Okay, I was taught "you never get something for nothing - beware of come-ons." Today, the fast food industry is carrying on the lures of bygone days. McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King have their give-aways with kids' meals, but where are the freebies for adults?

In my childhood we had Top Value Yellow Stamps and S&H Green Stamps. Buy products and get rewarded with stamps. We would stuff sheets of stamps in a kitchen drawer until the accumulated stash was sufficient to get a desired item. Merchandise catalogs became wish books. We would spend hours sticking stamps in savings books, using a wet sponge and usually leaving the pages soggy in our haste. Going to the redemption center was just like a birthday or Christmas. Picking out a transistor radio, an electric skillet, a patio chair, or hot rollers was a major decision. Most often, the choice was a family matter, but sometimes I got the books for my wish.

There were lots of other premiums too. Targeting kids with free stuff is a time-honored tradition. Do you remember the Gasateria that sponsored "Ramar of the Jungle?" Each week's gas station purchase was rewarded with iron-on stickers. Wow! Neat! Boxes of laundry soap came packed with dishes or towels. Cottage cheese was periodically packed in bright colored tumblers that could be used later as drinking glasses, and there was peanut butter in footed goblets. Saturday morning cartoons offered decoder rings. Save enough Ovaltine jar seals, and you could get the decoder badge from the Captain Midnight program.

Another favorite was "Winky Dink and You," aired from 1953-57. Winky Dink and his dog Woofer introduced us to interactive TV. If you had the "magic drawing screen" (a large piece of vinyl plastic that would adhere to the screen) and Winky Dink crayons, you could connect the dot picture, decode a secret message, or create the outline of a character with whom Jack Barry, the host, would converse. Absent the magic screen, you didn't understand the last few minutes of the program, thus pleas to parents to get the screen would become all the more desperate.

Some of my favorite give-aways were at the Ayres Tea Room. On very special days, Mom would take us shopping downtown all day. Of course we had to have lunch, so we would end up on the 8th floor of L.S. Ayres. When lunch (often accompanied by a style show) was finished, children could select a prize from a treasure chest by the cashier. They were wrapped in white tissue and tied with either a pink or blue ribbon to indicate whether for a girl or boy. Long live the tradition of premiums, and may it lead us to continuing fun in the future.