7 things that were guaranteed to start a family argument at Christmas in the 80s and 90s
How many of these do you remember your family arguing over?
- Christmas is meant to be a time of peace and harmony
- But when families get together, that’s not always the case
- If you remember the 80s and 90s, you’ll know there were some things almost guaranteed to start a family argument
Christmas is a time for families to come together, but that doesn’t always result in the most peaceful or harmonious of atmospheres.
Many families are a tinder box of pent-up frustrations and resentment just waiting to explode.
It often takes only the tiniest spark, and at Christmas there are so many seemingly trivial things that can ignite a family fight, from exchanging presents to the washing-up.
That’s always been the case, but in the 80s and 90s there were some things that were more likely to set things off.
Below are seven things that were almost guaranteed to start a family argument in the 80s and 90s.
Trivial Pursuit
.jpeg?trim=55,0,57,0&crop=&width=640&quality=65)
Board games often bring families together, especially at Christmas, but that doesn’t always end well.
Classics like Monopoly and Cluedo can bring out the bad loser or cheat in us all.
Trivial Pursuit, which came out in the 80s, has sparked many a row, too, as family members battle to demonstrate their general knowledge and fill their wheel with cheese wedges.
Other popular 80s games likely to drive a wedge between relatives included Taboo and Balderdash.
In Taboo, you have to describe the word on your card without using any of the forbidden terms and hearing the dreaded squeaker.
Balderdash, meanwhile, challenges you to identify the correct definition for a variety of obscure words while trying to deceive your opponents with your own made-up meaning.
Chocolate boxes
No one can resist a Christmas chocolate selection box, but some relatives are better at knowing when to stop than others.
Many a row has started when someone opens the box only to find all their favourites missing and starts pointing the finger.
While the relative newcomers Celebrations and Heroes crashed the party shortly before the new millennium, for most of the 80s and 90s, it was all about Roses and Quality Street.
Dozens of chocolates have come and gone from the line-up over the years, but in recent times it’s been bad news for coffee lovers, with the Coffee Creme and Coffee Cup disappearing from Roses and Quality Street, respectively.
There’s probably a reason they were scrapped, but some people loved them and were gutted to see them removed.
Christmas crackers
Pulling the crackers is the best way to get your Christmas dinner started, but the contents have caused countless arguments.
It’s not the terrible jokes, or the hats, and the relative who’s always quick to point out anyone who’s not wearing theirs. It’s the gifts.
In the 80s, the cheap and cheerful cracker contents ranged from fortune-telling fish to plastic moustaches and fake fingernails. But it was the mini screwdriver set that everyone really wanted.
If you didn’t get what you were hoping for, you could try to strike a bargain with your siblings or cousins, or pretend the gift you wanted was rightfully yours as it had fallen out of your cracker.
The TV guide
Before smartphones and streaming, no household was complete at Christmas without the Radio Times TV guide.
For most of the 80s and 90s, there were only four channels to pick from, but that didn’t stop families from arguing over who was in charge of the remote control.
There were some big clashes back then.
On Christmas Day in 1985, viewers had to choose between the Only Fools and Horses Christmas special on BBC 1 or Murder on the Orient Express, starring Dennis Waterman, of Minder fame, on ITV.
In 1995, EastEnders was up against the Robson and Jerome Christmas special, and you then had to pick between the One Foot in the Grave special or Sister Act.
Babycham
It’s not the stiffest of Christmas drinks, but it’s one of the most quaffable, and it was very popular in the 80s.
Babycham may only have a 6% alcohol content but it slips down so easily that it can be dangerous in the hands of that relative who only drinks at Christmas.
Get enough down you and it can easily loosen lips and let a lifetime worth of family resentments tumble out.
SNES
In the 80s, the Sega Master System video game console emerged as one of the biggest rivals to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) while the Game Boy was launched in 1989.
In the 90s, the entertainment giants again went head-to-head, with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and the Sega Mega Drive.
If your family was lucky enough to have one of these back then, there were doubtless some sibling squabbles over whose turn it was to play or what game to play next.
Tamagotchis
The Rubik’s Cube was one of the defining toys of the 80s, frustrating people of all ages. While some fans spent many hours trying to solve the puzzle, others cheated by peeling off the coloured stickers and swapping them.
The 90s gave us both Pogs and Tamagotchis.
The former was banned in some schools as it was viewed as a form of gambling, and it often led to arguments over cheating.
Tamagotchis, meanwhile, were the pocket-sized electronic pets that demanded constant attention.
They helped fill many Christmas stockings at the tail-end of the 90s.
Parents would sometimes have to tell their children to put the toys away at the dinner table, only to later be accused of killing that child’s Tamagotchi.