– Time For A Tiara: Column by Ginna Young – - That was a lot of cereal for such a little thing

– Time For A Tiara: Column by Ginna Young –

Over Easter break, my friend’s little boy and I played slime – primarily, because that’s what I got him for Easter. When I saw the sparkly pastel slime in cute little bunny containers, I knew he’d love them and he did.

His favorite was the blue one, because it was really clear and spread out like water, whereas the green, purple and pink ones didn’t have as much movement.

We actually had races to see which ones would sink down first and lose the shape from the container. Predictably, the blue one was the winner each time.

Anyway, all that reminded me of Gak, the slime of the 1990s. I loved Gak, although it was a lot thicker than the slime of today. The brand was through Nickelodeon and came in containers that looked like a splat shape.

Now that I look back on it, it dawns on me the container was in the shape of the Nickelodeon logo. Hmm, only took me 30 years to figure that out!

But, I digress. Apparently, you could just go and buy that in stores, but for me, I had to earn it the old-fashioned way: UPCs.

For months, I ate cereal until it ran out my ears, so I could get the UPCs to mail into Nickelodeon and get my “free” container of Gak. As I’m now an adult, I finally see why parents objected so heartily to sending for things with UPCs. You had to buy x amount of boxes of cereal you probably normally wouldn’t have, force yourself to consume them, have the UPCs sitting around until you collected enough of them, then actually spend money on an envelope and stamp, just to have the privilege of getting the coveted item.

And, as the UPC sheet said, supplies were limited and delivery of said item was not guaranteed. Thankfully, that didn’t happen to me. Once I had enough UPCs, I filled out my form, slipped them in the envelope and waited, with baited breath, for my package to arrive. It took weeks, but when they would finally come, I was in seventh Heaven.

I can still smell that rubbery stuff, there’s just no other smell like it. I hoped to collect all the colors, but kept getting the purple, maroon and bright orange; never did get the green or blue, even though I sent in many orders of UPCs, hoping for a new color. Still, I loved it.

Unfortunately, it was a lot like Fruit Stripe gum and only was pliable for a few days. It quit holding its molecular shape and broke apart, which would have been fine, but even the little bits no longer resembled slime.

Eventually, it just plain dried out. I tried adding water and that was a huge mistake. It was DISGUSTING!

I kept the former slime in the containers – the dried out stuff, not the stuff I added water to – for a long time, before I finally chucked it in the garbage.

Now, I can go out and buy a multitude of slime, and have even made my own, which was fun, but very messy, but it’s just not quite the same as Gak. Maybe it was the smell of it, maybe the weird-shaped container, maybe the fun of sending for it through the mail and receiving the little package back. Whatever the reason, that was the best stuff ever and can’t be replaced.

That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t enjoy having the galaxy slime I saw on Amazon, though.