Food & Dining

Last Updated on Monday, 29 September 2014 21:30

(StatePoint) The next time you're standing in the cereal aisle, think back on your early memories of breakfast. If you're like many Americans, your morning likely started with a bowl of cereal and milk and perhaps a Silly Rabbit.

This year, Trix cereal celebrates 60 years of special moments around the morning breakfast table complete with flavorful fruitier-tasting corn puffs, an endearing Silly Rabbit and colorful fun by the bowlful. Here is a look at its fun, fruity 60-year history.

• 1954: General Mills introduced Trix, the first ready-to-eat cereal created especially for kids, the same year of the first national color television broadcast. The original corn puff colors included raspberry red, orange and lime yellow.

• 1959: The Trix Rabbit is introduced to television audiences in a commercial which launched his quest to nab Trix cereal. Whether he was on roller skates or stealthily hidden in disguise, kids were encouraged to remind him that, "Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids!"

• 1960: The first rabbit appears on the front of a Trix cereal box. The following year, the iconic box featuring a roller skating rabbit debuts.

• 1968: To coincide with a presidential election year, Trix boxes featured a "Vote Now!" offer where kids could vote via postcard whether or not to let the Silly Rabbit try his favorite cereal. This popular promotion was repeated throughout the years, including in 1976 during the Bicentennial.

• 1987: A special "Wanted" box asks Trix fans to help name the Rabbit. This was one of many interactive boxes created over the years that featured mail-in or in-box giveaways like markers, bumper stickers, sunglasses, an alarm clock, magnets, and pillow cases.

• 1991: Trix introduces cereal shapes that look like fruit.

• 2000s: Trix colors began to include Wildberry Blue, Grapity Purple, Raspberry Red, Lemony Yellow, Orangey Orange and Watermelon.

• 2009: Cereal puffs sport their signature Trix swirl.

• 2014: Celebrating 60 years of special breakfasts, General Mills introduces new fruitier-tasting Trix nationwide featuring solid-colored cereal puffs.

Pop culture and cereal aficionados alike can visit www.SillyChannel.com for more nostalgia, as well as interactive games and activities featuring the Silly Rabbit.