Ah, the 90s! What a time to be alive. It was an absolutely wondrous decade for kids, teenagers and adults alike. The internet was no big thing at that stage; floppy disks and CD-ROMs ruled the gaming world. Westlife and Spice Girls were the shower karaoke tunes at the time, while simultaneously dominating the charts and dance clubs at the same time. Fort Boyard and The Weakest Link were on British TV and we lived for binge-worthy TV shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Simpsons.

90s nostalgia is rearing its head as we enter the last of another decade and we can’t help but hark back to all the 90s stuff that really reminds us of that golden decade. We’ve put together a list of the best of 90s things that will definitely make you nostalgic. 

Best 90s music

When you think the 90s, you can’t help but be transported back to the unbelievable music, bands and dance moves that swept the scene. The 1990s was undoubtedly pop music’s stellar decade and the stars of the time brought about their own 90s fashion and dance crazes and we can’t wait to dust off our moon boots for the next Rewind 90s event! As we countdown the days until we can wave our hands in the air like we just don’t care, we take a look at some of the best things of the 90s.

Top 90s bands

Girl groups and boy bands dominated the charts in the 90s. With their perfectly coiffured hairstyles, obligatory coordinated outfits and precision dance moves, we didn’t even notice that there wasn’t a musical instrument in sight!

5ive

Abz, Ritchie, Scott, J and Sean. 5ive burst on to the scene with ‘Slam Dunk da Funk’ – and boy, did they dunk that funk! Edgier than Westlife and Boyzone, the bad boys of pop had us hooked with hits like ‘Got the Feelin’’, ‘Everybody Get Up’ and ‘Keep on Movin’’. From Scott’s perfect spikes to Ritchie’s piercing blue eyes, their cheeky faces adorned many a bedroom wall. Ritchie, Scott and Sean are still thrilling crowds with pop-tastic live shows up and down the country.

B*Witched

The denim-clad quintet from Dublin jigged into the charts with ‘C’est la Vie’ and had us practicing our Irish accents with phrases like “Some people say I look like my dad.” Their number 1 singles include the up-tempo ‘Rollercoaster’, twinkling ballad ‘To You I Belong’ and the soaring ‘Blame it on the weatherman’. Ditching the denim for a more grown-up look, the girls are still belting out their hits in regular live shows.

S Club

More of a gang than a band, S Club 7 rose to fame in the CBBC show Miami 7. The theme song to the show, ‘Bring it all Back’, became their first single and a string of hits quickly followed including ‘Reach’ ‘Don’t Stop Movin’’ and ‘Never Had a Dream Come True’. Three of the group’s founding members haven’t stopped moving (geddit?!) and regularly entertain fans with energetic performances.

Vengaboys

The Vengabus is coming and we’re still jumping! This dance act from Rotterdam brought us catchy hits such as ‘We Like to Party’, ‘Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom’ and ‘We’re Going to Ibiza’.  The foursome is still wildly energetic and putting on excellent shows across Europe.

90s dance moves

Take us back to the 90s when dance routines were all the rage! Watching Top of the Pops or MTV to learn the steps was a must. Every dance floor was packed with lines of people moving in perfect coordination. These are just some of the 90s dance moves that give us wild nostalgia for those nights learning how to dance in the lounge.

Saturday Night

Whigfield might be a one hit wonder, but the Saturday Night dance is her legacy. She claims that the fans created the dance, but it took the world by storm. Shake your hands to the left, shake your hands to the right, hand on elbow, twirly finger… this is hard to write!

The Macarena

As soon as we heard the first beat – we were up! Everybody loved this song. Your mum liked it, your nan wanted to dance to it – even your little brother used to copy you and your friends when you’d practice in your bedroom after school! We loved the Macarena .

Cotton Eye Joe

Every dance floor turned into a hoedown when this song came on but – surprisingly – Rednex are from Sweden. Linking arms, skipping round and then bounding into the next person was the source of many party injuries – but we still got up every time!

More 90s things we loved

Picking your Christmas presents from the Argos Catalogue

We used to get our ideas from the ad breaks on Saturday morning TV, then mark up the pages of the Argos catalogue to compile our Christmas lists. From Polly Pockets to Sega Mega Drives, Mr Frosty to Screwball Scramble – if it wasn’t in the Argos catalogue – you didn’t want it!

Pogs

Respect was earned by the height of your stack of Pogs! The craze of collecting these little cardboard discs swept the globe in the mid 90s. They were won, swapped and traded but ultimately banned from playgrounds as they were cited as the cause of too many fights.

Taz bars

The original Freddo! Taz bars were filled with gooey caramel that always got all over your fingers when you bit into them. At just 10p, they were the ultimate pocket money treat. Often paired with a carton of orange Calypso, corner shops and newsagents stocked them in abundance.

Pick n Mix from Woolworths

Going to Woolies for Pick ’n’ Mix was the ultimate treat for behaving while your parents dragged you round the shops on a weekend. If you didn’t scoff them all on the way home, you’d have some left for watching Gladiators on Saturday night.

Spokey Dokeys

That beautiful plinky-plonky sound that Spokey Dokeys made could be heard on every street in the summer for the whole of the 90s. Add a Kellogg’s Cornflakes reflector to your wheels and some spare Panini football stickers to the seat post and you’ve got the ultimate 90s bike kit! Full disclosure – we had no idea that these ‘beads’ were called Spokey Dokeys until we had to find a picture of them!

 Free gifts in boxes of cereal

Remember when you’d fight with your siblings over the cereal box and pour massive bowls of Rice Krispies to see who could get the free pencil topper or Boggle?! Then you’d find out that your mum had already taken it out! Bring back free gifts in cereals! We’re bored of 2 for 1 theme park coupons…

Gladiators

Nothing is more 90s reminiscent than the original talent show! Members of the public would take on the superhuman Gladiators in grueling events like Duel, Gauntlet and Hang Tough. Characters like Wolf, Jet and Rhino had us tuning in every week and cheering along with the live audience in the arena. We’d have sold our souls for a Gladiators-branded foam hand!

 Gel pens

Neon, scented, milky and metallic – your 90s pencil case had to have gel pens! More time was spent drawing tattoos on the backs of our hands than doing actual work with them.

Tamagotchi

When it came to 90s gadgets, Tamagotchi was all the rage. More demanding than any puppy – keeping your Tamagotchi alive was a 24h job! When they got banned from school (like so many cool things in the 90s), we’d have to beg our parents to look after it during the day – or risk coming home to a gravestone icon.

Pokémon

Still trying to catch them all?! The Pokémon craze started back in the mid 90s. From the original Gameboy game to trading cards, a cartoon series and several films, these cute creatures captured the hearts of young and old alike. There was no feeling of satisfaction like adding a rare Pokémon to your Pokédex.

Taping the top 40 off the radio

Back in the 90s, we’d sit by the radio in anticipation and record the Top 40 to listen to in our bedrooms. Timing it right so you can so you get as little of the DJ as possible – but as much of the song as you can manage – was a regular Sunday afternoon job. If you were really fancy and had a twin deck cassette player, you could go on to make a mix tape.

Getting gunged on TV

Gunging people was a staple of 90s TV. Top shows like Get Your Own Back, Live and Kicking and Noel’s House Party regularly covered some poor soul in slime. We’re not sure what it was, or how it was made – but we wish we’d had shares in the stuff!

Inflatable furniture, inflatable everything

The epitome of 90s stuff was the inflatable. From blow-up chairs to backpacks, aliens to photo frames, many of our bedrooms were full to bursting with brightly-coloured inflatable things. There was just one problem – those chairs did not mix well with our crimpers and lava lamps!

Tie dye

Although some people love to hate tie-dye, we tend to think of it as the days when the world was allowed to be a little more colourful and off the charts. Tie-dye was a massive 90s craze for both girls and boys. Whether you like it or not, it also seems to be making a comeback!

Phone booths

With the advent of cellphones, there’s no longer any use for the good old phone booth. However, there was a day when you would never leave the house in case you had to make a call home.

Slap bracelets

If you didn’t have at least a couple of slap bracelets in the 90s then you definitely weren’t considered cool. Oh, what we would do to see how the kids and teenagers would react today if they saw how mental we went over the slapping little wrist bracelets.

Hubba Bubba

Remember those delicious, seemingly endless rolls of bubblegum that we used to lug around with us? Hubba Bubba was all the craze at the time, even if the flavour did only last a few minutes.

The 90s really was a wonderful decade and one that we fondly reminisce about more often than we’d like to admit. Bingo was the golden child of the 90s with bingo halls popping up all over the country and more people playing bingo than watching football matches. Although you may play bingo online mostly, that doesn’t mean that online bingo or online slots are the only option out there!  You can play slots online but we’ve also got real slots games to try your hand at too! 

If you’d like to relive the best of 90s everything, then book your ticket for Rewind Night at Mecca Bingo! Once the game has been played, the last balls called, and a bit of money’s been won – we’ll have performances by some of the best 90s bands. This is the chance to throw it back to the good old days! 

We’re here to help you keep it fun – remember to set your deposit limit. Click here for more details on the safer gambling tools available including reality checks and the ability to take a break from your gaming.