And now the original article... What Happened to the Breakfast Cereal Prizes?

Today's kids lack of breakfast cereal prizes apparently lies heavy on my heart! It sounds silly, and it is, but every week when my wife and I go to the grocery store I stand at the cereal aisle and find myself aimlessly staring at the brightly colored boxes on the shelves hoping to see some really cool premium on the box cover that I just can’t refuse! But each week there is nothing. I guess I’ve done this all of my life – look at the boxes to see what the coolest toy you can get for free with a box of cereal. But the past twenty years or so it’s been a fruitless effort.

Growing up in the 70s and 80s I can vividly remember pouring a bowl of cereal into a pastel colored Tupperwear bowl, placing it on a little tray, plopping down in front of our big TV (which back then was maybe 20 inches?), then watching Saturday morning cartoons. It was a glorious time and it all started with deciding if it was going to be Cocoa Pebbles, Fruity Pebbles, or Cap’n Crunch? We had not gotten to the prize in the cereal yet, as we were NOT allowed to go digging with our hand through the box! So retrieving that sought after gem was a natural process, and I can clearly remember the excitement when some brands began putting the premium outside of the sealed bag and just down the inside of the box. Instant gratification! Hoorah! Anyhow… with the cereal and milk in the bowl, my brother and I would head to the family room with our little TV trays and catch up on the latest episodes of the Super-Friends! Of course, some days that little dance would be interrupted with the excitement of that little plastic bag with the prize plopping into your dry cereal bowl! FINALLY!

I Thinking back I remember customizable license plates, miniature coin purses with Flintstones faces, rubber erasers, mini Frisbees, and more. Of course, most prizes were instantly forgettable but some where so cool that I can still vividly remember them and well… heck I want them now! There were the Wacky Wallwalkers that came in various Kellogg’s cereals – a small sticky rubber octopus that would “crawl “ and “tumble” down your walls and other smooth surfaces after throwing them. And of course they were also great at collecting dog hair and dust and never quite worked as well as the first few throws! These sticky octopi were really fun and sought after. Another classic for me was the Sugar Crisp Invisible Ink Monster Pen. Mine was a small yellow ink pen with a cap molded like a blue rubber skull. It was s so cool, and I loved being able to write and draw with invisibility… which magically appeared when the paper was wet! I would love to find one of these pens to have on my knick-knack shelves in my office – working or not! Another classic were the Cap’n Crunch Balloon Racers that were small plastic cars featuring the Cap’n Crunch characters and were powered by a blown up balloon attached to them. They seemed to be the descendant of the mid-70s Freakmobiles by Ralston’s Freakies cereals, only theirs were powered by a small rubber bulb you pinched or smashed to make the little car roll across the floor!