The most 80s of all pizza establishments of course...PIZZA HUT! I loved our local pizza hut back in the 80s. It had a Rygar arcade cabinet and a juke box loaded with all the hits like "Burning Down The House" by The Talking Heads! Too bad this Pizza Hut didn't have any of that, but at least we got what we wanted.

Stuffed Crust Pizza loaded with pepperoni! We dished up and got ready to watch the night's main feature film. A film beloved by millions and never seen by my kids, a film called E.T.

This was the original cut, not the revised anniversary edition. I was surprised that Target had this for only $5. I swore that E.T. was on Netflix, but when I looked that morning it was no longer there which prompted our trip to Target to purchase the film. It had been decades since I had seen the movie and I was surprised at how little of it I remembered. It was almost like watching it for the first time. My kids enjoyed it and it was time for bed. Overall a pretty successful 80s day was enjoyed by all. Hopefully next year we can make it bigger and better!

Summer of 1993

Ah, the Summer of 1993! I had just finished up 6th grade and was a few months away from my 13th birthday. Sports had become my life, especially basketball, the weather was crazy hot and Janet Jackson was topping the charts with her song "That's The Way Love Goes".

Me and my Dad didn't really spend too much time together unless it was sports related. He worked in the day and most evenings I was off doing something stupid with my friends. Our paths rarely crossed, but one major pop culture phenomenon put an end to all that in June of 1993.

The movie Jurassic Park was unleashed on the world and my Dad, being the sci-fi fan that he is, decided he was going to take me to see this movie in the theater. Not me, my 2 brothers, my 2 sisters and my Mom, just me and him. This was so unusual, that it shocked me at first, but then it became clear that he wanted to connect with me. Maybe it was because I was about to become a teenager or maybe it was just to get to know each other. Anyway, he made this trip a pretty big deal.

We stopped at a local comic shop and picked up some of the newest issues of the Superman comics. This was a huge time for the series as Superman had just recently been killed by Doomsday, his friends had a funeral for him and now 4 new Supermen were being introduced! AMAZING! I gotta say, my favorite of the 4 was John Henry Irons aka Steel.

While there, I also remember picking up a few packs of the 1992 Skybox Dream Team cards. Me and my brother were trying to complete a second set and all we needed was one dang Charles Barkley card to do so! It didn't happen from these packs, but many years later I just gave up the pack chase and purchased the card off ebay. Now me and my brother own a set of these cards.

After this surprise trip to the comic shop, we eventually made it to the theater and saw the blockbuster movie of the summer, Jurassic Park! It was mind blowing! The action was fast, the special effects were fantastic and the story was entertaining. After the credits rolled the entire audience applauded and so did I. It was the first and only time I experienced that in a movie theater.

Since experiencing this cinematic miracle, there was much discussing that needed to be done. Where else better to do that than at my favorite restaurant, McDonalds. Not only was this my pick for place to eat, but they were also waist deep in their own Jurassic Park promotional campaign!

We both "Dino-Sized" our meals and had some great one-on-one time between father and son. Not sure what we talked about, but I'm sure it was great. We walked away with 2 Jurassic Park cups. I know I got the Dilophosaurus and I think my dad got the Raptor cup.

It would be a long time before me and my Dad did anything like that again, but anytime I drank out of that JP cup, it brought back some great memories from that one cool Summer day in June of 1993!

Summer Commercial Nostalgia!

This week, I really don't have too much to share with you all. I just want to thank everyone for their support of this blog over the years. It has gotten more traction and I've met more cool people with similar likes as myself than I could have ever imagined. All that said, here are some of my favorite retro commercials that bring back that sweet summer nostalgia for me. I hope you enjoy!

Pop Secret (1987)

Pepsi (1991)

Masters of The Universe

Good Humor Ice Cream (1996)

Young People's Day Camp (1988)

Ernest Goes To Camp (1987)

McDonalds Dream Team (1992)

Coors Light (1988)

Crocodile Mile (1989)

The McJordan Special

Let me set the stage for you…The year was 1992 and The Dream Team was taking the world by storm in Barcelona, the Chicago Bulls were coming off their second consecutive championship and Michael Jordan was the biggest sports figure in the universe! Jordan’s celebrity led to endorsements with everyone from NIKE to Gatorade to McDonalds! Not one to pass on a cash grab, McDonalds created the McJordan Special burger in his Airness’s honor! 

This exquisite burger consisted of a quarter pounder beef patty, cheese, onions, pickles, bacon and a special BBQ sauce! Jugs of this limited-edition BBQ sauce show up on eBay from time to time, but you’ll have to spend a few grand to grab one. 

Why am I writing about this particular burger? Because in the summer of ’92 my family vacationed in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We drove from New Jersey to NC and along the way we stopped at numerous McDonalds restaurants not only to get a taste of the limited edition McJordan Special, but to collect the Dream Team collectors cups you would get with every meal order! 

We ended up collecting the whole set and I still drink from them every now and then and when I do it reminds me of the tangy, bacony goodness that was born in the early 90s to capitalize off the greatest basketball player of all-time, Mr. Michael Jeffrey Jordan!

This post was originally written as a submission to the Retro Round Table at the Retro Ramblings website. You can view the original post by clicking HERE.