Wacky Packs
June 15, 2008
By: 
rollerkaty
Category: 1973, 1974, Fads, Trading Cards
Today is not only Father’s Day, but it the day that we are celebrating RollerReggie’s birthday. The Double Whammy. That means that the day has to be TWICE as special.
So this year, RollerReggie not only got a brand new record player (so that we can listen to our seventies records), but he also received a copy of the newly released book Wacky Packages. Wacky Packages (or Wacky Packs) were a series of collectible trading cards (a la Garbage Pail Kids) from the 1970s. The cards parodied consumer products and brands such as Tide detergent, Downy fabric softener, Skippy peanut butter, Land O Lakes butter, Wheaties cereal, numerous cigarette brands, and more. Each Wacky Pack card doubled as a sticker, so that you could either collect the cards or peel off the stickers.
RollerReggie recalls that Wacky Packs were all the rage when he was between the ages of seven and nine. He collected all of the cards, as did his friends. Sadly, RollerReg does not own them any longer. As a kid he peeled off all the stickers and stuck them to his bedpost.
Here are a few of his favorites:
Crust Tooth Paste
Hawaiian Punks Juice
Head & Boulders Shampoo
Peter Pain Peanut Butter
| 2.5 |
June 16th, 2008 at 12:40 am
My eyes lit when I saw this post. You know, I was a stubborn kid, and I didn’t peel mine, and I still have them. About a 6″ stack. I loved these so much… the real world became cartoons for a while.
A lot of famous cartoonists were behind the art, including Art Spiegelman, who did “Maus.”
Thanks for the nostalgia. Always a great site to visit.
Ben
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June 16th, 2008 at 1:56 am
LOL, I remember that Crust one!
Too funny! What a great gift!
June 16th, 2008 at 6:46 am
I used to spend all my money on these. They came with gum that was like cardboard. I still find them stuck to old kids books around the house. Great fun. You know what replaced this as the next fad? Stupid tattoos for kids called tattoossies.
June 16th, 2008 at 9:57 am
I SOOO remember these! I stuck a ton of them to my bed and they would never come off, try as I might. Thanks for the flashback!
June 16th, 2008 at 11:13 am
I loved Wacky Packages as a kid, and collected them all. I never took them off their backing to put on my books and such, so they were in pristine condition when I got to be an adult. Then, a few years ago, when I first started using eBay, I decided to sell off my Wacky Packages as a way of testing how eBay worked. I didn’t think they would really bring in much money, so I was very surprised when all of a sudden my auctions of six stickers went for over $50 each. I ended up making over $1,000 on my old collection. You can imagine my shock (and giddy happiness). I didn’t know about the book though. Thanks for sharing. I’ll have to check it out.
June 16th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
I loved these as a kid, so much that I tried to find out where they were made. In my pre-adolescent brain I thought that Topps made every card there was and so it naturally followed that any place called Topps would be affiliated with these beloved stickers (”Hawaiian Punks” was on my desk). There was a place in town called Topps and I went there expecting to have a Willy Wonka-type experience and being at the wonderful place where stickers and cards are made. Imagine my disappointment when the place turned out to be Topp’s Lube and Tune-up; the on-duty mechanics looked at me like I’d just fallen off the banana boat.
June 17th, 2008 at 1:47 am
I so remember these. Somewhere I’ve got a box with miscellaneous stuff, I bet I have some of these around somewhere. I bet they are with the Kiss cards….
Thanks so bringing back so many great memories.
SB
June 17th, 2008 at 5:38 am
Ben - The Wacky Packages book actually begins with a short introduction by Art Spiegelman
RollerReggie owns the Maus graphic novels so we are big fans in the RollerBlog family household.
Turnip - Tattoossies? I can’t find anything about these Tattoossies anywhere online. Do tell!
Kathy - Apparently my hubby wasn’t the only one who stuck the stickers to his bed … and is now regretting it after reading Henson’s comment about making $1,000 on his collection on EBay!
WNGL - Topps Lube and Tune-up! I can picture it now - trading cards for oil change franchises…
Scott - Kiss cards? I HAVE to get my hands on some of those.
June 17th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
This really took me down memory lane! I loved those things!
June 17th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
I looooooved these when I was a kid!! I remember the “Smell” instead of “Prell” shampoo. Hehe!
June 17th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
I had two complete sets of W/P stickers!
June 17th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
And don’t get me started on “Black Hole” and “Star Wars” cards …
June 21st, 2008 at 6:31 am
I love this site! I found the link to your blog through a friend and I absolutly LOVE it! I was clubbing and running the streets in the late 70’s to the 80’s (hit drug rehab by 1987) so I really can relate to this stuff! I found some of my old “big hair” pics from that time period and laughed out loud! I mean, its amazing to think so many people thought that having big, teased hair was cute! Thanks for posting.
Peace,
Diva
June 27th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
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