19/12/2025
Christmas in the 1980s and 1990s felt like pure magic, a blend of new technology, bright lights, and traditions that still tug at the heart.
Not sure if it was because I grew up in this era, but there was something special about these decades.
In the 1980s, living rooms glowed with colourful fairy lights and tinsel you could see from space. Families warmed the house with the smell of turkey and mince pies while the radio played Wham!’s Last Christmas and Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? Kids dreamed of unwrapping Transformers, Cabbage Patch Kids, BMX bikes, Rubik’s Cubes, and the latest Atari or home computer game. Christmas TV meant Only Fools and Horses, The Snowman, and those unforgettable BBC specials.
By the 1990s, Christmas had become brighter, louder, and more high-tech.
Super Nintendo, Sega Mega Drive, Tamagotchis, Polly Pocket, and Barbie Dreamhouses topped wishlists. VHS tapes of Home Alone, The Muppets Christmas Carol, and The Nightmare Before Christmas played on repeat. High streets sparkled with bigger light displays, and the excitement of
choosing the toy from the Argos catalogue became a yearly ritual. Music was ruled by Mariah Carey, East 17 in their white coats, and the Spice Girls making sure it really was Christmas.
But through both decades, some things never changed, family gathered around the table, Christmas crackers snapped, paper hats slipped down over eyes, and the Queen’s Speech quietly played in the background or Top of the Pops Christmas Special if you lived in our house!
A simpler, glittering time, when the magic of Christmas lived in the glow of the tree, the excitement of the morning, and the feeling that the whole world slowed down just a little.
Picture Credit York Castle Museum
