The 1990s was an extremely special time. It was the decade that brought us Clueless, The Matrix and Fight Club, as well as iconic groups like The Spice Girls, Oasis, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC and more. Not to mention all of the fantastic television shows of the era, including Full House, Seinfeld, Friends and Boy Meets World.
The decade felt like it was full of opportunities, as technology had already started advancing at a rapid rate, but we weren’t completely consumed with social media yet. It was a special time in history that, unfortunately, we’ll never be able to recreate. But we can certainly look back and reminisce on it with pages like Only 90s Kids Know!
Now, there’s a bit of debate about who exactly can claim the title of a 90s kid. Some say that being born during that decade is enough to qualify as a 90s kid, while others argue that you must have been old enough to actually experience and remember those amazing years.
We’re certainly not here to gatekeep, but if you’re curious about what the average experience was for a 90s kid, Nasreen Akhtar wrote a piece on Medium breaking it down. “The 90s were basically like the Wild West of parenting. Just ask any parent of that era, there was no parenting manual,” she writes.
Many 90s kids recall the experience of running off with their friends and being out for hours on end, while their parents had absolutely no idea what they were up to. They could be chilling at the mall, biking around the city, playing video games in their friend’s basement or at the local pool. But there were no cell phones, so as long as they were home by dinner time, Mom and Dad weren’t too concerned.
Akhtar also notes that most 90s kids spent the majority of their time playing outside. “This allowed us to tap into becoming more imaginative, creative, and inventive,” she noted. “We enriched our experience and enhanced our life learning skills.” Unfortunately, it’s a lot more challenging to get kids to play outside nowadays when TikTok, YouTube and Instagram are much more tempting. Plus, parents are much less eager to let their kids roam freely, so if they can’t supervise, they usually won’t let their kiddos leave the house.
Now, we can’t discuss the 90s without mentioning the absolutely amazing clothes that came out of the decade. Depending on your aesthetic at the time, you might have been into bucket hats and loud patterns, baggy jeans and crop tops, combat boots and grunge flannels or preppy plaid matching sets. Everyone was free to express themselves through their clothes, and the looks were iconic.
While many food items that were popularized in the 1990s are still available for purchase today, it’s hard to understand just how iconic they were. So if you need a reminder of some of the classics, The Spruce Eats has compiled a delicious list.
Some favorites were Dunkaroos, Gushers, Bagel Bites, AriZona Iced Tea, Crystal Pepsi, Go-Gurt, Wonder Balls, Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies and Toaster Strudels. My mouth is watering just thinking about them!
