The Grouch’s seemingly small can would make Mary Poppins proud: Over the years, he’s made space for an Olympic swimming pool, an ice-skating rink, a pastry kitchen, a bowling alley and an art gallery. Too much for one green bachelor? Ah, but he shares his digs with pets such as elephants, a goat, a horse, a dolphin and a worm.

The relationship between Captain Tony the astronaut and Jeannie the 2,000-year-old genie never quite makes sense: If she’s free, why does she call him “Master”? If they get along so well, why does she continue to spend so much time in her former prison? Well, the ‘60s were a strange time—and Jeannie had some awfully good throw pillows in that bottle.

Reason 6,412 for keeping things tiny: If your house is small enough, you can tie thousands of balloons to the chimney and fly off to South America without packing a suitcase. Try that in a McMansion.

As Kellogg’s explains on its "All About the Elves" page (and as anyone who watched Saturday morning television in the '80s knows), "the [Keebler] Elves bake their cookies the old-fashioned elfin way, in magic ovens in the Hollow Tree® (aka the Fac-Tree).” The elves are “ageless,” but are they immortal? One hopes the Hollow Tree holds itself to rigorous fire-safety standards.