80's Day was something I started years ago to show my kids how cool the decade was. I share some of my favorite 80's music, movies, video games and food with them and they seem to really enjoy it! Typically we head out and take part in some activities that I liked to do as a kid. The recreation may not be 100% faithful to what life was like back in the 80's, but I feel like we did the best we could with the resources we had available. After we watched some cartoons, it was time to throw on some of our best 80's licensed character t-shirts, so we could go out and hit the town! Represented in my kids' attire were the Care Bears and The Legend of Zelda. I chose to wear my Mirage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt and my wife had her Jem shirt on.
Looking good and ready for some adventure! Of course we had to eat at the Turtles favorite chain pizza restaurant!
We stopped by an old 80's staple...PIZZA HUT!
We got a stuffed crust peperoni pizza and a traditional supreme pie. We were going to eat in the restaurant, but when we walked in we were told that due to the lack of staffing the dining area was closed! Oh well, I guess we'll take it home.
I still love celebrating my birthday, but after all these years a little bit of the excitement has gone. Lucky for me, I have an amazing wife and kids that make sure each year's celebration is fantastic.
Here we have a pair of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle books I have been wanting for a while. The Official TMNT Treasury has been on my want list since it was first printed in 1991. It's a visual guide to a lot of the early TMNT merchandise. It's so cool to see everything from old toys to games to bath products that feature the Ninja Turtles. The TMNT Pizza Cookbook looks like a lot of fun to try at the next make your own pizza night! Oh, and we also had a Shaq-A-Roni pizza for dinner from Papa John's!
I was hyped for this movie! I didn't care for the redesign of the TMNT, but I was optimistic that the story would make up for that. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the movie. By far not my favorite, but not my most hated. Plus it gave us some tasty Pizza Hut pizza options!
A few months ago I received an e-mail from Playmates toys letting me know that they were discontinuing their Pizza Points reward program that was a promotional tie-in for the new Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys. If you are not aware of the Pizza Points program, it goes a little something like this: You buy a Rise of the TMNT toy, inside is a slip of paper with a unique Pizza Points code, you go to the Playmates Toys website to enter the code and use the points from said code to redeem for premium products.
My kids and I had amassed quite a few points and I didn't want the opportunity to disappear, so I went to the web, entered our final codes and we had enough to redeem for their Rewards Pack #1. This only cost us 50 Pizza Points plus $8 shipping. We waited and in 4 to 6 weeks our box finally arrived in the mail!
The neon green box was unmistakable. This was going to be AWESOME! What was in the box you ask? Well, keep reading as we open this baby up and see what was received fresh from the sewers!
There were 2 sheets of these Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stickers...
a cool cloth Leonardo ninja mask...
this pretty big Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles poster...
and finally this incredible Muckman action figure!!! I remember collectors going crazy for this figure when it was first released in 2017. At that time it was pretty hard to find and people were paying top dollar for it on auction sites like ebay. Even now, I can't find one online for less than $16. I know that's not a crazy amount of money, but it just makes me appreciate the value we got in this $8 box of green machine goodness.
This message was printed on the inside cover of the box and it makes me sad. This was a fun TMNT promotion and as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. I just wish this lasted just a little bit longer. I was hoping to save enough points to get their Rewards Package #3 that consisted of a set of 4 classic 1992 "Secret of the Ooze" movie action figures featuring authentic accessories and personalized sewer lid name base plates. Maybe the next reboot of Turtles will resurrect this once great program. Thank you Playmates!
To see what was in the last TMNT Sewer Squad box my family received from Playmates Toys, click HERE!
My family did an amazing job again this year taking care of me on my birthday! First off when I got home from work that evening, sitting on the kitchen counter was this amazing Ice Cream Kitty cake my wife made for me! She made the iconic TMNT character out of homemade Rice Crispy treats and fondant and placed her on top of a Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake!
As soon as I stepped in the door, my kids were begging me to open my gifts. After thanking my wife for the cake I started ripping some packages open. I finally have a copy of the Batman Vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated movie! I have still not yet seen this flick, but that will change soon. I've heard good things and can't wait to see it for myself. My kids got me a Donatello mini Ty stuffed animal to go along with the Leo I bought at a yard sale this past summer. He now lives on my Turtles shelf in the basement.
I will admit that the box of TMNT 2 cards was a gift to myself, but I have good intentions of using this as a family activity. Me and the kids have had a lot of fun opening old boxes of trading cards to try and build sets. We've done it with Super Mario Bros. movie cards and Star Wars cards already and I can't wait to tear into these wax packs with my children. The wife picked up these Adidas kicks for me since my latest pair of Nikes are wearing down.
One of the coolest things I received for my birthday was this Leonardo that my youngest daughter made for me out of Perler Beads! I love that she took the time to make this for me and I also love that she used the pattern from the recently released Pixel Pals. My son made me a Master Sword from the Legend of Zelda out of these beads also, but they have not yet been melted together. Can't wait for that project to be finished!
After presents it was time to eat! Just like we do almost every year, we went to my favorite local pizza place and enjoyed some great pizza and played some video games! It was another great birthday and I am thankful for having a family that takes the time to celebrate and have fun with me all the time! Can't wait to see what happens next year!
Throw on your orange bandana and grab your nunchucks aswe take you back! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK...
Artist: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Song: Pizza Power
Album: Coming Out Of Their Shells (1990)
Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: N/A Bonus Fun Fact: The TMNT Coming Out Of Their Shells Tour began at Radio City Music Hall on August 17th, 1990. This tour was sponsored by Pizza Hut where you could buy your own copy of the soundtrack. This song was used by Konami for the intro music to their arcade game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time! You can view the video below.
Anybody else totally into thisRise of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pizza Points system from @PlaymatesToys ? Can't wait to collect enough to earn that Muckman action figure! BTW, I already entered the codes in the pic.
