Let’s take a look back at some of the things 80s girls will have had in their rooms as they grew up in the 1980s and in to the 1990s.
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35. Canopy bed
Kind of like a mini 4 poster bed, but in a more garish style that certainly wouldn’t have been seen in a posh hotel.
34. Watch-shaped clock
It’s a clock. But it looks like a giant watch. Is it a clock that wishes it was a watch, or a watch that wishes it was a clock? You decide.
33. Strawberry Shortcake designs
Wallpaper, bedding, curtains. Strawberry Shortcake was everywhere looking sickly sweet, or smelling sickly sweet in the cast of the strawberry-fragranced Strawberry Shortcake dolls.
32. Victoria Plum designs
Most people were either Strawberry Shortcake or Victoria Plum – which were you? Unlike her rival Strawberry Shortcake, Victoria Plum didn’t smell of her namesake fruit – false advertising?
31. Doll lamp
Let’s not beat around the bush, these were just very, very creepy. Did you have one? If so, why?
30. Duran Duran posters
There was a big debate in the 80s, about who was better out of Simon Le Bon’s Duran Duran, and…
29. Spandau Ballet posters
The other big band in the New Romantic music movement, if you weren’t Duran Duran then you were all about Tony Hadley and the Kemp Brothers. Even now you’ll hear Spandau Ballet fans saying how they don’t like Duran Duran’s music and vice-versa, they won’t let it go.
28. Care Bears dolls
Of course, before the hormones kicked in and you wanted posters of pop stars on your walls, you were a lot more innocent and may well have had some Care Bears – who was your favourite? Did you like a sunshine bear, a lucky bear or one of the love bears?
27. Barbie
Did you have all the Barbie dolls? And did you have Ken, too? Did they live happily or did they argue and fall out? Were you one of those kids whose Barbies always fell out and divorced their Kens and then remarried them, Liz Taylor and Richard Burton-style?
26. Sindy
However, you may well have preferred to play with Sindy, Barbie’s main rival. Sindy was the British answer to Barbie, and was a lot more wholesome with more traditional values, apparently.
25. Keypers
These little critters were cute and useful, as they could be used to hide jewellery and other bits whilst looking like a common or garden toy on your shelf. What did you keep in yours, jewellery and personal belongings, or details of your latest crush that you wanted no-one else to read about?
24. Lockable diary
Did you have a diary with a lock on it to hide your secret crushes and your darkest secrets? Did you dread the time your snotty-nosed little brother would find it, break the lock and taunt you with his knowledge of the contents?
23. Polaroid camera
Did you have a Polaroid? You could take all the instant snaps you wanted when you were dressing up as pop stars with your best friend. Did you pretend you were appearing in the latest issue of Smash Hits Magazine?
22. Portable TV
No 32″ TVs in bedrooms back in the 80s! If you were lucky, you had a 12″ portable TV. Who else dreaded the time when someone would brush past it and change the angle of the aerial by 1 degree, meaning you had a 20 minute battle on your hands to get the picture back to an acceptable quality? Nightmare.
21. Radio cassette player
Tune in to your favourite radio station, play your favourite cassettes. If you were feeling daring, try to record your favourite song from the radio and time it so you didn’t get the DJ’s chat over the beginning or end. Bliss.
20. See-through phone
Were you lucky enough to have your own phone in your room? If you were, was it a see-through one like this? The ultimate in telephonic design. It didn’t have any additional functionality like moving parts inside, it just looked really, really cool.
19. Take That posters
As you hit the 90s as a teen, you started to understand the feelings those hormones were producing and you just couldn’t get enough of Gary, Mark and Robbie. Who was your favourite? Do you still love Take That today? Do you wish Robbie had never split from the group?
18. Groovy Chick
This was the big thing in the early 90s, so as the 80s girls were becoming 90s, teens this was something that adorned bedrooms across the country. This particular character seemed to take the 90s by storm and then just disappeared overnight like it had never happened!
17. Spirograph
Did you have one of these in your room? Did you try hard to recreate the kind of intricate designs you saw in the adverts and on the box? And did you ever succeed? Or did you just end up with a very dark circle because you had been over the same line 30 times? Thought so.
16. Pound Puppies
Teddies based on dogs that were in the pound and homeless, and so would catch your attention with their sad, puppy-dog eyes and make you fall in love. Did you have any of these adorable pooches? Do you still have them today as you couldn’t bear to get rid of them?
15. Smelly rubbers
Every girl had a few of these on their desk and there was nothing like the smell of a brand new, unused rubber. Some just smelled of a rubber, which was good enough, but some were infused with strawberry, raspberry and even chocolate scents!
14. Scratch and Sniff stickers
Who didn’t have these on the front of their drawers or cupboards? Give them a quick scratch when walking past and press your nose up to them to get a whiff of your favourite scent.
13. Dot-to-dot books
A way to pass half an hour or so whilst being a bit creative but not having to put in too much of an effort! Even the most cack-handed person could create something that looked decent by following those dots around the page.
12. Multi-coloured pen
These things were great! Whatever colour you fancied writing in was right there at the click of a button! They weren’t particularly easy to write with, however, as they were so thick to hold all the different pens inside, but they looked great!
11. Floating pens
These things looked so cool! With a bit of water in the handle of the pen and an item inside that would slide slowly inside when you wrote, it somehow provided hours of amusement even though it was really simple!
10. Choose Your Own Adventure books
Books where the general story started and then you were provided with choices which told you to go to certain pages to continue the tale and see what happens. Your choices genuinely affected the end result of the story and these were great fun!
9. Casio keyboard
Every girl’s bedroom had to have one of these in, so that they could play along to the latest pop hit! And if you were a bit naff then put it in demo mode and pretend to play like a pro!
8. Hairbrush as a microphone
Every girl did this when rocking along to their favourite new Madonna hit! You could really lose yourself in this, it just gets totally ruined when you’re rocking the high notes and you turn around to see your bratty little brother again, this time holding his hands over his ears and crying.
7. Garfield backpack
The cat who really looks on the down side of life as much as possible, unless it involves lasagne, but who was very lovable nonetheless and made a great accessory to carry around with you everywhere.
6. Snow globes
Who doesn’t love a snow globe? One of those popular 80s accessories that every girl had in their bedroom, which design or character did you have? Was yours a keepsake from a family holiday?
5. Cabbage Patch dolls
So many girls in the 80s had these, but why? They are really ugly. Still, they were loved by their owners regardless, unconditional love at its best.
4. My Little Pony
If you had siblings of a certain age then you may have been forced to endure the horrible re-written song, “My Little Pony, skinny and bony…” If not then you were allowed to love these little critters, brush their hair and generally enjoy having them.
3. Smurfs
You may remember collecting these, especially the ones you could collect with petrol purchases, so you always made your parents fill up at the same garage. Did you know some of them are now worth a lot of money? And we mean a lot.
2. Trolls
No, not people who make your life a misery on social media, these were the original Trolls, and people in the 80s couldn’t get enough of them! How many did you have in your room?
1. Smash Hits magazine
Do you remember having to have to wait until the latest issue of Smash Hits was out before you could catch up with the latest celebrity and musical stories and gossip? None of this internet nonsense back then.
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