Toys Discussions

As long as I had some GI Joes and Hot Wheels I was pretty set. There are toys I did get that I am still kicking myself for not keeping.

We weren't much above the poverty line but there was a huge, overgrown field behind us and no toys were needed to play all day. A stick for a rifle or a bucket to carry water in to make mud and we were occupied. 

I love that commercial where the guys hands the kid a cardboard truck and takes the fancy one away. Back when I was young, a cardboard truck would have been just fine. Our children are SPOILED!

I never recieved a toy horse(but I had an "Inch bug"-hopper),a Jacob's Ladder,and I don't really recall missing anything else.

I lived in a dysfuntional family and foster families so toys weren't really my thing when there would be a "service" due after recieving it.

Books and learning was my play. Wondering about things that Shakespeare might say of my involuntary circumstances,delving into Plato and aristole and relating myself luckier than the Holocaust victims and survivors at least.

At one point I was told that I was too old for toys any more---I was seven.

My adoptive mother had put most of our toys in the attic so we had to sneak to play with them.  I still can't tell if she wanted to ensure we would play extra quiet trying not to get caught.

Now I love toys!!!! I go shopping sometimes and think I'm buying my grandchild or daughters and son toys and I end up holding onto it for a while after purchasing it.I end up playing with it first---almost always.

I have to explore new toys and learn all the functions and features of them---unless they don't interest me at all.

"Toys, toys, toys in the attic(Aerosmith)......TToni9/Pauline@hubpages

I ALWAYS wanted a hot wheels car and a barbie house. Some of my friends had BOTH, which completely blew me out of the water! I was so jealous. They were able to ride around in their nice little car while I had to use my hot pink scotter (foot powered) to get anywhere.

Pssh. My parents were torturers! ;-)

I'm pretty sure there were many toys that I wanted when I was a child, but I can't remember too many of them. 

Of the ones I do remember wanting, the ones I wanted the most but never got were GI Joes, probably, because they were pretty pricey, had so many accessories, and my bedroom was fairly small.

Funny because every year at Christmas time my sister and I always talk about this.  For years I wanted an Easy Bake Oven but every year they were sold out.  I never thought to ask my parents to get me one for my birthday which was in the spring so every year I waited patiently for Christmas only to be disappointed.

I have a niece that will be 12 next month and about 2 or 3 years ago we went all out and got her an Easy Bake Oven with tons of prepackaged desserts, baking goodies, pans, etc.  Then my sister, niece and I spent an entire day baking cookies, brownies and cupcakes.

Once I hit my preteen years I only wanted clothes so it was easy to shop for me if my parents could find styles in sizes small enough to fit me.

Now I just enjoy getting greeting cards and every thing else is just icing on the cake :+)

Thanks for ya'll's comments ~!  A friend and I also had G.I. Joes and regular plastic Army men...one day we decided to take a lighter to the plastic Army men and re-sort different heads on different bodies.  I still have the burn scar near my knee to prove it. 

Then another friend and I had the EZ Bake oven, I think she had it actually.  Somehow we dismantled the thing because we couldn't figure out how a dumb lightbulb could cook food. 

I also had an Etch-A-Sketch and dropped it accidently/on purpose on the sidewalk to see what the liquid was inside.  I could swear it was mercury because we could NOT pick it up with our fingers, we had to use our tongues~! 

Crazy kidZ we were/are~!

Actually, when Mr. Microphone came out, I was already on-the-air for real...but I STILL wanted the darn thing~! 

I loved electrical and electronic things when I was a kid, even at 5 years old. For years, I wanted an electronic experimenters kit, one that let you easily build different gizmos and test them. I got one when I was about 8 but the first thing I tried (a radio receiver) didn't work well. My parents took it back to the store and I never got another. I really wanted to keep that thing, too.

--Bob

I always wanted the Barbie Dream House but never got it.

I thought the Ouija board was really neat but never got it.

I think I had everything Barbie.  My dreamhouse was yellow and orange.  Hmm...when did she become all about pink and purple!  I even had the gymnastics center and a swimming pool. 

You should have lived in my neighborhood and your Barbie could have visited in my Dreamhouse :+)

Nancy44 said…

one day we decided to take a lighter to the plastic Army men and re-sort different heads on different bodies.  I still have the burn scar near my knee to prove it. 

That's just one step away from torturing bugs there, Nancy!

We tied firecrackers to them or just set them on fire. My favorite was the dead guy anyway. I also used to chew them like gum and use the guns to pick my teeth clean. Those plastic army men saved me some trips to the dentist.

Remember the way the germans were grey but in exactly the same poses? Ripoff.

That's what ultimately happened to most of my toys - they got set on fire in the fireplace when the family left me to tend the fire. Oh the Humanity!!!

 

I didn't get lots of toys I wanted. I too wanted a Mr, Microphone. lol. I still DO! I also wanted an Easy Bake Oven and finally got one for myself when I was around 20. Haha. And I realized it really wasn't that much fun at all. I mean a light bulb to make a little cake? I guess the time had passed for that toy.

I always wanted a very cool doll house. I got an aluminum one with the stuff already on the walls printed on and I made do but I wanted a doll house with furniture I could choose and little lights and the whole shebang. My parents could never afford it. I still have the aluminum one up in the attic in the house we will be selling that I grew up in. I think I'll keep it. No idea why...

So cool you guys~!  I loved reading each and every one of your posts.  I think if you have toys from "back then" still, try to hang onto them...not for the monetary value, just for the memories.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who set fire to stuff ;)

We had a Ouija board, my mom, who was deeply religious at the time, ironically bought one for us.  I wish I still had it~!

When my dad was alive, I was his "boy", so he made sure I had TONS of Matchbox cars, the real metal ones, and other "boy" stuff.  I didn't have a Barbie, I had a Midge.  I felt like she was the underdog, so I did get her for xmas one year.  I have a Barbie now though, I bought one about 5 years ago and she has very cool outfits ;) {waving to Patty here}

My dad passed when I was 7.  His Uncle Oliver was so sad and felt sorry for us, I'm the oldest.  He bought us TONS of toys I remember...he was crying so hard when he gave them to us. Because of that, one thing my mom did since there were 3 of us girls, (I have a 1/2 brother too) she would take 1/2 our toys and store them away for 6 months.  Then after that time passed, she would switch our toys out.  It always felt like we got new stuff~!  

I remember also wanting the Barbie Fashion Game, I think that's what it was called.  But funds were limited so I took an old checker board, cut out outfits from magazines, used dice and tokens from my Monopoly game and made one on the back of that checker board. 

And like Patty said, I still want the dang Mr. Microphone.  I think I'll go to eBay and Amazon to see if I can get it cheaper than $14.88 LOL

I never got my Ken Doll!!! My mom ordered me one for Christmas when I was 8 and I never got him....EVER! It just didn't come in the mail and she never bought me another one.... I also wanted a Raggedy Ann Doll and I got Raggedy Andy. :((

This one really rang a bell!  I got a lot of nice toys and stuff when I was a little kid but my father absolutely refused to get me the Easy Bake Oven of my dreams.  In those days, the heat for baking was generated by a light bulb in the oven and my Dad was possessed of the notion that either I or one of my little playmates would burn our hands on the hot light bulb. 

Whether he was right or not, I never see an Easy Bake Oven in a catalog or store without a pang of regret.  It is silly, I know, because my Mom died when I was a little girl and I was baking in a real oven by the time I was in the Seventh Grade but go figure, I still feel wistful about the Easy Bake thing.

PattyTherre said…

I didn't get lots of toys I wanted. I too wanted a Mr, Microphone. lol. I still DO! I also wanted an Easy Bake Oven and finally got one for myself when I was around 20. Haha. And I realized it really wasn't that much fun at all. I mean a light bulb to make a little cake? I guess the time had passed for that toy.

I always wanted a very cool doll house. I got an aluminum one with the stuff already on the walls printed on and I made do but I wanted a doll house with furniture I could choose and little lights and the whole shebang. My parents could never afford it. I still have the aluminum one up in the attic in the house we will be selling that I grew up in. I think I'll keep it. No idea why...

---

I got lucky in the doll house department.  Back in the 40's (!) new toys were hard to find because of war shortages so my auntie got someone's old doll house that they didn't want anymore and worked hours on it, painting and papering, furnishing it bit by bit.  The house was made of solid wood and it was really nice.  Weighed a ton and took up some space but I loved it.  And the roof was hinged so you could open the "attic" and store all the stuff in there if you wanted.  I loved, loved, LOVED my doll house. 

Thanks for the memory, Patty.  Wish we could have played with it together.

It (the doll house) wasn't wired for lighting though.

I wanted a football and was so impressed that Santa knew that secret. Then, I found out that the football was for my brother and that I got a Barbie car that was not really a Barbie car - just a big plastic one. Oh well. Barbie went trailblazing with G.I. Joe, and she somehow broke her leg off. It was Midge actually, and she had bendy knees before her tragic accident.

Nancy44 said…

So cool you guys~!  I loved reading each and every one of your posts.  I think if you have toys from "back then" still, try to hang onto them...not for the monetary value, just for the memories.

I got a long-legged, long-eared purple stuffed animal rabbit for Easter in 1969. I named him "Floppy". Floppy went out to play whenever I did for a few years until I got too old to get away with it. There are pictures of that hapless, sad-eyed doll all up and down the neighborhood from way back then.

Floppy has retired and lives out in the country now, hanging out with his old friends the one-eyed tiger and the happy black ducky. How he survived my reckless childhood I will never know!

Toys are magical portals to distant pasts. If your children have favorite toys or dolls you should definitely set them aside when they've outgrown them. They'll have new value later in life.  

Hello! I have always wanted a trampoline but never got it. My parents didn't think it was a "wise toy". Anyways, I have one in the basement right now ready to be opened up on Christmas. I got it for my 3 children but really, me too!  :) Lol... The kid in us never dies....   :) I'm excited too much, I can't wait. I know it's down there and it's killing me not to bring it out!

All the toys I wanted as a kid, somehow have made a comeback as my daughter grew up, so I bought them "for her"  and got to play with them. I really wanted some Barbie things (doll house, dog, etc.) and the Easy Bake oven. There was tons of other things I can't even remember now, but I don't have to stew about it anymore, because I finally got them! Having a daughter solved the problem. Here's the funny part: my daughter is now 18 and now I have a 4-year-old son. I am finding I don't really like boy toys. Oh, well, I'm still learning...never thought I would be able to name the Transformers....and even they were popular when I was a kid, and here they are having a comeback!

The one toy I remember that I wanted but never ever got was an Easy Bake oven. My parents thought they were doing me a favor w/ the Suzie Homemaker oven because it was bigger but I really wanted the Easy Bake oven!

I too wanted the Barbie Dream house one year but never got it. I did however get the Barbie Runway along w/ all the Suzie Homemaker stuff: Oven, Vanity, and how can I ever forget the Beautiful Chrissy Doll. We were fortunate that a friend of my parents owned Bargain Town a Toy Store so we pretty much got everything we wanted at discount prices.

"Toys are magical portals to distant pasts. If your children have favorite toys or dolls you should definitely set them aside when they've outgrown them. They'll have new value later in life. "

Beautiful thought and great advice.

Great advice, Meri.

It seems that most everyone wanted an Easy Bake Oven when they were kids!! That's crazy how many have said EBO. 

I too wanted an Easy Bake Oven!  I also wanted the grocery cart filled with all the plastic food and a McDonald's cash register with plastic McDonald's food -all those items should have given off a signal as to the type of I would be - a major foodie :)

I also really wanted one of those motorized Barbie cars that you could actually sit in and drive around.

The barbie cars.. Ahh, that's a good one. I had one. Well, I had one for a week to ride around in and then my older brother (Major jerk now) decided to take it apart. He wanted to see how it worked. Now, let me mention that he had the boys jeep. Why did he take mine apart? So, if he couldn't put it back together he still had his.

To this day, I still hold that against him since he is so mean! lol

I too wanted an Easy Bake Oven!  I also wanted the grocery cart filled with all the plastic food and a McDonald's cash register with plastic McDonald's food -all those items should have given off a signal as to the type of I would be - a major foodie :)

I really wanted one of those motorized Barbie cars that you could actually sit in and drive around.

I feel honored that so many wanted the Easy Bake Oven because now I don't feel like I was deprived ;+)  I had the McD's cash register and restaurant.  I remember I couldn't get the bell to work on one of them and my brother offered to "fix it."  He took a hammer and banged on a few things and then several things didn't function.

I never wanted a Barbie Jeep.  I was so in love with my Inch Worm.  I was still riding my Inch Worm thru the neighborhood while my brothers and their friends were riding the Big Wheels.  Anyone remember the Big Wheels and Inch Worms?

GigiandAdonai said…

I too wanted an Easy Bake Oven!  I also wanted the grocery cart filled with all the plastic food and a McDonald's cash register with plastic McDonald's food -all those items should have given off a signal as to the type of I would be - a major foodie :)

I really wanted one of those motorized Barbie cars that you could actually sit in and drive around.

I feel honored that so many wanted the Easy Bake Oven because now I don't feel like I was deprived ;+)  I had the McD's cash register and restaurant.  I remember I couldn't get the bell to work on one of them and my brother offered to "fix it."  He took a hammer and banged on a few things and then several things didn't function.

I never wanted a Barbie Jeep.  I was so in love with my Inch Worm.  I was still riding my Inch Worm thru the neighborhood while my brothers and their friends were riding the Big Wheels.  Anyone remember the Big Wheels and Inch Worms?

---

Oh man, you had my McDonald's cash register and food?  I'm so jealous!  :) 

I (think) I know what Big Wheels are, but I have never heard of an Inch Worm!

Oh man, you had my McDonald's cash register and food?  I'm so jealous!  :) 

I (think) I know what Big Wheels are, but I have never heard of an Inch Worm!

Isn't it funny that the girl who doesn't care much about food would want the Easy Bake Oven AND have both the McD's toys? :+)

The Inch Worm was a riding toy that looked like a green worm with a cute yellow face made by Radio Flyer.  It had several humps and bumps and you sat on one in the middle that had a seat on it and as you moved it would go up and down.  I think it was intended for ages around 4 and up.  I was extremely small so like I said, when my older brothers were riding their Big Wheels I was still riding my Inch Worm.  I really think I had that thing until at least the 4th or 5th grade.  I loved my Inch Worm so much that I would beg my parents to let me bring it inside.  So, my Daddy would let me put it in the hall going to the children's bedrooms. 

Go to amazon.com or target.com and look up the Radio Flyer Inch Worm.  It's been "souped" up a little thru the years but that is what I had.  My seat wasn't as fancy as the newer model and like I said, my head was bright yellow.  They are very durable and I guess looking at the price and the manufacturer you can see why.  My Dad was a big advocate for Radio Flyer wagons and toys.