5 Cool Cereal Toys of the 70s-00s Part 1

Growing up in the late 70s and into the 80s, one of my favorite things to do was go to the grocery store with my Mom. For one reason only, and that was to hunt the cereal aisle! Searching for the cereals that had the best toys/prizes was exciting. Oh yes, I loved a lot of the cereals that were out there, and loved to look at the awesome artwork on the boxes, but what was inside was the exciting part. Did Sugar Crisp have something better, than say Fruity Pebbles that trip?? That was ultimately the deciding factor of which one to pick out. Today, I’ll pick 5 of my favortie toys/prizes I loved growing up in this part 1 of which I’m sure will be many more to come!

1. SUGAR CRISP TERRARIUMS: Post Cereal Sugar Crisp first introduced their Terrariums in 1975. They would go on to give these away on 4 other occasions. Basically, with these, is that you could grow a little plant inside a plastic box! The instructions were as follows: 1. Soak the plastic Earth disc thoroughly. 2. Sprinkle seeds on top of Earth Disc. Replace top. 3. Store for 24 hours of darkness. Then grow in daylight or sunlight. When plant reaches the top of terrarium, transplant Earth disc with plants to another container with soil. Pretty cool for something you find in a cereal box! I remember having one of these as a kid, and YES it did work! I think the plant actually lasted for quite a few months!

2. FRUITY PEBBLES COIN HOLDER: Also making it’s debut in 1975, was the coin holder from Fruity Pebbles/Cocoa Pebbles. This was a neat little prize to get as a kid. These would go on to have several releases throughout the years. I remember using mine to hold quarters for when I would go to the arcade! The characters for these included Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble and Dino.

3. MONSTER CEREAL SPOOKY SPEEDSTERS: In 1981 the monster cereals offered up race cars called the Spooky Speedsters. These were easily assembled snap together toys. Each character had their own individual car. Count Chocula’s car was in the shape of a coffin, while the other two looked like normal race cars. Count Chocula had the Midnight Creeper, Franken Berry had the Silly Stretcher, and Boo Berry had the Crazy Cloud Car.

4. CAP’N CRUNCH SURFERS: In 1983, Crunch Berries and other Cap’n Crunch cereals released the Cap’n Crunch Surfers. This line offered up 3 characters: Cap’n Crunch, pirate Jean LaFoote, and Smedley the Elephant. Directions: 1. Hold under water to fill. 2. Place on top of water, balance your character. 3. Let go. A neat little toy, and I always thought it was fun when got a water based toy. I recently purchased one on Ebay for my vintage cereal toy collection!

5. FROSTED FLAKES SABER SPOONS: With the release of Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith in 2005, Kellog’s cereal introduced the Saber Spoon! By 2005, I was 31 with two young children. An awesome opportunity to get back into the cereal toy game! Light up your spoon by simply pressing the button and revealing one of three different colored light up spoons! These were also included in other cereals like Froot Loops and Apple Jacks.

Thanks for taking this stroll down memory lane with me into the wonderful world of cereal toys! It’s always fun to go back and reminisce about the good times of strolling down the cereal aisle. There were so many fun and cool things packed into those boxes, and I’ll be back again soon with Part 2!