I’ve been flagging catalogs and making lists and flagging more catalogs and surfing the web and making more lists and I finally have narrowed down, what I think is a great line-up of fun and meaningful gift ideas–for each day until the 12th. Now, I believe (technically speaking) that the 12 Days of Christmas begins on the 13th (as in 13+12=25) but that won’t give us enough time — so, I say we start today.
Christmas (at least the secular celebration led by the jolly old man) is for kids and the kid in all of us. This is why I’m dedicating Day 1 to a selection of cool toys from a great catalog (Back to Basics Toys) that specializes in the classics (in other words, the toys from our childhood) and other quality toys. Their tagline is "they do make them like they used to" and I found myself nearly overcome with Christmas morning memories as I thumbed through the pages.
Here are a few of my favorites (that I didn’t purchase — can’t show you those, for obvious reasons)
First introduced in 1886 and sold in the famous Sheperd’s Hardware Store. You put the coin in Sam’s hand and push the button, then watch the bag open and the coin drop. Way cool.
2. The "Original’ Brio Labyrinth
I got mine in the 6th grade and I was class champion too — only we called in Space Tilt. I’ve got to ask my mom if she knows where mine is — great, challenging fun.
3. Bozo Bop Bag
These first appeared in the 1960s and I’m convinced every home has had at least one over the years. This guy definitely falls in the "fun, while it lasts" catagory, but they are so eye-catching unwrapped and waiting by the tree when the kids enter the room — totally worth 15 bucks in my book.
4. Wood Puzzles and Storage/Display Case
I really do think these puzzles are timeless — for as many times as I’ve purged and reorganized our toys and toy closets and toy rooms over the years. Ours have survived and continue to be played with. I’m loving this storage case (think seriously about purchasing it!)
5. and last, but certainly not least on my top five toy picks …
The Snoopy Snow Cone Maker
Right up there with the Easy Bake Oven for all-time favorites. How can you go wrong for twenty bucks, with an endless supply of ice and inexpensive, readily available Kool-Aid packets??
I just can’t think of a better kid-gift — no way.
To help me kick off my list, post your favorite Christmas kid-toy memory. Something you would buy out of pure nostalgia — something you wanted more than anything else, something you got and treasured — what is it. Tell me. If you happen to pick mine, I’ll send YOU happy mail.
The snoopy snow cone machine was the best! I actually bought it for my husband as a birthday gift. We ground that ice until our fingers were sore. It was so hard!!! If you really like 80’s gifts, you may want to check out my website http://www.smellstickers.com
Thanks for the memories!
the 12 days of christmas come after christmas not before. Starting on Christmas Day and ending on Epiphany, the 5th January.
Great site recommendation- I made up a wish list for the grandparents and that puzzle holder is a definite necessity over here. My boys are big puzzlers! Thanks!
loved my lite bright.
I loved my Etch-a-Sketch! I had big dreams of making those cool masterpiecse on the box. But I usually bumped it,accidently, half way through and erased some of the “masterpiece”!
The best part, my daughter asked for one this year! She is sooo getting that one! Thanks for the great gift ideas! Merry Christmas!
A Teddy Ruxpin talking bear
Oh wow. Fashion plates FOR SURE! And Lite Brite…also loved-LOVED- Tinker Toys and Lego Logs. Who didn’t have a Big Wheel? Actually mine was a Green Machine (same thing). I loved my Barbies but my cousins were the ones with the Barbie Mansion (had a moving elevator!) and RV. Very cool memories. OMG! What about Shrinky Dinks?? Loved them.
I NEVER GOT THE EASY BAKE OVEN!!! (Can you tell I’m still a little bitter about that?) ha.ha. Did anyone have “Kiddles”? Sometimes I can still smell them!
I loved my Velvet doll(which was Chrissy’s best friend), Barbies, and Baby Alive! This brought back a lot of childhood memories.
Without hesitation I remembered two dolls from my childhood…my pink polka-dotted Drowsy doll and my Mrs. Beasley doll. Alas, like other readers have already mentioned, my dear Mrs. Beasley had her arm ripped off by a mean little brother! I think Drowsy is still in my dad’s house somewhere.
Stacy, thanks for asking!
“Now, I believe (technically speaking) that the 12 Days of Christmas begins on the 13th (as in 13+12=25) but that won’t give us enough time — so, I say we start today.”
Believe whatever you want. The TWELVE DAYS of Christmas is the RELIGIOUS SEASON (contrary to the “SHOPPING” season) that FOLLOWS the feast day of the Nativity of Jesus Christ.
The Twelfth Night is on January 5th, The final Day of Christmas – The Epiphany
All the yahoos and yeahoos that do it backwards are really annoying – So there!
I must have been really good as I woke up to a Big Wheel, Easy Bake Oven and a Barbies Dream House with the pool, airplane, motorhome…actually, mom was amzed herself when she went to go pickup her layaways…it was an incredible Christmas.
And there she is.. Mrs Beasley… she holds many fond memories..the secrets I shared, the fun we had together. I would have done anything for her and I think she would have done anything for me! I’m totally in my childhood right now.. thanks Stacy!
That’s it, my credit card is smoking hot right now!!
Thanks!!
CD
Ok.. that crazy car totally reminded me of one that I had too!! And do you remember “Big Wheels”! LOVED my Big Wheels!!!
CD
I can’t get beyond the bozo bop bag! OMG.. so many memories.. I never had one as a kid, my aunt did but I loved going over to her house to play with it! WOW.. flashbacks galore right now!.
I’m so buying one right now … thank you!
CD
Etch a sketch
Seriously an etch a sketch!
I would have to say the dolls, Baby Tender Love, still have it,Mrs. Beasley, Raggedy Ann, still have it, that one was from my dad, the Chrissy doll witht the hair that grew and Baby Drowsy, still have her although she doesnt talk very well anymore and she is bald. Thank you so much for the trip back in time I needed it.
The old fisher price record player was a favorite, but my most favorite thing of all my childhood Christmas mornings was a huge four room doll house for my barbies complete with wooden furniture made by my grandpa and decorated by my mother…I come from a family with 12 kids so most of our gifts were hand made, can’t ever replace them with anything I can buy now, but so happy that my kids can now play with them when we visit grammie.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
When I was in grade 2, my dad bought me a brand-new pair of white figure skates for Christmas. I can still remember opening that blue box and how perfectly beautiful they looked. This was in the early 60’s, we lived on a farm and there was no money for extras. He knew how much I longed to skate with the other kids at school and they were like a dream come true for me. This year our one-year-old granddaughter got skates (they are her gift but she’s using them already) from her parents and she loves putting them on and going out on the rink with her dad.
I’m delighted you are doing your 12 Days again! I gave away some lovely things last year, based on your recommendations
OMG…a Lite-Brite….loved having it on at night!
My most vivid memory of Christmas morning is of walking into the living room the year I was almost 4, and seeing a big green Inch Worm in front of the tree. I was so excited! I loved that Inch Worm. I’d buy a new one in a heartbeat.
I loved the Trend scratch and sniff stickers. My mom would take us to the teacher supply store to buy one sheet at a time when we’d been good.
http://www.bubbledog.com/sns/trend.html
One time, I think for Christmas, I received a big bulk pack with 20 different varieties.
My friends and I would write stories illustrated with the stickers, similar to “Little Bunny Follows his Nose”
http://www.amazon.com/Little-Bunny-Follows-Scented-Storybook/dp/0375826440
I still have about half of the stickers from my childhood collection, and today my daughters are writing their own stories and weaving the scented stickers into the plot. They still smell great!
My very favorite was the View Master. I loved my View Master and loved putting the little round film things in to see a story.
Thanks for the post to the Back to Basics place.. I found one there that I’m planning on buying for my son (although I may be playing with it more!).
Linda
Dancerella Doll and Fashion Plates were a couple of my favorites. I had the Snoopy Snow Cone Maker and I loved that also. What a fun thread. Thanks!
Best one of all for me is the Easy Bake Oven, never got it, but always wanted to have it.
Everytime Christmas comes around I get so tempted to buy it just for me.
It brings back so many happy memories.
Marta
oh, and I forgot to mention…..the snow cone maker….my best friend had one. I remember making snow cones when I was about 8 years old!!! Thanksf or the memory trigger!!
I really loved my Cabbage Patch doll, but one of my favorites was my Dolly pops
I’m thinking of the pull toys — specifically the puppy dog with floppy ears that made a clickety clack sound as he moved along the floor. Some kids had a caterpillar, too! There was also that little telephone with the smiling face that rang every time you dialed the numbers! All kinds of happy colors on that!
(which reminds me of the xylophone…uh oh, memory overload!)
I would have to say it was a doll my sister got for christmas. I can’t remember the name but it was a ballerina doll it had a spinning thing on top of its head and you had to pump it like a top. I can still remember begging to play with it.
My favorite Christmas gift wasn’t a toy. When I was about 7 or 8, my older sister went to a local stationary store and bought me little restaurant carbon-copy order pads, check ledger books, library pockets/cards and an assortment of colorful pens to write with. I remember being so excited when I opened that box of pure paper bliss! I played store, restaurant and library to my hearts content. I loved any kind of paper, even back then.
p.s. Margie – I remember the Lemon Twist! and I rocked at it!
I absolutely adored my Suzie Schoolhouse doll. (I think that was her name) she was wearing a plaid jumper and she came with a desk and a chalkboard. She said a few things, too. I loved that doll. I got her when I was in third grade. My mom told me then that I was going to be a teacher and I thought she’d lost it. Guess what? I’m a teacher! ha ha!!!
Mine was the Mrs. Beasley doll, from “family Affair”. I loved that little old lady in her blue polka dot dress. Years later my sister ripped her arm off in some sort of tug-o-war, I was devastated! Luckily, Mom came to the rescue with needle and thread.
without a doubt it was the cabbage patch kid…and not one of the homemade ones my parents lovingly tried to pass off as one…
My favorite toy…LIGHT BRIGHT!! So many fun things to do and endless hours of fun!!!
Well, I never got mine, but let me tell you why – I grew up in the 80’s and my brother and I would sit down right after Thanksgiving and use a big marker ( a different color for each of us, so mom would know) to circle what we wanted out of the gigantic Sears catalog. Each year, I would turn to the double page spread with the wooden doll house and accessories, but never circle it, because I knew it was too expensive. Fast forward to last Christmas, talking with my mom in Hobby Lobby at an after Christmas sale. They have a huge, elaborate dollhouse on clearance right up front in the store. I begin to wax poetic about how I had always wanted one of those. My mother looks at me and says, ” You never asked for one – I longed to buy you one but I thought you wouldn’t like it, so I never did!!” So know she knows! I have two small daughters now, and she has promised that once they are old enough, they will have a big, fancy doll house!
Stacy,
Mine was a toss up between Easy Bake Oven, Barbies and a miniature sewing machine.
margie r
Roller skates would have to be one of my favs. I remember spending countless hours roller skating everywhere! My mum said I couldn’t have them because they couldn’t afford them but my Nana and Pa bought them for me for Christmas and I thought I was so hip and cool! Fancy roller skating around in very short shorts and a t shirt, actually I remember even skating around in a dress. Where was the safety! Actually may list of very favourite christmas presents is long, they bring back so many different memories, maybe I am going to have to find sometime to actually scrapbook about them! My mum often took photos of all our christmas presents layed out! Wish I didn’t have to finish school reports right now or else I think I would be scrapbook right NOW!
Janine
Melbourne Australia
Mine was my fashion plates-and my Little House book set that I am now reading to my daughter-I heart those books
I loved my Easy Bake oven. Many cakes were made in that thing.. I do have to say, I remember the Snoopy Snow Cone toy very well. Always wanted one, my mom thought it was junk, so I was never privy to one. Thinking about it for my family…
Definitely my first Cabbage Patch Doll! I also loved getting LightBright. But I, too, am partial to my Easy Bake Oven! Merry Christmas! Tracy V.
I grew up with cousins all around, and I remember playing tinker toys & lincoln logs the most! (Besides making forts out of card tables and blankets and roller skating outside- that is!) haha
love, love, love candy land and chutes and ladders games. brings back memories of playing these for hours with my gram & my cousins. love to buy these for gifts, too.
most nostalgic would be my rocking horse. my santa(my dad) built it in our spare bedroom after i was in bed on christmas eve… only to find out it didn’t fit through the door! he had to take it apart and reassemble it in the living room! poor guy- but so worth it on christmas morning…
my daughter’s santa(my husband) had to get her a rocking horse this year… too sweet.
Chatty Cathy, of course!!!
But…I also loved my Barbie bedroom set with the canopy bed and pink linens and my metal doll house (2 stories high) with the fake brick painted on the front!!!
my lite brite!