There are some nostalgic items that live exclusively in your grandparents’ house: the candy dish on the coffee table, or perhaps the floral couch wrapped in plastic. These items may seem ordinary, but they play a starring role in some of our fondest childhood memories. Here are 15 that you’ll probably recognize.
1. Fruit and veggie magnets on the fridge
Cute, kitschy, adorable, and perfect for holding up pictures of the grandkids’ art, these plastic magnets were particularly popular in the 70s and 80s.
2. Royal Dansk container filled with random items and sewing materials
We all knew the feeling as kids—coming across a precious tin of butter cookies only to open them up and find anything except butter cookies. A creative storage solution!
3. Ribbon candies
These frilly, striped rainbow candies were either always stale or would clump together in one of Grandma’s crystal bowls to form a colorful clump.
4. Those wrapped strawberry candies
With a wrapping designed to look like a strawberry, these candies had a hard, strawberry-flavored exterior and a gooey, flavored inside—somehow, they’re still around!
5. Werther’s Originals
If there were ever a mascot for a classic elderly candy, it would be these butterscotch beauties, which you know were always available in abundance.
6. Old-school Tupperware containers
Unlike the modern, clear versions, the vintage Tupperware of decades past was available in some bright, retro colors—and is definitely not BPA-safe.
7. Cool Whip or I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! containers that doubled as Tupperware
If your grandma didn’t use the cookie container, she probably used a Cool Whip or I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! plastic container in lieu of Tupperware…old yogurt containers were also a popular choice.
8. An overflowing spice and tea collection
Grandmas of all walks of life have tins of spices and teas that have lived on the same shelf for decades and aren’t going anywhere, because grandmas don’t believe in expiration dates.
9. Doilies everywhere
Forget HGTV-inspired design details—these intricate lace fabric pieces lived under every accessory and piece of furniture, including lamps, TV sets, and vases.
10. Mother's Iced Oatmeal Cookies
Did your grandma even love you if she didn’t plop down these now-discontinued oatmeal cookies with an iced topping, paired with a tasty glass of cold milk? We can all agree this was an epic after-school snack.
11. Little ceramic Christmas trees
They don’t make them like this anymore—now replaced by larger plastic models, the OG mini Christmas trees were perfectly cheesy and came complete with colorful lights and were made from ceramic.
12. A comfy (but very hideous) vintage couch probably covered in plastic
Every grandma had one of these—a super comfy couch that you just sank into, that probably had a horrifying floral pattern, with the cushions most likely covered in plastic that squeaked when you sat down.
13. A sticky and cheerfully colored vinyl tablecloth
The kitchen table would always have a wipe-clean vinyl tablecloth, most likely in a brightly colored floral pattern or some other loud print (similar to the couch) that was always a little sticky.
14. A slow and clunky computer
A grandma with a modern computer? Never. She probably has an ancient Packard Bell running an old, practically unusable version of Windows.
15. A heavy rotary dial landline
You know what we’re talking about—it was probably avocado green or mustard tones, hung on the kitchen wall. It had a rotary dial and a long, curly cord that was ultra-stretched so she could pace as she wanted.
