If you are anything like me you are spending the summer at home and your hoarders-obsessed mom is demanding that you clean out your childhood closet.  Not only is this a total pain, there are memories attached to all the things you grew up with. You can’t get rid of them without feeling like you’re betraying a part of yourself. This dilemma can go one of two ways:

1. You can call an ultimatum and tell your mom that you are not getting rid of anything unless she ends her attachment to shoulder-padded 80’s blazers (this won’t end well) or

2. You can throw her a curveball by finding room for your childhood toys in your life.  Here are some creative, grown-up ways to use the toys in your life. Read More »

Maybe it’s because I’m graduating soon or maybe because I’ve been watching too many Dawson’s Creek reruns or maybe it’s because I spend too much time around my younger cousins, but lately I’ve been feeling a bit nostalgic. And not in the “oh remember freshman year-that was so much fun” sort of way. But in the “oh, remember back before cell phones and DVRs and the second rise of skinny jeans” sort of way. And speaking of way back when, remember when we wore scrunchies in our hair and waited for Friday night because that’s when TGIF was on? Remember when all we wanted to do was stay home from school to play with our favorite toys?

10. Beanie Babies.  It had to get a mentioned. I mean, what girl didn’t have a Beanie Baby (or 40) back in the day? With their little TY tags that told you their name and had a little rhyme about them. They had everything from turkeys to bears to penguins to French poodles. And I wanted them all….and still have ‘em all.

9. Tamagotchi. Not only did our generation pave the way for obsession with electronic toys, but we also learned responsibility as well. Our Tamagotchi’s and nano babies and all those other electronic pets had to be fed and played with and taken care of on a regular basis. It was like we did the whole “pretend this egg is a baby” thing years in advance.

8. Easy Bake Oven. Easily the childhood toy with the biggest reward. Because after we went through the very difficult process of baking and decorating our cupcakes and our cookies we were able to eat them. Raw dough. Mmm. Delicious. Read More »

Before the days of Four Loko prohibition, staying up all night to write a 19-page term paper on Harry Potter symbolism, and Sunday morning hangovers, there were days of innocence and Gap outfits and toy commercials that made you drool all over your yourself. You eagerly memorized all the toys you HAD TO HAVE to make it on the playground and you created long, illegible lists that you handed off to your parents/Santa to buy you.

So in honor of the first night of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of gifts lights, we present to you the top 9 toys that you wanted and needed and craved as an elementary school kid. Read More »

When you’re little you always hear “Wait till you’re older” from piercing your ears to getting your first pair of heels to sending your very first sext. However, once you hit adolescence, it seems like you’re constantly told to “act your age” or that you’re “too old for” something. Just because you’re in college doesn’t mean you can’t bask in things from the past, K?

Here are ten things you are definitely never too old for:

1. Glitter: Although you got away with wearing glittery lip gloss and questionable glittery eye shadows as a preteen, it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a little glitz and glam now. Seriously, if Lady Gaga and Katy Perry can rock glitter on a daily basis, so can you. Not sure how to pull off glitter without looking like a five-year-old that got a little too crazy at the arts and crafts table? Add a glittery top coat to your nail polish or go for a subtle glitzy shimmer in your eyeshadow. Want to be a little over the top? Go for the gold in a metallic glittery shirt. Worst case scenario is that you look like a Claire’s employee. Best case: you look hot.

2. Pigtails: Preschoolers aren’t the only ones that can rock this look. While you probably don’t want to be known as “pigtail girl” around campus, going out with pigtails could be a fun and flirty alternative to your everyday hair. You probably had your pig tails pulled up high, so for a more-adult approach to this look that you’re never too old for — sport them lower. Also, pigtails work incredibly well when you’re working out.

3. Licking the bowl of batter: You know you did it when you were younger. Your mom baked a cake and you couldn’t keep your little hands out of the chocolately goodness. Go ahead — dip your finger in the mix. Or, just dig in with a spoon. Or don’t even cook the batter and just go after the cookie dough. You’re definitely not too old to enjoy any kind of sweets — baked or not. Go ahead, no one’s looking!

Read More »

Polls are closed on this portion of the bracket, but vote on Pastimes and Events right here.

It might be 2010, but here at CollegeCandy we’re still stuck in the ’90s. All you have to do is say Chumbawhumba and we’re off and running on a ’90s nostalgia debate that lasts the entire day. We know we’re not the only people out there that still rock out to N’Sync and still remember the desperation you felt when you lost your favorite Pogs slammer. So instead of constantly arguing amongst the CollegeCandy team, we decided to throw the question out to our readers and choose, once and for all, what is the best thing to come from the ’90s (besides our many devoted readers, of course).

So, in the fashion of every guy’s wet dream, March Madness, we’ve created an “I Love the ’90s” bracket. Today we’re voting on the best of entertainment and trends from our favorite decade, and on Thursday we’ll narrow down our ’90s pastimes and events. Keep checking back every Monday and Thursday this month so you can keep letting us know what is the best thing to ever come from the 1990 and beyond.

P.S. We know, we know – we’re missing a lot. It was a hard decision narrowing it down to 64 awesome things and we’re still upset that there’s no face-off between Britney and Christina. Did we miss something major? Let us know in the comments. Read More »

The 90s for me (and most girls) can be summed up into three little words: The Babysitter’s Club. Whenever my sparkly pink nail polished hand got a hold on one of those crisp chapter books I was lost for an entire afternoon, dedicated to Claudia’s strict parents and Kristy’s uber bossiness. That is, until my mother called me down for dinner: mac and cheese and a Swiss Cake Roll.

Sigh. Those were the good old days.

But now there is good news for me and my fellow Babysitter’s fans. Scholastic has decided to give the books a re-vamp and bring them into the 21st century.  I haven’t heard better news since I found out Taylor Lautner was gaining 20 pounds of muscle for the Twilight saga films! I could not have special ordered better news.

Will there be a new girl at the BSC in charge of maintaining their website?
Will the girls get in trouble for Facebooking on the job?

Just thinking about it makes me giddy. Actually, thinking about the 90s at all makes me wanna do a little dance in my stirrup pants. Well, if I still had them. The 90s were a pretty fantastic decade full of pretty rad stuff (like the word “rad”), and if we’re bringing back the BSC, maybe we should consider bringing back a few other key things. Read More »

I stumbled across some old photos last week from childhood. And while the last thing I want to remember are my awkward looks (Read: a perm [yes - PERM], horrid bangs, and purple braces), the pictures reminded me of all the must-have fads that I had to be a part of.

Like that photo of me with my shirt bunched on the side by one of those large plastic things. Or the ones of me when Christina Aguilera made bandanas and hoop earrings the size of my arm so cool that I thought it was the perfect look to rock with silver eyeshadow/fairy dust for… Hebrew School.

So here is a look back at some of our most favorite fads that will always hold a special place in our hearts:

1) Butterfly Clips. Let us not forget the years we spent sectioning our hair into mini “corn-rows” – and by corn rows I mean mini braids, or twisted hair pinned down by mini plastic butterfly clips that came in a plethora of colors, including my favorite, glitter.

True Story: I thought it was a good idea to enter a contest to be in a Got Milk ad. I put on a my best fake milk mustache, a cute (I use this term loosely) butterfly skirt, those clunky Steve Madden sandals that clippity clopped like a freakin’ horse everywhere you walked and, of course, what goes best with a butterfly skirt than a head full of… butterfly clips. I then made my poor mother take numerous pictures of me posing thinking “Teen People Here I Come!!” I don’t know how she didn’t laugh in my face. Or give me up for adoption.

I never did win that contest.
Read More »

Someone heard my prayers.

Does dressing alike improve a relationship?

Mark McGwire’s brother plans to spill family secrets.

Welcome to twacne: the twenty-something skincare problem.

Want to score a 160 on the LSAT?

John Travolta has been targeted in a $20 million extortion plot.

Obama orders an end to Gitmo.

No instant messaging in the white house?!?

Chief executive of Merrill Lynch, John A. Thain, resigns from Bank of America.

The six layer makeup technique.

Remembering Heath Ledger, a year later.

Beanie Babies are back. Presidential (daughter) style.

[Welcome to my Weekly Love List, a list on all things I love. Because if I love them, well, obviously you may (and should) love them too. As the Backstreet Boys song says (and yes I am actually quoting them) "My Love is All I Have To Give." So with that throwback, here are this week's list-worthy things…]

If there is one thing I love, it’s nostalgia. There is nothing better than sitting around with your friends looking at photos of those awful bangs, horrible stirrup leggings and puff painted sweatshirts and reminiching about the days of yore.  So for this week’s LOVE List I thought I would delve back into those scrapbooks and bring you my top 5 childhood LOVES. It’s hard to narrow down to five so let us know what you loved back then too!

1. Platform Jump Shoes. This must-have trend (from Vagabonds to Rebels to Sketchers) were the  gym shoe in my middle school. Obviously worn with your Paris Blues or your ribbed light purple Hard Tails. I thought I was too cool for school in my black and white “gym shoes” (which is ironic since they  were unacceptable for gym class).

2. Beanie Babies. I have a TRUNK of these bad boys sitting in basement because TY had me convinced that my discontinued Garcia Bear would be worth thousands by now. Too bad they are selling on ebay for $5.00. Not only does my lunch costs more than that, it’s less than their original $6.00 price tag. But at the time, Beanie babies were like a hot pair of Manolos on major sale: sold out in stores everywhere,  causing fights by pushy mothers nationwide. For a good two years, there was not a holiday or birthday that went by that someone did not give me a Beanie Baby. Read More »