Every decade has a personality, the ethos that marks the people living together during that time, giving us shared experience that shapes our day-to-day. It bonds us and reminds us we belong to a specific time, place and group, that we are a part of something larger than ourselves.
Here, Chandler Davis helps us wander through the 2000s and explore items that mattered to her when she was growing up during the decade. Remember your own experiences with these cultural touchstones; maybe they’re artifacts that mattered to you, too.
Here’s to recalling what has been good.
Curated by Chandler Davis
Silly Bandz
Silly Bandz were such a big fad at one point. I used to have a bunch of them, and I kept them in a Ziploc bag. I remember my classmates and I got in trouble twice for trading Silly Bandz during the middle of class in fourth grade.
Nintendo DS
Because I wasn’t really a toy person as a child, the Nintendo DS was my favorite thing to play with. I took it with me wherever I went, along with the case and game holder I had for it. My favorite game to play was Cooking Mama.
Fidget Spinners
Fidget Spinners came out more than 25 years ago, but they made a popular return in the 2000s. I had three of my own and took at least one of them with me almost every time I left my house. My favorite thing about them was the phase we went through of trying to balance them on our noses and foreheads.
Heelys
These were my favorite pair of shoes at one point during my elementary school years. I wore them literally everywhere, even to school. My older brother and I even got chased through a mall by the security one time because of them, and we were able to get away from the security officer because of our Heelys.
Webkinz
A Webkinz is a plush toy, usually but not limited to an animal, that basically came to life online. You could play different games, feed it and do other things with it through the website. I spent a lot of my early childhood years at the computer playing with my Webkinz snowman named Frosty, along with my brother and Bijan, his Webkinz dog he named after himself.
