Used to come with prizes, and now they don't. Instead you have either nothing, or you have to collect UPCs and send away for something. What gives?

Funny, right now I'm watching "Cereal: History in a Bowl" on the History Channel. Coincidence? Anyway, they still put toys in the boxes. They have to in order to lure kids to buy cereal. Maybe not as noticeably as they used to be with all these health concerns nowadays. But they aint as cool as they were in the 80s and 90s though. I remember the Disney Afternoon toys, the Ninja Turtle promotions, etc. With great cartoons comes great Happy Meal toys and cereal promotions.

I once got 6 Garfield bike reflectors in one box of cereal. For a 8 year old, I thought I'd won the lottery.

Yeah, they ruled.

I'll look closer at the cereal next time I buy some, but I could've sworn none were giving away free toys. For instance, I bought some Waffle Crisp not to long ago and they're luring you with free post tokens for online videogames, not toys.

Where did I get those Ninja Turtle plastic cups? Do you know the ones I'm talking about? They were green and had the turtles face on them. I believe they came from UPC's I sent in from cereal. I had the whole set. I wonder if they're buried in some ancient toy chest 'o' mine........hmmmmm.

I remember the garfield magic toys back in 89. It was soooo cool back then. lol and i wasn't even attracted to magic. i just thought it was a cool toy.

This thread makes me think of the "Free toy inside" scene from the movie UHF. "Don't let your mom know that you do this"

I still have my Lion King spoon but, I don't remember in which brand of ceral box I found it. The spoon is yellow and it's turn pink when you soak it in milk. I still use it to eat my cereal.

They Sure Did Used To Have Some Really Cool Prizes in Cereal Boxes! :D

LOL! I still have my Rapheal and its faded to hell.

I also remember when cereal actually used to TASTE good! :x

that was the only reason I bought cereal... I just shoved my hand down the box to get the prize!!!
nowadays I actually eat cereal!!

Tell you what I'll do...tomorrow I'll go to my local grocery store and do a survey. I see how many cereals actually have prizes in the box, and how many want you to send away for prizes.

this should be fun and time consuming.

wish me luck

I see toys in cereal boxes very rarely nowadays* & I should know, I work at WaL-Mart.

* God, I feel old saying that! :cry: :lol:

All right! Investigative reporting for a thread, You always go the extra mile, JP! 8)

Toys still do come with cereal. At least with the Kellog's products. But it's all cheap promotion stuff; I remember after Space jam came out I kept a 'statue' of Wily E. Coyote for some time.

ok. I'm back with the search results

test study: Fareway; a local statewide-Iowa grocery store only.

cereal not included: Malt-O-meal and Fareway Brands

of the below list, only Frosted Flakes and Froot Loops had a free toy inside. That toy is a small racer car from the movie "Cars"
below is the list

All Quakers brand Cereal-No toys; no mail in offers
All Life Cereal-No Toys; No mail-in offers
Capt Crunch-No Toys; Mail in offer for Gameboy Give away
Raisin Nut Bran-no/no
Basic 4-No/No
Fiber 1-No Toys, but a free three month membership for Golf Int.
All brands of Total Bran-No/No
Fruit Harvest all brands Free DVDS with mail in offer
Frosted Mini Wheats all brands Free mail in offer for Robot Toys from the movie/or DVD

King Vitamin-no
Oatmeal Crisp-no
Honey Nut Clusters-no
Golden Grahams no
Cookie Crisp-no
Kix- Save $5 for a Little Einstein movie
Special K-NO
Kellogg's Pops-free Flyer by Mail
Honey Smacks-no (but did feature the Smacks frog on box)
Raisin Bran-Free movie DVD
Lucky Charms free Song on I-Tunes w/codes inside box
Trix-Save $16 w/coupon on back to Six Flags
Reeses Puffs-Free Itunes Songs
Coco Puffs-No
Cinnamon Toast Crunch-all brands save $16 to six flags/free Itunes
Frosted Flakes/Froot Loops-FREE TOY!!

So, onto the toy.. I have the Sherriff's car. and there are six figures you can collect in all. I have an idea! If every one bought two boxes of either Frosted Flakes or Froot Loops then say what you got in each box, we'll see what the most packaged toy is and see if it really is possible to collecte all six.

Anyone want to take this challenge?

anyone?

Yes, I remember sending away for free single cassettes. Sweet!!