The movement began in 1989, when Pillsbury introduced a Funfetti cake mix, a white cake mix with multicolored sprinkles included in the box. The revolutionary twist: The sprinkles were for coloring the batter, not for decorating the top. In a hot oven, the sprinkles melted into streaks and dots of bright color that instantly made plain cake obsolete for a certain demographic: kids.

“In the 1990s, to have a successful birthday party, you had to beg your mom for Funfetti cake,” said Molly Yeh, a baker and food blogger best known for her from-scratch version of the cake. “It was as if chocolate and vanilla no longer existed.”

Funfetti copycats multiplied. In 1990, Betty Crocker brought out Dunkaroos, a snack pack of cookies with sprinkle-spiked frosting for dipping. (They are no longer sold in the United States, but there is a thriving trade on eBay for the Canadian product.)

Dannon Sprinkl’ins, yogurt with rainbow sprinkles packed on top, arrived in 1992. Pillsbury owns the trademark for the word, but it became so popular as people grew up with it that it is now a synonym for rainbow sprinkles, the way Kleenex is for tissues.