the Wry Baby Blog

I just returned from Sav-On Drugstore on Chapman Avenue in the O.C. in 1977 to tell you that time travel is a reality, Friends. It’s a reality and you can do it TODAY! Just sit in a comfy chair, turn on your computing machine and point your internet browsing apparatus to this collection of Halloween make-up goodies from the late 1970’s. And WOOSH! You’re standing in the Halloween aisle surveying a sea of costume choices!

OMG. The hand drawn type and loosey goosey drawings of a designer who knows how lucky they are to be doing the packaging for kids Halloween accessories.

This is just a tiny sample of the amazing collection brought to us by the Tick Tock Toys Archive (via scarstuff.com). An incredible source of vintage packaging, cereal premiums and a jillion other gems from a time when companies knew how to have a relationship with their kid customers.

The guys who run the TIck Tock Toy Archive also wrote one of my favorite design books, KRAZY KIDS FOOD! It’s the bible of retro fun in food packaging through the ages and a must-have for anyone who designs fun for a living (like us).

Not to sound like an old Grandpa, but this is exactly what’s missing from the world of fun kids stuff. FUN! There was such a joy that went into packaging these cheap Halloween make-up kits that’s missing completely from the Halloween offerings of today. I mean, look at what you get now…

When did companies decide to suck the fun out of everything? The joy of Wry Baby has always been making fun from anything and everything. From the lowly burp cloth set to a Super Snapsuit you can wear every day, we try to pump some joie de vivre into whatever we touch. Because life is too short to do otherwise. Right?!