Spoons out! It's National Cereal Day

Hot or cold, cereal remains a staple of Americans' breakfast.

And it got special attention Thursday for National Cereal Day.

To mark the festivities, Post Consumer Brands released two special edition cereals: Chicken & Waffles flavored Honey Bunches of Oats and Maple Bacon Donuts Honey Bunches of Oats. Both are available in extremely limited quantities at select Walmart, Giant Eagle, Woodman's and Riesbeck's stores ($2.98).

Cereal sales have sogged recently, with U.S. sales of hot and cold cereal of $10.5 billion in 2017 down 9 percent since 2012, according to research firm Mintel. Cold cereal, which accounts for 87 percent of sales, has fallen 11 percent.

Still, about nine out of 10 Americans (86 percent) say they've had cold cereal in the last year, Mintel found.

We made 2 new flavors for Cereal Day,
Get 'em quick before they go away!#NationalCerealDay#Brunchpic.twitter.com/mfkK1jIljB

— HoneyBunchesOfOats (@HBOats) March 7, 2019

Many cereal lovers took to social media to celebrate and ruminate about the dish – catch up on hashtag #NationalCerealDay.

Among those dishing about cereal on Twitter was Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, who tweeted that figuring out his five favorite cereals was "harder than trying to figure out the top 4 teams for the College Football Playoff."

Trying to rank the top 5 cereals is harder than trying to figure out the top 4 teams for the College Football Playoff. Been sitting here for 20 minutes having a full blown debate with myself.#NationalCerealDay

— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) March 7, 2019

His ultimate list had Cap'N Crunch's Crunch Berries atop it.

Ok, here's my list. If you don't like it, too bad for you make your own

Crunch Berries
Cinn. Toast Crunch
Frosted Flakes
Lucky Charms
Honey Bunches of Oats
Fruit Loops/Fruity Pebbles
Apple Jacks
Count Chocula/Cocoa Pebbles
Reese's Puffs
Golden Grahams
Smacks/Golden Crisps

— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) March 7, 2019

Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler simply wanted to know what cereals were the favorites of his Twitter followers.

NOBODY:

ME: HEY WHATS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?!?!?!!#NATIONALCEREALDAYpic.twitter.com/OHIz32wpU8

— Steven Tyler (@IamStevenT) March 7, 2019

If you are like me, it's hard to pick a favorite, so I mix four or five different cereals into one mega-mix to start the day.

And it's not just infants and toddlers who chomp on Cheerios throughout the day. More than two in five cereal eaters (43 percent) have it as a non-breakfast snack.

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Thurs., March 7, 2019: National Cereal Day Be Heard Day Crown Roast of Pork Day Nametag Day Plant Power Day (UK) University Mental Health Day (UK) World Book Day (UK) Thursday celebrates the breakfast food that works well as a midnight snack :) In fact, a U.S. study found 56% of millennials eat it as a snack. •Top 3 bestsellers in the US: Honey Nut Cheerios, Cheerios, and Kelloggs Frosted Flakes. •Desserts pretending to be cereals: Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp, Fruity Pebbles, Oreo O's, Reese's Puffs, Fruit Loops, Cap'n Crunch, Cinnamon Toast Crunch. :@foodieproblemz

A post shared by National Day Calendar + Days (@worlddaycalendar) on Mar 6, 2019 at 5:51pm PST

It's also not unusual to have cereal for dinner, if you find yourself too busy to whip up something else. More than eight in 10 (81 percent) who responded to a 2016 YouGov survey said they substituted cereal for post-breakfast meals.

If you just can't get enough cereal, some craft beers have used breakfast food as inspiration for new beers. The most recent: Virginia's Smartmouth Brewing Company recently brewed "Saturday Morning," a limited-edition IPA with marshmallows, inspired by Lucky Charms.

Smartmouth Brewing Company has a new limited-edition IPA made with marshmallows. (Photo: Smartmouth Brewing Company)

Cereal has even inspired Funko even has special limited edition cereal figurines including Cap'n Crunch, Tony the Tiger and Toucan Sam going on sale at its online shop at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT Thursday.

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Funko Shop Exclusive Items: Ad Icons Pocket Pop! & Tees! #NationalCerealDay https://www.funko-shop.com/

A post shared by Funko (@originalfunko) on Mar 7, 2019 at 7:00am PST

Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.