Let’s continue to throw back with more Childhood Cereals that you forgot about. Just because
you forgot about them doesn’t mean you cannot remember them and pine for them. Long for
them. Wish you could go out and buy them right now. Here goes! 10 childhood cereals that
you forgot about - part 2.
Vanilly Crunch
We all know Captain Crunch. He is always around, kind of like an annoying uncle or a recurring
dream. But, do you remember when he befriended a big white whale and she opened up her mouth
in the commercial to reveal the newest flavor? The commercials are part of these walks down
memory lane and if you have not taken a moment to go back and watch you really should. In
the commercial for Vanilly Crunch, we see the Captain at sea. He encounters Wilma the
Winsome White Whale. When the crew first sees Wilma they are frightened that the whale will
spoil the Captain Crunch and they run to the harpoon gun to defend themselves. Ahhhh…
This is where children learned about what a harpoon gun was! Thank you cereal commercials
for expanding the minds of children. The white whale was a lady whale and so, of‌ ‌course,
she sported bright red lipstick. She was the bringer of good news! At her appearance, Captain
Crunch reveals that he is launching a new cereal! A vanilla flavor of the classic we
all know and love. Ahhhh…. Yes. Characters for specific flavors within a brand that already
has a mascot. Marketing firms were not afraid of storytelling.
E.T Cereal
Do you remember this cereal or did this totally pass you by? The E.T Cereal was launched in
1984 and discontinued in 1986. It tasted kind of like a Reese in a cereal bowl. It had peanut
butter and chocolate-flavored crispy puffs. Its tagline was “A glowing part of a good
breakfast” and the box depicted E.T’s famous glowing finger pointing at the cereal.
This cereal is particularly interesting because it chose to use E.T as its mascot. E.T, the
same character who gave numerous children nightmares. Drew Barrymore was scared of him
too, but learned that he wasn’t so bad after all… But, the point is he did scare many
kids. It was bold of General Mills to launch such a campaign. Perhaps buying this cereal
for your kids was the perfect opportunity to show them how friendly E.T was and how
much fun you could have with him as you eat his magic space cereal and play the games
on the back of the box.
Honeycomb Cereal
It has been said that Honeycombs were like if Honey Nut Cheerios and Corn Puffs had a
baby that then got jacked. This is a pretty spot on description. Honeycomb cereal gave
a satisfying crunch when you bit into it. There were so many ways to consume this cereal.
They were big enough and had enough flavor that you could almost have them like sweet
chip replacements. Remember how the milk that was left over in the bowl would taste like
honey? Honey milk is rather delicious. Honey anything really is delicious. Honeycomb was
first released by Post Cereal in 1965. The company faced numerous complaints for the
high sugar content and they responded by changing the recipe. Adapting to an increasingly health
conscious market was a smart thing to do. You would think. Not the case here… after
changing the recipe Post Cereal continued to be aggravated by unhappy customers who
now complained that the cereal they knew and loved has disappeared. All the reviews rated
the new version a meagre one star. This would not do. Post Cereal opted to return to the
old recipe in 2018.
Sprinkle Spangles
The cereal with the sprinkles! The star shaped corn puff that sprinkled, sprinkle, spangled!
Oh wow! That is fun to say! It was even more fun to eat! Sprinkles seem to make everything
more wonderful don’t they? They’re kind of irresistible. There is something about
the multicolor-ness of sprinkles that make them uplifting. Sprinkle Spangles cereal came
in a turquoise box with sprinkles scattered all about, making the whole box liven up!
The star shape of this cereal also brought a warm, happy, and excited smile to your face!
Stars AND sprinkles. Wow! Sprinkle Spangles were made with corn meal, sugar, corn syrup,
partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, oat flour, wheat starch, and salt. The rainbow
of the sprinkles made “every kid’s wish come true” as the tagline promised. The
mascot for this cereal was a genie who apparently appeared like magic and in a flurry of sprinkles.
This cereal was likely a big hit with anyone who loved Aladdin or I Dream of Jeannie. Sprinkles
and spangles and genies sound like fun for sure! We miss this cereal. Kind of makes you
want to go chug a container of rainbow sprinkles now, doesn’t it?
Urkel-Os
Next up on our list of childhood cereals that you completely forgot about is Urkel’s O’s.
This cereal launched in 1991 and according to many did not have the best flavor. It was
kind of artificial in taste, but that did not take away from the power of the Urkel
brand. Urkel was one character in the TV sitcom called Family Matters. The show aired from
1989 to 1997 on ABC. As the show gained popularity and the character of Urkel became more and
more beloved by all, Ralston decided to launch the Urkel O’s. On the box you could see
Urkel making his Urkel face. surrounded by the cereal. Looking back on this may not make
you long for the cereal but it may make you want to go back and binge watch Family Matters
so you could revel at his laugh and funny dance. The dance Urkel did in his “Life
of the Party” episode which aired in 1991, the same year the cereal was released, became
a sensation. You could joke around at home by dancing just like Urkel as you eat his
cereal. If you were a fan then this was a good time. The actor who played Urkel, Jaleel
White, later distanced himself from the whole "Steve Urkel" character and persona. And so
naturally all things Urkel came to a halt shortly there after, including the very cereal
named after him being discontinued. Urkel and his cereal had their moment and now they
can be looked back upon with love and nostalgia. Some things are better in our memory anyway.
Would Urkel still be as fun and funny as he was then? Likely not. Best he stay in the
past.
Alpha-Bits
They came in regular and frosted and they had marshmallows too! You could spell your
name in your spoon and you could bite down on the alphabet. Alpha-bits were first sold
in 1958 and were made from whole-grain oat and corn flour. They were a Post Cereal product
and were taken off the market in 2006. That being said, they did return for consumer delight,
but this time they boasted “0% Sugar!” Boy how times changed. Back in the day it
was all about the sugar content and the Frosted Alpha-Bits were all the rage. However, the
limited edition “0% Sugar” version did do very well. Alpha-Bits were really fun because
we all really did spell words with them - hopefully nothing too age-inappropriate. When and how
will you come to us next Alpha-Bits? We’re waiting for you.
Dunkin’ Donuts Cereal
Next up is the Dunkin’ Donuts Cereal! The fast-food joint you visited often was brought
home for the first time ever in 1988. The cereal came in two varieties. Glazed Style
and Chocolate. A popular hack for this cereal was to get both flavors and mix them with
your own ratio of chocolate and glazed goodness. Fred the Baker, Dunkin' Donuts' unforgettable
spokesperson, was featured on the box and he even did a commercial promoting this amazing
cereal. In the commercial, Fred was seen working hard in the kitchen, using a tiny rolling
pin to roll out dough and creating tiny little donuts. The cereal itself was only on the
market for about a year before being discontinued. If you wanted to experience something similar
today, Post cereals makes a Hostess Donettes cereal which is a donut flavored cereal that
is currently available.
Teddy Graham Breakfast Bears
Do you remember Teddy Grahams? Those cute little bear shaped graham cracker snacks that
came in a variety of flavors? We bet you do as they were, and still are very popular.
However, did you know they also made Teddy Grahams cereal!? And best of all, they looked,
and tasted very similar to the actual snack crackers they were based on. These had a very
long run on store shelves but were eventually discontinued, which is a shame. But the Teddy
Grahams brand is still going strong so there's of course the chance that these do come back.
Corn Pops
These. Were. So. Good. Some may still buy these because they may be available in stores
near you. Others may not and may be salivating thinking of these little circular puffs of
goodness. Sweet goodness. Remember the way that the Pops would slowly fill up with milk
and when you would bring them into your mouth they would pop with milky sugariness? Pop!
Bam! Deliciousness. This is one of those cereals the parents probably also ate a lot of. You
could even eat this without milk. Just put them in a bowl and sit on the sofa and watch
the Jetsons or the Fairly OddParents or Looney Toons. This cereal is still available so if
you want to have a taste of the past, go find it. There’s nothing like a little bit of
cereal nostalgia to make bad, dark days nice and bright.
Trix
“Silly rabbit! Trix are for kids!” That is probably all that needs to be said in order
to remember this cereal and its notorious white bunny that got up to no good. Trix cereal
goes all the way back to 1954! Did you know that this cereal was that old!? Trix is made
by General Mills. Back in the 50s when this cereal was invented, it was just a reworking
of the popular cereal called Kix. This newer version was sugar-coated. There were only
three colors in the original: yellow, which was lemon flavoured, red which was raspberry
flavoured, and orange which was, you guessed it orange flavoured. Over the years, other
colours, flavours and shapes were introduced, including purple grape flavor, green lime
flavor, blue wildberry flavor, and pink watermelon flavor were among those added. The rabbit
came into play in 1959 in a televised commercial. The rabbit and the famous tagline were invented
by Joe Harris who was a copywriter and an illustrator for an advertising agency called
Dancer Fitzgerald Sample or DFS for short. The company had been founded in 1923 and were
very reputable when Trix cereal worked with them. The anthropomorphic cartoon rabbit is
likely what gave the cereal its raging success. Even now the tagline rings in our ears and
bring us back to our childhood. When remembering this cereal we remember the words “Silly
rabbit! Trix are for kids!”
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