Honeycomb Hitchhiker

Way back in 2014 during my first year in the Countdown to Halloween, I posted about these Honeycomb cereal box cutout records.

This past year, I came across 2 more.  One I had before ("Miser's Gold"), but the other was new to me, "The Hitchhiker".

The Monsters Go Disco

 I often lament to my kids as we stroll down the cereal aisle how the magic of cereal is gone. Time was every box in the aisle touted prizes and mail-in orders. They were full of sugar and hope and we loved them for it.

This flexi disc was found on the back of the various General Mills Monster cereals back in 1979.  We know it's 1979 not only because of their design, but because they are going to the Disco.

Leftovers Day 7 -- Queen Mary

Kellogg's offered this cardboard Queen Mary (some assembly required, okay, a lot of assembly required) as a premium from Cornflakes cereal in the 1930's.  It doesn't appear to be made from the packaging itself, so it was probably a mail-away premium.

Frankenstein or Bust!

When I found this mini-Frankenstein bust (I know, Frankenstein was the Doctor, he's Frankenstein's Monster, blah, blah blah. Hey, it's on the bust!) in a bag of miscellaneous toys last summer, I had no clue where it came from.

Funny Fringe

I found this guy in a bag of junk at an estate sale today.

Freaky Attraction

The annals of breakfast history are littered with the boxes and ghosts of cereals past and their sweet memories. Some, like Urkel-O's are perhaps best forgotten, but others are fondly remembered by those who grew up in front of Saturday morning television and their favorite bowlful of sugary joy. Many, of course, like "Froot Loops", "Cap'n Crunch", and "Frosted Flakes" are still around .  Others, such as "Super Sugar Crisp", have been camouflaged of their true nature, with "Sugar" becoming "Golden". But of all the lost cereals, there may be none so freaky as, well, "Freakies".

Honeycomb's Big -- and Scary

I found 2 of these Honeycomb cereal cut-out records at an estate sale a few months ago.  These were printed on the back of boxes of Honeycomb cereal in the late 1970's.  Cut them out and play on your phonograph at 33 1/3.  I've ripped the tracks below.

Son of Stuff I Can Live Without

Continuing the Stuff I Can Live Without series, I present to you the following:

I saw this homemade chip and dip combo at a local antique mall.  The creator has done the unthinkable and destroyed two of the  butter-dish cereal bowls similar to those I wrote about here.  A few blocks of wood and bottlecap arms and legs later and you’ve got…well, you can see what you’ve got.  

Now that I think of it, it kind of reminds me of William Shatner in stereotypical Mexican attire.

I'm Cuckoo for Thermo-Serv!

I went to the annual Gramond subdivision garage sale this past week.  It was pretty much a bust.  Participation seems to be dropping in neighborhood sales as was evidenced by this and the Canterleigh Estates sale a few weeks back.  But I didn't come away empty-handed.  I did find this Sonny the Cuckoo Cocoa Puffs Thermo-serv mug for one thin dime.

I'm pretty sure it's vintage and features Sonny in his original striped shirt.

Essentially, these mugs are simply clear plastic, watertight (usually) mugs with a paper insert.  Be warned, they sometimes leak, so take care when washing.  Considering their proliferation, there's remarkably little information about Thermo-serv on the internet.  I think most people have had a Thermo-serv mug in their homes at one time or another.  Those featuring beer labels are probably the most common.  In fact, I have a standing order from a friend to grab any beer-themed Thermo-serv mugs I come across.  Even the Farrah cup I found a few weeks back was a Thermo-serv.  Searching the internet, I found no other examples of the Cocoa Puffs mug or any other cereal-themed Thermo-serv mugs.  Anyone seen one of these before?

Saturday Morning Cereal Memories

I was pondering my previous post regarding collectible McDonald's plates from the 1970's and how we didn't have them when I was a kid.  I realized a major reason was we only went to McDonald's a couple times in a year.  Another reason was my parents would never spend extra money on such frivolity as a collectible plate.  What we did have were these:

If you grew up in the 70's, you probably did as well.  These were margarine bowls.  The brand is somewhat disputed.  My first thought was Imperial.  Others on the internet recall Blue Bonnet or Parkay.  I'm almost positive it wasn't Parkay, as that was too expensive for my family.  When the margarine was gone, voila, cereal bowl.  These were a favorite for Saturday morning cereal in front of the television.  I seem to recall fighting over which color my sister and I would eat from.  I'm sure I always ended up with the pea green one...

Anyway, when I saw these sitting on a shelf in the basement of a recent estate sale, that all came back to me.  I grabbed 6 of them (there were a couple others that were too far gone) and brought them up to check out.  The person hosting the sale looked at me and said, "I'll bet you ate cereal out of those bowls when you were little."  She went on to say she had shown them to some younger people (20's) and they had no clue.

Whatever happened to jelly jar glasses, margarine cereal bowls, and butter tub Tupperware?  It seems nobody repurposes used containers like they once did.  Seems like a pretty smart thing to do.