9 Cereal Box Prizes From The '70s You Probably Forgot About

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Since bygone decades like the 1970s, kids' cereals have changed a lot — mainly to appeal to parents. Names like Sugar Smacks have been swapped for more wholesome-sounding monikers; brands have cut down on stigmatized ingredients like artificial colors; and most disappointing of all, the boxes no longer carry toys, stickers, and other free prizes. If you miss the days when cereals were colorful, super sweet, and came with extra goodies, it's time to revisit some of the most iconic cereal prizes of the '70s.

In discussions about the "golden age" of cereal box freebies, the '70s come up again and again as one of the greatest eras for the concept. The selection of prizes was also incredibly diverse during this decade. You had your standard plastic cars or miniature figurines, but also trading cards; "spy" gadgets like binoculars; and licensed goods for franchises from "Star Wars" to "Scooby-Doo." For kids back then, the perfect day involved grabbing a toy with their breakfast and spending the afternoon playing with it while munching on old-school snacks everyone ate in the '70s.

Below, we'll cover nine cereal premiums you may have totally forgotten about. Some are even worth a decent amount of money today — but if you wind up rediscovering them in a box of your childhood junk, the nostalgia factor may be worth more than a fistful of dollars.

Cereal prizes themed around Halloween monsters were a huge trend in the 1970s, whether they were lurking in General Mills monster cereals like Count Chocula or old standbys like Honeycomb. The latter cereal's Monster Mitts were plastic gloves with printed designs that gave your hand a ghoulish makeover. With four different variants featuring green mutant flesh, spiders, bloodshot eyeballs, and more, these spooky accessories may have put adults off of their breakfast — but kids just adored them.

Kids who were told to stay out of grown-ups' business were delighted to find a 5-in-1 Spy Kit in their box of Post Pink Panther Flakes. This exceedingly sweet cereal offered a miniature telescope, magnifying glass, signal whistle, and secret message slot — all of which fit inside a tiny Pink Panther figurine. Maybe it was nothing James Bond would carry, but an endorsement from Inspector Clouseau is nearly as good.

Some say Ralston Freakies are a vintage breakfast cereal no one remembers anymore, but others have never forgotten its goofy mascots and the toys based on them. Freakmobiles were tiny plastic cars (one for each Freakie character) that could be sent racing via an "air booster" that also came with the cereal. Resale prices vary, but a complete set of all seven Freakmobiles, plus an empty Freakies box, sold for almost $200 at a 2013 auction at Hake's.

Cereal toys were often based on cartoons, but how about a crossover of several shows at once inside your box? In 1977, Hanna Barbera aired Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics, a parody of the Olympic games featuring characters like Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear, Snagglepuss, and more. Cookie Crisp offered six promotional magnets of characters from the beloved shows, and you could also order a limited edition drink cup by following the instructions on the box.

Yo-yos are the pinnacle of simple toys that can still entertain a kid for hours, and Super Sugar Crisp (now called Golden Crisp in the U.S.) added more interest by releasing a free yo-yo that also worked as a whistle and miniature puzzle. The aim was to tilt two tiny balls into mascot Sugar Bear's eyes. A bike reflector shaped like the turtlenecked bear was another fondly-remembered prize from the '70s.

Countless fans remember 1977 as the year the first "Star Wars" film hit theaters. To capitalize on the fervor, cereals like Count Chocula and Boo Berry offered one of six trading cards in every box, featuring R2-D2, Han Solo and Chewie, Obi-Wan and Darth Vader, and more. If you sent in one dollar plus four proofs of purchase for the cereals, you could receive a card case in addition to all 18 cards in the collection.

Some free cereal prizes required a mail-in order, but superhero-obsessed kids happily waited for this DC-branded magnetic dart game offered in boxes of Cheerios. Using dart pieces printed with Superman, Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman, you could aim and fire at a board of famous villains like the Joker and Lex Luthor. Resale listings for incomplete versions of the game cost around $65, while a complete set sold for over $100 at an auction at Hake's in 2015.

A mini plastic skateboard isn't much to look at, so Cookie Crisp went the extra mile with balloon-powered versions. There are no demonstration videos for these doodads online, but ostensibly, you could blow up the balloon attached to each board, hold it closed, and then release the air to send it off. The toys came in red, blue, yellow, and green versions printed with one of six designs.

Fruity Pebbles and their brethren have given away many memorable toys, but these tiny coin holders win points for being rather grown-up. You could wind up with a red holder shaped like Fred Flintstone's face, a blue Barney Rubble, or a yellow Dino — all with a slot in the back to slide quarters into. Kiddos might have considered these to be their first bank accounts, with the funds going to more cereal and toys, of course.