‘We looked at each other and said 'we have money now'': 28 Childhood dreams that can finally be fulfilled now that you're an autonomous adult

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
May 6, 2025 3:00 PM EDT

Which Lego set did you dream about when you were a kid? More than likely, you scoured the Sears catalog for the biggest Star Wars Lego you could find, but ultimately would end up with the dinkiest, most minuscule box of miscellaneous primary-colored bricks. While the small multi-sets were fun, it was the enormous model starships that we wanted to build… But little did we know, back then, a $900 Lego toy was quite the gift for a 10-year-old. 

But guess what, now we're adults and have jobs and make money. Imagine that! 

And with this adult money and freedom to spend our paycheck on whatever we want. So if that includes Lego, pressed-pennies, model trains, or souvenirs at the gift shop, by all means, satisfy your inner child and buy that one thing you always dreamed about. Because we only have one life to live, we might as well have the name-brand peanut butter instead of the 'healthy,' gross version. 

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  • Last year, I finally did it: I bought the mondo Star Wars Lego set of my dreams. While I'm still not rich enough for the Millennium Falcon, buying a 3ft X-wing Lego that I built alongside my husband has been the best splurge of my adult life, and will always be a crowning achievement for my inner child. What's something that you bought as an adult that you were never allowed to get as a kid? 

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  • What's something you bought as an adult because you weren't allowed to have it as a child?
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  • could_use_a_snack When I was in my early 30s (25ish years ago) me and a buddy of mine were sitting around reminiscing about when we were kids and we would save all our money to buy model rockets, and how we never
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  • had enough for the really cool big ones. After a few minutes we looked at each other and said "we have money now" and the next weekend we went to the hobby store and dropped $2K between the two of us and spent the next month building every rocket we couldn't have as kids.
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  • Once they were all built and painted, we went out the the local park that was frequently used for model rocket launches and spent the whole day sending them up. We drew a huge crowd. It was really
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  • fun, the kids at the park would run after the rockets and bring the back for us. At the end of the day we gave everything away to a bunch of the kids. It was one of the best days of my life.
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  • 85MonteCarloSS I buy my kids a lot of play-doh, and other messy things that my parents wouldn't buy me because the house always had to be presentable in case the Queen was coming over.
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  • wildhardsrosaur Any time I'm traveling and there's a penny press, I use it. 7 year old me is absolutely delighted every time.
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  • E2Bonky My first week of college I realized that I could eat an entire loaf of garlic bread for dinner and not get in trouble. I later learned why my mom didn't allow me to eat an entire loaf of garlic bread for dinner.
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  • unittwentyfive Mouse Trap The old board game where you build the wacky Rube-Goldberg style machine. I only ever got to play it like once when I was a kid
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  • and was at someone's house who's kid had it. I loved it and asked for that as my birthday and or christmas present pretty much every year, but never got it.
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  • monochromeorc a lego pirate ship. not that i wasnt allowed, but we couldnt afford
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  • CrunchyCds Video games. At some point in late high school I was told by my parents I was too old for video games and needed to grow out of them and focus on my studies. Jokes on them, I ended up becoming a game developer, lol.
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  • Sys32... Dinosaur bed sheets and pillow cases Edit: I first bought them in my 50s
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  • bongo1100 Advent calendar. My mom said she never got me one cuz she knew I'd eat it all in one day. She was right, even in my 30s.
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  • Fun-Ingenuity-9089 LEGO!! My parents said they were "boy" toys, and they returned the set that I received as a gift. In exchange, I got a toy ironing board and iron. How exciting....
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  • Mediocre-Bee-9262. Name brand stuff, don't get me wrong, love a good deal. But 5 star notebooks are so much better than the 50 cent ones from Walmart
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  • Leslie_Ackerman Books. So many books. My mother always told me books were a waste of time and money. Now I have so many bookshelves FILLED with fantastic literature
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  • DisneyAddict2021 Technically I didn't buy him, he just appeared, but a cat. However, he is now the most expensive freeloader ever, so I can say I bought him.
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  • captaintrips 1980. A guitar. It wasn't that I wasn't forbidden from having one. We just couldn't afford one. Music was never a priority when we were just trying to survive. So I bought my first guitar at 31
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  • MickeyBear Souvenirs at theme parks, food at the zoo, stuff like that.
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  • neck_bangs An actual drink at a restaurant instead of just water. God it's so nice.
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  • Pillsbury1982 Air conditioning. Never had it as a kid and fans only do so much. I'm too old to suffer the discomfort and nastiness of a bedroom that is 80° (or more) in the summer anymore. I likes me some 65° for sleeping.
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  • Glum-Establishment31 When I was very little, we would go through the Sears Catalog to make our Christmas Lists. For 5 years I asked for a Crawl Thru Tunnel. I never got one. I bought my cats 2.
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  • creamtouch A big tub of Nutella. I wasn't allowed to have too much sugar as a kid, so now I keep it stocked like it's a kitchen essential!
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  • BeaconToTheAngels Sugary cereals. We were allowed Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but that was it.
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  • Psychological Okra260 A picture with sea lions at the county fair to this day it's my favorite photo
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  • MuricaAndBeer Pokemon cards
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  • Electrical-Insect679 My first paycheck in I got in my apartment. I bought a used copy of fallout 3. A bag of blowpops a box of fruit by the foot and a half gallon of chocolate milk. That memory means more to me than my first beer. Wasn't allowed to ever get any of those things as a kid.
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  • jjkkmmuutt own a arcade game, it's a lup that i modded myself. My 12 year old self would have k lled for one. Final fight, golden axe, whenever I want.
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millennial nickelodeon disney nostalgic memes childhood adulting relatable nostalgia Memes nostalgic lol meme gen z adulthood Reddit nostalgia memes funny
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