There was a fad one Christmas when they had tree lights that looked like 3" white snowballs. Everybody got them. The next year, everyone had colored snowballs, then the tiny lights took over and they were lost. We had one string we tried to keep going but had to give up on long before we were tired of them.
Silly putty is still around and better than ever. Although you can get classic putty if you look around, there is color change silly putty and gold silly putty and glow in the dark silly putty that is way cool. I still buy and play with it and it still comes in an egg.
I miss lego sets where you assembled the funky bits like the horses and they did not come as one or a few pieces. The new lego sets seem like they are cheating.
I also miss zots candy, that candy that fizzed.
I haven’t seen regular Zotz in a while, but in Chicago I recently found Jumbo Zotz at FAO Schweetz.
Powerful!
I’m guessing regular Zotz might be available somewhere. I’ll have to check the Hometown Favorites site someone posted to the Breakfast Cereals thread.
I am not sure how to format a URL, but here it is:
http://www.hometownfavorites.com/
Yup, Zotz are there. Maybe I’ll order some.
Flavor Straws, the straws that had chocolate flavor inside them so that they magically made milk taste chocolatey.
Creepy Crawlers, the kit that came with the original little cooker device. They must have gotten rid of that part because some dumb shit kids burnt themselves on it (hiding scars on knuckles).
Sheriff John. You old southern Californians know who I mean. Laugh and Be Happy!
Diver Dan.
Liddle Kiddles.
Cardboard Barbie Dream Homes.
Mad Magazine as done in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show. Was this local to southern California or national?
Little pretend ice cream cones, except the ice cream part is made with marshmallow and the marshmallow part is covered with granulated sugar.
Real firecrackers at the fireworks stands.
I saw the Paul Winchell show, I think on Channel 5 in New York. The other dummy in the cast was Knucklehead Smith.
For those who don’t know, Paul Winchell is one of the greatest voice actors ever. Anyone who has watched a cartoon or Disney movie has heard his work (he’s done Tigger, Dick Dasterdly, Gargamel, and a million others). If I recall correctly, Jerry Mahoney had the “Gargamel”-style voice, and Knucklehead was more “Tigger-esque”.
SOUP!!!
I could just hug you - thank you so much for the STP comment - there is another thread floating around the SDMB where I mention these things and couldn’t remember the name. It has been bugging me since!
Thank you!
And now, back to your regularly scheduled thread…
Anybody else have one of these instead of a plain ol’ Hoppity Hop? Mine was named Silver (even though he was bright red) and was small enough to pick up by the rubber handles that went through his head and swing at my little sister on those occasions that she deserved it. Sturdy enough to jump Dad around the yard, although I shrieked when I saw him take off on it (I was convinced he was going to pop Silver like a balloon).
Green Apple Zotz ruled!
(ooh, my first post; I can hardly stand the excitement)
Missy2U:
You’re welcome! 
Always happy to bring back a fond childhood memory (and accept virtual hugs).
Here’s another TV-related one: When I was a kid, Channel 7 in New York used to run a show called “The 4:30 Movie” every weekday. Each week would have a theme: Oscar Week, Elvis Week, etc. My favorite was “Monster Week”! The line-up was usually consisted of a couple of Godzilla movies, “the War of the Gargantuas” and then the Friday blockbuster, “Destroy All Monsters!” Woo Hoo!
Does anyone remember Rock’em Sock’em Robots? I wore that thing out with my sibs. I also had a Stretch Armstong doll, which was a doll that you could stretch out to about 6 feet before it broke (found out the hard way). If it didn’t break it would go back into it’s original shape.
I had Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. My brother and I would even recite the commercial as we were fighting (“Awww! You knocked my block off! but you can put it back on again!”).
Nice seeing the robots cameo in Toy Story 2!
A seond vote for Lawn Darts (also called Jarts). Tried to buy some on eBay a few weeks ago and they removed the posting. Apparently, it’s illegal to sell the durn things anymore.
Anybody remember SkittleBowl? Ten little wooden pins that sat on a board. There was this large wooden ball attached to string which was held over the board and you tried to knock the pins down by swinging it. They also had SkittlePool.
How about the little submarines that you filled with baking soda to have them submerge then come back up when you played with them in the bath tub. An all-time favorite cereal box prize of mine.
As for one thing I really miss and would like to have back, I’d have to vote for typewriters.
Lemon Twister. A version is made now, but this was something you put on your ankle and it had a plastic lemon on the end and you skipped over it. The fancy shmancy ones now has a counter so you can keep track of how many skips you did. But I miss the lemon.
I had one of these! It was MUCH better than a Big Wheel. A lot of people don’t know what it is, and think I mean a Big Wheel, so it’s nice to know I wasn’t imagining it! 
Wacky Packs, yeah, they were so funny. I remember they were banned (foreshadowing of Pokemon bannings) from my elementary school.
Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. I wanted these for Christmas one year, but my mother got me a dollhouse instead. (She had trouble dealing with a tomboy daughter after two prissy daughters!)
The candy buttons are still available.
Check out http://www.hometownfavorites.com for more candy and foods still available.
I found a Sky bar recently, the one with 5 sections, each with a different flavor…caramel, fudge, whatever. It was AWFUL! Not at all like I remembered.
Destroy All Monsters RULED!!!
BTW, as a bit of a hijack, I understand that AMC is showing the last of the Toho Godzilla movies (not counting Godzilla 2000 and that horrible Broderick piece of dung) this week…
So I like Godzilla movies. Bite me.