General Mills Retro Cereals Giveaway 1 of 5

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We love General Mills products in our home….whether it’s Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, the list goes on and on.  In 2009, I had a blast at the General Mills Blogger Event in Minnesota, where I learned a ton about General Mills, as well as their different products.  I was excited to recently have the opportunity to review the new and limited General Mills Retro Cereal Packages!

Now through mid-March, the cereal aisle just turned into memory lane.  While supplies last, Target stores nationwide will carry five limited-edition General Mills Big G cereal boxes featuring fun “Retro” package designs and cartoons from the 50s, 60s, and 80s.  This year, the packaging was chosen based on a national survey conducted by General Mills, which asked consumers to pick their favorite Retro package designs.  The top packages chosen include Cheerios (1956), Trix (1968), Honey Nut Cheerios (1984), Cinnamon Toast Crunch (1984), and Lucky Charms (1989).

“Retro is so in right now – whether it’s clothing, cars, games or packaging,” said Lindsay Backer, associate marketing manager.  “We’ve seen great success with this promotion the last few years and continue to build on that with the packaging and promotions offering families fun and memorable breakfast experiences that evoke childhood memories.”

This year, consumers were also asked to share thoughts and opinions about their childhood memories of breakfast cereals, including favorite characters, promotions, prizes, cartoon characters and shows.  Many identified rings, submarines and cars as favorite promotions on cereal packages; most preferred prizes over games and favorite Big G cereal characters were Lucky the Leprechaun, the Trix Rabbit and Buzz from Honey Nut Cheerios.

The package promotion on each of the cereal boxes features Retro cartoons.  After the packages reach the stores, consumers can go to www.grocerysavvy.com and view some cartoons from the past, while enjoying a fun morning with family and friends over breakfast.  If families are looking for a little challenge during breakfast, they can test each other’s knowledge on milestones during the original package introductions such as, a gallon of gas cost 22 cents in 1956; the original Hawaii 5-0 debuted on TV in 1968, and now it’s back on the air; Apple Macintosh was introduced in 1984 and stonewashed jeans were all the rage; and in 1989 the Berlin Wall came down.

This promotion marks the fourth year retro packages have been re-introduced and is being supported with Target ad circulars, prominent promotional space at check lanes in all stores, blog outreach featuring retro trivia contests, and radio promotions across the country.

Big G cereals are pleased to support families by providing both entertainment and nutritious breakfast options.  Cereal is one of the healthiest breakfast choices parents can make, giving families yet another reason to feel good about choosing Big G cereals.  Ready-to-eat cereal has fewer calories than most other common breakfast options, while also being nutrient-dense and many varieties are low in fat.

The limited-edition cereal boxes are available exclusively in Target stores nationally.  For a Target store near you, visit www.Target.com, and for more information on Big G cereals visit www.GrowUpStrong.com or www.WholeGrainNation.com.

FEATURED CEREAL FUN FACTS – 1956 – Cheerios

Pop Culture:

– Academy Awards Best Film: Around the World in Eighty Days
– Rock and Roll dance craze sweeps the World
– Elvis Presley enters the US music charts for the first time, with “Heartbreak Hotel,” the first of 170 singles
– “My Fair Lady” opens on Broadway starring Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle and Rex Harrison as Professor Higgins

Politics/News:

– Gas per Gallon:  22 cents
– Alabama bus segregation laws declared illegal by US Supreme Court
– President Dwight D Eisenhower signs the Federal Aid Highway Act, creating the Interstate Highway System

Popular Fads/Products etc:

– Black-and-white portable TV sets hit the market
– The first Transatlantic Telephone Cable goes in operation
– The first commercial videotape recorder the VR-1000 from Ampex Corp goes on sale
– The hard disk drive is invented by an IBM led by Reynold B. Johnson

GIVEAWAY

1 lucky reader will win a General Mills Retro Cereal Prize Pack, including 1 package with five limited edition boxes of General Mills Big G Cereals and 1 $10 Target Gift Card!!!!

WIN IT!!! (MANDATORY ENTRY)

– Tell me in a comment one favorite memory you have of Cheerios from your childhood.

EXTRA ENTRIES:

– Follow The Mommy-Files on Twitter – 1 ENTRY
– Tweet about the giveaway – 1 ENTRY DAILY
– Become a Fan of The Mommy-Files on Facebook– 1 ENTRY
– Follow me through Google Connect (new on the right side of the blog) – 1 ENTRY
– Subscribe to my blog – 1 ENTRY
– Add my Mommy-Files button to your blog and include the URL – 1 ENTRY
– Comment on any Non-Giveaway post on The Mommy-Files – 1 ENTRY per post comment (no limit)
– Blog about this giveaway and include the URL – 5 ENTRIES

RULES:

– Contest will close at 11:59 p.m. PST on Thursday, March 10th, 2010! Any entries after this time will be deleted!
– Contest open to U.S. residents only.

I received product samples from General Mills to facilitate this review.  The giveaway was sponsored by General Mills.  All opinions expressed in this post are 100% mine.

426 thoughts on “General Mills Retro Cereals Giveaway 1 of 5”

  10. Mami2jcn

    I actually don’t remember having Cheerios as a kid…don’t know if that’s because I grew up in a Hispanic household and we didn’t too cereal too often. My Cheerios memory is of having it be all 3 of my kids’ first finger food. They still love Cheerios to this day.

    Reply
  16. Margaret Smith

    My Mom would make us snack bags (little mini bags) with Cheerios and raisens. We’d usually bring our “snack bags” with us whenever we went on long car rides. My brother and I really looked forward to them.
    Thanks so much.
    rickpeggysmith(at)aol(dot)com

    Reply
  25. jennifer b

    I never really ate plain Cheerios unless I had sugar! But I loved Eating the honey nut ones when watching Sat. morning cartoons

    Reply
  35. Steph

    My parents would not let me and my sister have sweet cereal, so Cheerios was the main breakfast for us. I was thrilled when they came out the Honey Nut flavor.

    Reply
  45. courtney d

    my favorite memories with Cherrios (and other GM cereals) is making edible jewelry! Cherrios necklaces were my favorite! lol

    Reply
  48. Eileen

    A Cheerios memory I have is sitting at my grandparents table and sharing breakfast with them and lining up my Cheerios in a row like a caterpillar. They didnt scold me for playing with my food like my mom did. LOL!

    Reply
  52. Margie

    I don’t remember any stories from when I was little…but we always had the regular Cheerios for our kids. They loved them as snacks, and liked to play with them and move them around on their highchair trays. We also took Cheerios along on trips for snacks.

    Reply
  67. Nad

    I didn’t grow up eating Cheerios (I grew up overseas), but my own kids have had them since they started solids and they love them!

    Reply
  72. Rachel C

    My mom has a picture of me sitting in a mountain of Cheerios on the kitchen floor – I had dumped out the entire box !

    Reply
  75. Alicia Webster

    My favorite memory of Cheerios as a child is using them to teach the little boy that I babysat how to pee standing up. He is in his 20’s now, and I assume that he has mastered the task.

    Reply
  78. Jackie

    I loved Cheerios as a kid, and still do. When I was younger, I would dump so much sugar on them that it would be in a pile under the cereal in the bowl. I no longer use sugar when eating Cheerios.
    Thanks!
    jackievillano at gmail dot com

    Reply
  79. ellen

    Ahh it ha nothing to do with eating it! My Mom used them for training my brothers- and that was 40 years ago! 🙂

    Reply
  87. Linda Kish

    There weren’t a lot of cereal choices in the 50s. I ate my cheerios with bananas on top…still like them that way.

    lkish77123 at gmail dot com

    Reply
  95. Suzanne K

    I don’t have any 🙁 – I don’t think my mom ever bought them (she is German), but I do remember taking some on trips with MY daughter for healthy, neater snacks!

    Reply
  97. Vickie Couturier

    When my oldest was a baby,he is 36 now,,,he loved for me to take cheerios with us everywhere he called them his O’s an put one on his finger as a ring like,,one at a time took him forever to get them ate

    vlbelk(athotmail.com

    Reply
  112. Kathy Rambousek

    I don’t know of a specific Cheerios memory, but I still love them with a bit of brown sugar spinkled on top.

    Reply
  121. Susan C

    Cheerios has always been in our house, when I was a little girl, when I was a young mother, and now when I am a granddaughter.
    smchester at gmail dot com

    Reply
  154. Cynthia C

    Back in the days when strawberries were only available in season, I recall what a treat it was to have some sliced on my Cheerios.

    Reply
  159. Tina M

    I remember the Cheerios commercial featuring Scrooge. The line went something like, “Nobody can say no, to Honey Nut Cheerios”, even old Scrooge!

    Reply
  165. Stacy

    I really don’t remember eating much cereal when I was a kid but when my babies starting eating solid food, Cheerios was one of the first finger foods they loved.
    nrdunningATgmailDOTcom

    Reply
  179. susitravl

    My parents didn’t like Cheerio’s, so I never got them at home, but my best friend did, so I loved spending the night there knowing I was going to have Cheerio’s for breakfast! LOL

    susitravl(at)gmail(dot)com

    Reply

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  204. Suzanne Lewis

    I actually didn’t eat Cheerios as a child, so i don’t have any memories. I did eat cereal for breakfast on weekdays as a child.

    txhottie_86 at yahoo dot com

    Reply
  217. Sylvia

    Cheerios was one of the only cereals my mom would buy. Because it wasn’t sweetened, my siblings and I would douse it in sugar! Now I eat it with sliced bananas-no sugar added. LOL

    Reply
  223. katklaw777

    We used to string them on yarn and make xmas ornaments out of them. I did the same with my kids!
    Thanks for the great giveaway!

    Reply
  226. Debbie C

    I remember having Cheerios on Saturday mornings with my cousins while we watched cartoons. We liked to stick a Cheerio on each ear and pretend they were earrings. Goofy.

    dchrisg3 @ gmail . com

    Reply
  229. Rhonda Mason

    I remember my grammy making homemade eggnog and pouring it over my Cheerios! Sweet and so good! Plus she was sneaking an egg into me without me knowing it!
    hondaray6 at hotmail dot com

    Reply
  244. deana c

    My favorite memory of eating cheerio’s as a kid is dumping tons of sugar on top and then eating it at the bottom of the bowl when the cheerios were gone.

    Reply
  260. Sarah

    I remember eating Cheerios at a friend’s house one night when I was about 12 yr. old or so – I never knew before that that you could eat them as a snack instead of just at breakfast.

    Reply
  272. Karen Gonyea

    I remember when Honey Nut Cheerios first came out and how excited we were as kids to get to try them 🙂

    ktgonyea at gmail.com – Subscribed in Google Reader 🙂

    Reply
  301. Leslie S.

    Saturday morning was the only time we were allowed to watch as much tv as we wanted.I remember sitting and watching cartoons while eating cheerios with my two brothers.Thanks!
    lstanziani(at)yahoo(dot)com

    Reply
  305. Patti Hess

    My favorite memory of Cheerios is of my Dad and I sitting at the table together eating breakfast and talking….if you don’t see why its my favorite it’s because my Dad was a work a holic and never sat still long enough for us kids but this is my favorite memory

    pattifritz2000 at yahoo dot com
    thanks

    Reply
  311. Pat

    My mother liked to make hot cereal for breakfast but my favorite mornings were when our family ate Cheerios.

    Reply
  312. julieh

    My favorite memory is getting up early to watch saturday morning cartoons and eating a big bowl of cheerios.

    Reply
  313. Erica C.

    I just remember getting to grab the box of Cheerios off the shelf in the grocery store when I was super little.

    Reply
  319. Ed Nemmers

    We would mix Cheerios with chocolate morsels and milk, then, would microwave this combination to make chocolate Cheerios!

    Reply
  328. Melanie

    I don’t have a story. :[ I don’t remember what cereal it was..but while eating breafast before school one morning, I did fall alseep in my cereal bowl. I had milk and my hair and my mom had me take a shower and she took me to school late.

    Reply
  330. nik

    Hot Buttery Cheerios was one of my favorite snacks…a bowlful topped with butter and microwaved just enough to melt the butter and get everything toasty hot. I was one happy camper!

    Reply
  333. Claire

    I remember pouring a bowl of them by myself for the first time.. and promptly spilling it all over the floor!

    Reply
  350. Amanda D.

    My favorite Cheerios memory was fighting with my little brother when there was only one bowls worth left! =P

    Reply
  351. Rosey

    It’s strange, but I remember putting sugar and strawberries on Cheerios, and thinking it was so delicious. I think it was the only thing in the world I was allowed to put a whole spoonful of sugar on, and I just thought that was delightful. Of course today I like them plain with strawberries, no sugar…but it’s still a good memory.

    Reply
  388. Laura Benjamin

    My mom would always try and make breakfast special no matter what we ate. I loved how shw would take Cheerios and make faces inside of them. She woudld put tiny blueberries or raisins for eyes and then put them in a half circle with cut marshmallows for a toothy smile. I loved sitting with her every morning while I ate my Cheerios and she would drink her coffee. I felt so loved and safe.

    Reply
  404. Susan D

    I enjoyed eating Cheerios as a child. One time, they had a mail-in offer where, if you sent in ten UPC’s to them, you would get a better-than-normal Monopoly game set as a frequent purchaser reward. I thought that was great — cereal I liked and a nice board game to play. Woo hoo!

    Reply
  413. Charlene Kuser

    My favorite memory was watching my mom cut up the banana’s over my Cheerios.I just love
    the combination of milk,Cheerios and banana’s

    Reply
  415. brian e.

    Thanks for the giveaway…favorite memory from childhood involving Cheerios: whenever I ate them as a kid, our Chihuahua would be hovering around under foot, and I would throw him single O’s from the box to catch in mid air…he made a hilarious snapping sound when he caught them that made us laugh !

    senorpiero [at] yahoo [dot] com

    Reply
  425. Mildred

    I do not have memories of Cheerios from my childhood, but remembering how the children in our family enjoying Cheerios makes me smile

    Reply

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