7 Things ’90s Kids Did on the First Cold Day of Fall

There's a good argument to be made that, back in the 1990s, kids were more attuned to nature and the changing seasons. That's partly because they spent more time outdoors, with fewer easy distractions available. The internet wasn't ubiquitous, after all, and smartphones didn't exist. Fall brought a number of distinct changes in daily life, and this list serves as a trip back in time to that first frosty snap.

1. Bring out your hoodie
2. Build piles of leaves
3. Ride bikes until dark
4. Shop for Halloween
5. Watch MTV
6. Watch cartoons
7. Take comfort in familiar fall sounds

Bring out your hoodie

The humble hoodie reached its zenith in the 1990s, partly fueled by the popularity of skateboarding, hip hop, and gangsta rap. In actuality, the garment's history stretches way back to the 1930s, when companies began making bespoke sportswear for athletes. During the 1970s, graffiti artists began wearing hoodies to protect their identities. By the 1980s, all areas of the underground or counterculture movements were sporting the apparel, but the 1990s were the decade that the hoodie went completely mainstream, and classic brands such as Champion Reverse Weave were musts for every kid.

Build piles of leaves

With no internet or smartphones, ‘90s kids spent more time outdoors. During autumn, the falling leaves made for an attractive play activity. With huge amounts gathering in the yard or out on the sidewalk, it was easy to build up a sizeable pile. That done, there was nothing better than throwing yourself into one. Of course, you might well have been tasked with clearing your yard of leaves as a chore, which made building and then destroying leaf piles a little counterproductive!

Ride bikes until dark

Playing outside with friends was much more prevalent back in those days, and bike riding was extremely popular. BMX bicycles were still cool, but chunky mountain bikes were beginning to make appearances, with Huffy's range of mass-produced, tank-like two-wheelers among the most prevalent. Whatever the nature of your trusty steed, mucking about on bikes while wrapped up in warm jackets was a delight. For parents, fall also came with the advantage of a built-in curfew. As soon as the sky grew dark, you knew it was time to head home. 

Shop for Halloween

The first cold day of fall served as an invisible signal that it was time to begin thinking about Halloween. Before the era of online shopping, that inevitably meant trips to the superstore to browse the seemingly endless aisles of Halloween-themed decorations. You would come back laden with orange plastic buckets, paper streamers, lanterns, giant paper die-cut figures, blow-mold illuminated models of ghosts, ghouls, and goblins, and lawn leaf monsters—essentially plastic bags printed with scary faces that you stuffed full of leaves. Then there was the candy: Push Pops, Nerds, Dunkaroos, Butterfinger BBs, Airheads, and Bubble Tape.

Watch MTV

Once it grew too dark and cold to play outside, what better way to spend an evening than to settle in with MTV? With no on-demand streaming, you had to look up the schedule to get your fix of televisual fun, and there was plenty of fun to be had. Music videos could make a band back then, and ‘90s kids had the chance to see plenty of classics—Nirvana's iconic “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” the retro '70s madcap faux cop show antics of the Beastie Boys' “Sabotage,” and Björk's wildly imaginative and somewhat disturbing “Human Behavior,” among them.

Watch cartoons

If MTV wasn't your thing, or you needed a change on those cold fall evenings, there were plenty of animated 90s classics to keep you entertained. You had fantastically anarchic shows such as Beavis and Butt-Head, Ren & Stimpy, and Pinky and the Brain—smart cartoons that managed to combine goofy fun with more adult-oriented, anti-establishment content. Elsewhere, you could enjoy the more traditional but still brilliant Rugrats, Doug, and Hey Arnold!—all cozy, funny, heartwarming, and cheery shows. If superheroes held appeal, there were several great series to watch, including Batman: The Animated Series and similarly titled shows featuring Spider-Man and the X-Men.

Take comfort in familiar fall sounds

It wasn't just the darkening days and falling leaves that announced the change in season. The drop in temperature meant the switching on of long-unused heating systems. The classroom was the place in which the change was most felt. Remember that clanging, gurgling sound when the school radiators kicked in? There was something very comforting about it, particularly if you happened to be lucky enough to get a seat next to the wall. Back home, heating systems were a little less efficient and noisier then as well, and there, too, those familiar clunks would send a shiver of pleasant anticipation through you on frosty evenings.