Before you take the kids out for trick-or-treating or let them go out on their own tonight, be sure to watch this Halloween Safety video from 1985. Sure, the safety information is still relevant, but the real draw to watching it is getting a glimpse of life from 1985! Stuff like this is like catnip for nostalgia nerds like me.
Monthly Archives: October 2022
Weekend Reading 10/30/22
Every weekend, I like to share a curated list of retro & nostalgia-themed articles, stories, and posts that I’ve come across in the last week. It gives you a chance to escape the daily grind, and just sit back and pass the time reading about the good old days. So with that in mind, here are some things I wanted to share with you this week.
In the News
- National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is Getting an All-Day Marathon (Do You Remember)
Retro & Nostalgia
- Halloween Pictures From My Youth (Middle-Aged Fat Kids)
- The 20 Most Popular Halloween Songs According to Spotify (Mental Floss)
- McDonald’s Halloween Collectibles From the 1990s (Dinosaur Dracula)
- The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of CDs (Billboard)
- 10 Groundbreaking Moments in TV History (Listverse)
- How 1980s Video Games Influenced the Current Industry (Rediscover the ’80s)
- 10 Awesome Things on eBay This Halloween (Plaid Stallions)
The Paul Lynde Halloween Special
You’ve probably heard me talk about this Halloween special from 1976, but it’s worth repeating if you’ve still not watched it. The Paul Lynde Halloween Special is such a zany feature, and it’s full of surprise guests, and has such a great Halloween vibe, that I still watch it every year. And if that isn’t enough to get you to give it a try, it features the first TV performance by KISS, which was a huge deal back then, and is so cool to see now. So carve out a little time and watch this classic special. It just may be the best decision you make this Halloween season.
And after you’ve watched it, go listen to the old TRN Podcast episode Jason and I did where we review the whole affair. It’s a fun listen as well.
TV Guide Listings for Halloween 1986
In this Time Capsule, we’re going back to 1986 to see all of the listings in TV Guide for October 31st…Halloween! It’s a great look at all of the shows and movies that were available to enjoy on Halloween night that year. What do you see in the listings that you would be watching on that night?
![](https://i0.wp.com/retroramblings.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/3046038f84ce2af1646680dbeff17674843da22f.19861025_c1_620.jpg?fit=691%2C1024)
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Kool-Aid Halloween Chiller Recipe from 1982
Here is another good-looking recipe for the Halloween season, and any potential Halloween parties you may have planned. It’s a Halloween-themed punch recipe that Kool-Aid put out back in 1982. What a time to be alive it must have been when you could get Apple-flavored Kool-Aid. Now I know that this recipe calls for that Apple Kool-Aid and that it is no longer available. I also know that Green Apple Kool-Aid is sometimes hard to find. I would suggest using either Orange flavored Kool-Aid, or Lemon-Lime flavored Kool-Aid as a substitute in this recipe. I have similar punches with both of these flavors, and they always turn out great. Go with the Orange if you want an orange-colored punch, or go with the Lemon Lime if you’re looking for a green witches brew type of punch.
![](https://i0.wp.com/retroramblings.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Halloween-Chiller-1982.jpg?resize=584%2C783&ssl=1)
And since the recipe portion looks like it could be a little hard to read on a small screen, below is a blown-up version of it.
![](https://i0.wp.com/retroramblings.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Chiller-Closeup.jpg?resize=584%2C182&ssl=1)
Weekend Reading 10/23/22
Every weekend, I like to share a curated list of retro & nostalgia-themed articles, stories, and posts that I’ve come across in the last week. It gives you a chance to escape the daily grind, and just sit back and pass the time reading about the good old days. So with that in mind, here are some things I wanted to share with you this week.
Here are a few things I wanted to share with you this week.
- Ten Most Memorable Scooby-Doo Monsters (Collider)
- Toys ‘R’ Us at Macy’s Taps Into the Ghosts of Retail Past (The Toy Book)
- 13 Classic Cereals That We Miss (13th Dimension)
- Amazing Vintage Video Game Ads From the ’80s and ’90s (Rare Historical Photos)
- 5 Awesome Things on eBay This Week (Plaid Stallions)
Weekend Reading 10/16/22
Every weekend, I like to share a curated list of retro & nostalgia-themed articles, stories, and posts that I’ve come across in the last week. It gives you a chance to escape the daily grind, and just sit back and pass the time reading about the good old days. So with that in mind, here are some things I wanted to share with you this week.
In the News
- It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown Won’t Air on TV Again This Year (Do You Remember)
- Burger King Introduces the Ghost Pepper Whopper for Halloween (Retro Ramblings)
Retro & Nostalgia
- 8 of the Top Rock Bands of the ’80s (American Song Writer)
- A Close Encounter With the Ten Pounds of Gold (Mid-Atlantic Gateway)
- Awesome Things on eBay This Week (Plaid Stallions)
Halloween Nostalgia
- Movies You Forgot Took Place on Halloween (Pop Rewind)
- Anti-Halloween Propaganda From 1990 (Dinosaur Dracula)
- The (Halloween) Movies That Made Us (The Retro Network)
- Halloween Games You Might Remember From the ’80s (Rediscover the ’80s)
- My Most Unusual Halloween Treat (Retroist)
1985 VHS Recording of Halloween Cartoons
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This presentation may be the one I’m most excited about in the history of Retro Ramblings. What we’ve got here is a rip of a home-recorded VHS tape that features probably the two greatest Halloween cartoons of all time. It was recorded in 1985 and features the debut airing of Garfield’s Halloween Adventure. Not only that, but it has It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown right behind it. And if that wasn’t enough, it still has all of the original 1985 commercials intact as well. Everything is complete as presented by CBS as a special presentation that week in 1985! So settle in for this one and try to remember what it felt like all those years ago to view this magical night of television.
Spooky Old Comic Book Ads
We’re going back to the old comic book ad well again. Don’t worry, it’s a deep well, and I can keep going back over and over again and probably will never run out of fun/cool ads to showcase and talk about. If you’re not familiar with the concept, you can get up by checking out the previous posts looking at old comic book ads here, here, here, and here. For this edition, we’re looking at ads that have a spookier vibe than normal in celebration of the Halloween season. Let’s jump into it!
![](https://i1.wp.com/retroramblings.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Shrunken-Head-Apple-Sculpture-1976.jpg?fit=675%2C1024)
Shrunken Head Apple Sculpture (1976)
We’re starting off with this beauty from the late-’70s. The Shrunken Head Apple Sculpture Kit seems like such a weird toy to be marketed to kids, but here you go. The ad itself gives oss suffecient spooky vibes with the shrunken head itself, and the box art featuring Vincent Price. I just looked one of these kits up on eBay, and one still in the box will set you back a few hundred dollars.
![](https://i2.wp.com/retroramblings.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Elvira-Shirt-1986.jpg?fit=669%2C1024)
Elvira T-Shirt (1986)
Elvira always fascinated me growing up. While I wasn’t anywhere close to an area to see her original show on TV, I was still well aware of her existence. From her appearance at Wrestlemania 2 to her guest-starring role on The Fall Guy the same year, I became a big fan pretty quickly. Both of those appearances took place in the same year this shirt was offered. Had I seen this offer then, I probably would have thought about picking one up.
![](https://i2.wp.com/retroramblings.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Tales-From-the-Crypt-1991.jpg?fit=679%2C1024)
Tales From the Crypt (1991)
Tales From the Crypt was such a great series back in the day, and I imagine it still holds up pretty well today. Did the Cryptkeeper subplant Elvira as the favored horror-themed show host when he came along? That one is worth thinking about. This ad is really nothing special in and of itself, but the Cryptkeeper is always ready for spooky glam shots. Why oh why isn’t Tales From the Crypt streaming on HBO Max? We need it in our lives for not just Halloween, but year round.
![](https://i1.wp.com/retroramblings.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Trading-Card-Treats-1991.jpg?fit=676%2C1024)
Trading Card Treats (1991)
Whoever came up with the idea of creating packs of trading cards to give out on Halloween was a genius, and a saint. What surprises me is that the idea never caught on and became a thing. When I was young and trick-or-treating on my grandmother’s street, there was an older gentleman that would give cards out instead of candy. He would purchase plenty of packs of Topps Baseball cards for the given year, and every kid that came to his door got a whole pack! His was my favorite stop every year in those days.
These Trading Card Treats were just such an awesome thing to do. The ad doesn’t specify how many cards are in a pack, nor how many packs come in a box. It’s possible that the packs/cost ratio was such that it wasn’t feasible for a lot of folks to give these out, thus killing off the idea in general. I need to search eBay and see which bags of these are available for good prices. It would be cool to give out packs of those Universal Monsters cards or Marvel Comics cards this year.
![](https://i0.wp.com/retroramblings.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Wicked-Halloween-Party-1998.jpg?fit=676%2C1024)
Nabisco’s Wicked Halloween Party (1998)
So back in 1998, it looks like Nabisco was throwing the coolest party on the block, and if you were lucky enough to be one of the winners, you have a story to tell for the rest of your life. The 15 Grand Prize winners got to party with the Universal Studios classic monsters and an all day tour of Universal Studios in Florida…with no waiting in any lines. That’s pretty bad ass.
Aside from the cool prize, the ad itself is great. It’s got the colors that set the mood for the season with the purple, orange, and prominent green font. The Universal Monsters are there too just so you KNOW it’s Halloween related.
![](https://i2.wp.com/retroramblings.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Silver-Shamrock.jpg?fit=661%2C1024)
Silver Shamrock Masks
So this one doesn’t really count since it isn’t a real ad. Someone put a lot of time and effort into creating such a true looking comic book ad to advertise the Silver Shamrock masks from Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Hell, this is better looking than all of the real comic book ads in this post. I just love this one so much, especially since I just watched the movie for the first time. We need more real products advertised in this fashion these days. That may be part of whats wrong with the world today.
Thanks for taking a little time out of your busy day to read about a few spooky old comic book ads. This is the fifth installment so far, and there will be plenty more to come in time.
Oreo Pumpkin Patch Pie Recipe from 1993
In an effort to continue bringing old recipes to modern eyes, today I want to present to you Oreo’s Pumpkin Patch Pie from 1993. You know these kinds of recipes. They used to pop up in magazine ads as a way for companies like Nabisco to market more of their products. Create a recipe that calls for your product, pay for that recipe to appear in a magazine, and before you know it, you’ve sold more Oreos. But in all seriousness, I remember my mom making this once back in the day and it was pretty good. Give it a shot this season and see what you think.
![](https://i0.wp.com/retroramblings.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Pumpkin-Patch-Pie.jpg?resize=584%2C747&ssl=1)
Weekend Reading 10/09/23
Every weekend, I like to share a curated list of retro & nostalgia-themed articles, stories, and posts that I’ve come across in the last week. It gives you a chance to escape the daily grind, and just sit back and pass the time reading about the good old days. So with that in mind, here are some things I wanted to share with you this week.
In the News
- Nacelle Reveals Plans For Sectaurs Wave 2 (The Toy Book)
- Hasbro Announces NERF’s First Official Sport – Nerfball! (Awesome Toy Blog)
Retro & Nostalgia Stories
- When Fox Aired its Infamous Alien Autopsy in 1995 (Mental Floss)
- Hulk Hogan and the AWA Championship: What if He Won? (Pro Wrestling Stories)
- ‘Cheers’ Turns 40 (A Shroud of Thoughts)
- 5 Spooky Things on eBay This Week (Plaid Stallions)
Halloween Nostalgia
- Retro Commercials: Halloween Monster Cereals (The Retro Network)
- Halloween Pranks of an ’80s Teenager (Rediscover the ’80s)
- 5 Worst Halloween Treats (Retroist)
- Some Memories of Halloween Past (20 Years Before 2000)
- The Blair Witch Project Opening Night 1999 (Middle-Aged Fat Kids)
- Obscure Freddy Krueger Merch (Dinosaur Dracula)
Matt Foley’s Halloween Story
This may be short, but it’s still a classic. Chris Farley’s Matt Foley character just might be my all-time favorite character in the history of SNL. This sketch in particular is my favorite just due to watching David Spade and Christina Applegate try to keep from breaking character. And hey, it has a Halloween theme, so that’s just a bonus.