This Nostalgic Life #20
Halloween Things
Welcome to the 20th edition of This Nostalgic Life. In this issue, we’re looking back at a couple of Halloween things. Curl up in a dark room and enjoy!
Trading Cards as Halloween Treats
by Mick Lee
While I was at the grocery store earlier today, the Pokemon cards above caught my eye.
I think trading cards are such a great idea to stuff into the bags, sacks, buckets, and pillowcases of trick-or-treaters on Halloween. They’re going to get more than enough candy, so things like these cards give much-needed variety, and something to do while consuming said candy.
Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, I did my trick-or-treating on the street that my grandmother lived on. The street had mostly elderly people living on it, and they absolutely loved to spoil all of the kids who came around trick-or-treating by giving not only the best candies on the market but numerous other trinkets as well.
One nice man in particular was an avid baseball card collector. He liked to help foster the passion for his hobby of choice by giving out unopened packs of baseball cards. And I’m not talking about small sample packs like the Pokemon ones pictured above. No, he spent a lot of money and bought regular packs to slip into kid’s bags.
Those cards made such an impression on me, that I can specifically remember the cards I got from him. In 1988 it was a pack of Topps, in 1989 was Fleer, and in 1990 was Donruss. It’s not an exaggeration for me to say that getting those cards in my trick-or-treat bag really helped kindle my love of collecting cards.
Seeing the Pokemon cards today also brought to mind “Trading Card Treats” that were available in 1991. Much like the Pokemon cards, you could buy bags of packs of trading cards, each featuring a few cards per pack. They were designed to be given away for trick-or-treating as 1991 was around the apex of the trading card hobby.
Trading Card Treats were available in several choices too, so whomever was giving them out could pick what they wanted to give. They could choose between Marvel Super Heroes, Archie Comics, Universal Studio Monsters, Inspector Gadget, Widget, or Nintendo cards to give away.
It was such a great concept back then and still is today. I don’t know if there are other trading card options out there this year like the Pokemon ones I saw, but I sure hope there are. If you want to be fondly remembered for years to come by this year’s crop of trick-or-treaters, consider giving away some trading cards instead of candy.
The Paul Lynde Halloween Special
I’ve talked about this old Halloween special from 1976 many times in the past, but it’s worth repeating if you’ve never watched it. The Paul Lynde Halloween Special is such a zany feature, and it’s full of surprise guests, and has such a great Halloween vibe, that I still watch it every year. And if that isn’t enough to get you to give it a try, it features the first TV performance by KISS, which was a huge deal back then, and is so cool to see now. So carve out a little time and watch this classic special. It just may be the best decision you make this Halloween season. You can watch it via YouTube below.
In every edition of This Nostalgic Life, we like to share a curated list of nostalgia-themed articles, stories, and posts that we’ve come across recently. It gives you a chance to discover great content and remember things from your past that you may have forgotten. With that in mind, here are some things we wanted to share with you this week. (All links will open in a new tab.)
When An Earthquake Stopped the 1989 World Series (The Retro Network)
5 Ways Halloween Used to Be Terrible (Mental Floss)
Nightmare Nostalgia’s Ten Favorite Halloween Specials (Nightmare Nostalgia)
When TV Stations Had Technical Difficulties (Retroist)
9 Nostalgic Foods Gen-Xers Will Never Taste Again (Arnienicola)
Favorite Ben Cooper Costumes of the ‘80s (The Retro Network)
The Halloween Movies That Made Us (Geekster)
Thanks for joining us for this edition of This Nostalgic Life. We hope you’ve found something that you connect with. If you did, drop us a comment and we can discuss!
I remember seeing ads for those trading cards in comic books all the time, but I don't remember ever seeing them at retail.
I lucked out when Dino Drac gave me some after I discovered that they have a very rare piece of The Legend of Zelda artwork that I'd never seen before among the cards. Mad props to Madd Matt for that! <3
Great write up Mick! I completely forgot about the trading card treats bags!! What a throwback!
I never watched the Paul Lynde Halloween Special. But I just put it on and went straight to KISS performing Detroit Rock City!! That audience got a show for sure!