Kid contests

Theo and I were at Whole Earth a few days ago, and I let him wander around in the toy section.  He quickly found the kid-sized shopping cart and filled it to overflowing.

When I looked at this picture, I was reminded of the Toys R Us shopping spree contests I used to hear about when I was a kid.  I dreamed of running through the store, filling my cart with My Little Ponies for sixty seconds.  I also thought it would be awesome to run through the Double Dare obstacle course or the Fun House, grabbing flags and tokens for prizes.

I used to think that it was terribly unfair that the rabbit in the commercials never got to eat Trix cereal, so in 1980 when they did a write-in campaign where you could vote on the issue, you better believe I sent in a box top checked 'yes'.

And finally, at the height of my New Kids on the Block mania, I got permission to set up a table in my junior high lunch room in order to get people to sign cards which I had hand written, saying they wanted the New Kids to come to our school.  Whichever school sent in the most cards won a special concert.  Or something like that.  We didn't win.

If you want to waste a few minutes watching 1980s commercials, check this out.  You can see a Toys R Us/Cap'n Crunch toy giveaway around 5:00 and I'm pretty sure my little sister had the popcorn Nosy Bear pictured at 8:25.