8 Short-Lived Fads That Were Still Here Too Long

Growing up as a grade school kid during the late 90s and early 00s, I was inundated with a series of fads that seemed to change from year to year. Regardless of what the fad was on any given year, I, like the rest of my classmates, just simply had to have whatever it was. Here are 8 of those fads that you definitely took part in (don't lie).

1. Charity Wristbands

Being charitable should never be considered a fad, but as a kid growing up in grade school, none of us actually had money to donate to any charities, but the wristbands that each organization had were considered fashionable.

2. Fake tattoos, "You'll get ink poisoning!"

Remember how cool it was to have your friend, who was good at art, draw some pretty epic "tattoos" on your arms and hands with pens and markers? Remember also, being told that you would get ink poisoning from the ink absorbing through your skin into your bloodstream? I never knew a single person who had that happen to them, and none of us ever listened to that.

3. Tooth gems

This was primarily a female fad. Most of the time the stickers holding these to people's teeth would end up coming unstuck, causing the wearer to swallow their decorative tooth gem. Now as adults you can get the real thing cemented to your pearly whites, though I feel as if that would be uncomfortable...

4. Pokemon Cards

When Pokemon came out with their card game, the whole playground blew up. No one really knew how to play, but everyone wanted to collect as many as they could. Kids would fight and steal over them. And if you had one of the original series' Charizard cards, you were playground royalty.

5. Tamagotchis

Before cell phones were the bane of a grade school teacher's existence, Tomagotchis caused students to ignore everything else going on around them. We all had one or two of them, and for some reason, keeping your imaginary pet alive was more important than life going on around you.

6. Pogs

Everyone had their own way of playing the game, with or without slammers being allowed. You could get them with virtually anything on the art/flashy side. I liked to collect the NHL ones. There was even a time when they were treated as currency, similar to cigarettes on the prison yard.

7. Yo-yos

I remember when your popularity on the playground came down to how good you were at performing tricks with your yo-yo. As fast as these came onto the scene they left again. I wasn't upset either, I wasn't that great with them, making the several months when they were popular difficult for me.

8. Tech-deck finger boards

I was huge into these for a long time. I had a bunch of boards, spare wheels, tools and spare grip tapes. I even had a "skate park" set up. Things got kinda shady on the playground with these because they became popular targets for thieves. Needless to say, schools took quick action to ban these toys.

Which one was your favorite growing up?