Your most memorable Christmas toys

[homestead]

My older brother and I both got a daisy model 1894 spittin’ image bb gun when I was in 3rd or 4th grade. We lived out in the country and boy did we have fun with them.
No I didn't shoot my eye out.

 

[Gonz]

Raleigh Chopper

 

[skyking1]

My brother had the 10 speed version of that bike, and it got handed down to me. I think it was blue.
I can't put a brand on it, but dad got these pump guns that shot ping pong balls. They did not last long but it was all about the Christmas play. We scrambled around recycling the ammo and giggling madly.

 

[CardsFan]

Etch A Sketch. And also my Rock’Em Sock’Em Robots. The best.

Edited to add: Lincoln Logs and an erector set.

Coincidentally, the History Channel has a series: The Toys That Built America. Both Etch a Sketch and Rock em Sock em have been featured in recent episodes. Interesting episodes.

 

[EarlyandLate]

By the early 1960's I already had a crystal radio (rocket-shaped) and a little pocket-sized 2 transistor radio powered by a 9 volt battery. A neighbor's father had a Zenith Transoceanic shortwave radio that fascinated me and so I asked for a shortwave radio for my own. I was expecting a Japanese device but lo and behold, Christmas morning, I opened out a General Electric 8 transistor 3 band (AM, SW1 and SW2) radio made in Utica, New York. It was great fun listening to broadcasts from Europe on the shortwave bands late at night. Incredibly, I still have the radio and it still works! Here's an old ad for the exact radio: https://www.reddit.com/media?url=ht...pg?s=ee299bdfeb9dc00c4343858e9b301a3c52e1da9e

My father and I built a Heathkit shortwave radio. The kind with vacuum tubes! It still works.

 

[Dawg52]

Tudor Electric Football is at the top of my list. My younger brother and I kept that set going for probably 7-8 years. After the first year we would get additional teams. We never got the prepainted teams - the plain ones were cheaper. We would paint them ourselves.

It was among the first electrical repair I recall performing. It stopped working, and we would tap it with our fingers to keep it going. I think I was 12 when I learned enough to open up the switch component and find the problem - broken wire. Fixing that and getting it working again was one of the childhood "milestones" for me.

Same. I was the most popular kid on the block.

 

[misanman]

Here are the ones I remember most:

Lionell train set - still runs and DW is encouraging me to set it up for this Christmas
Real steam engine - had load of fun with this but probably would be banned these days
Daisy BB gun
Erector set - I think the remaining pieces of this are in the basement
Chemistry set
Tinker Toys - simple, but I played with these for years
Roadmaster bicycle - rode this for years, many miles, ticket to freedom

 

[ncbill]

Giant Tinker Toys

Giant Tinkertoys from the 1970s

Came with wheels...some of the round ones had bearings.

Built a cart using the above and rode it down the hill.

Wish they had still been available when my kids were young.

My 1970s Erector Set was not nearly as nice as the pics posted.

Stamped steel, obviously made as cheaply as possible...unfinished edges, so plenty of cuts.

 

[Badger]

Lincoln Logs
Lionel Trains
The Visible Man
Gilbert Chemistry Set
Oil paints, canvas and easel
Guitar (Sears) tore my hands up but I taught myself

Cheers!

 

[Amethyst]

I wanted "boy's" toys, but never got them, partly because my parents were old-fashioned, partly because those toys cost a lot (or so I was told). I wasn't at all tomboyish; I was creative. I liked cars, trucks, chemistry sets, and building toys, because you could do things with them that weren't necessarily in the instruction book. Alas, Santa never left these for me.

Meanwhile, I liked to look at dolls, but never got the point of playing with them. What could you do with Barbie, except put different clothes on her? So my mom compromised with art supplies, a perfume-making set, a candle-dipping set, a fiber optic building set called "Astro Lite" (which I wish I still had) and, always, books.

I was a tomboy, and one of the most memorable toys I got for Christmas was a Class A racing set, the one with the cars powered by mainsprings that you wound up with a "Pitstop" winder.

Another was a set of rollerskates, the kind with metal wheels that you strapped on to your shoes. Dad told me to watch out with them, they'd go like greased lightening.

I was the only girl I knew who never requested or received anything Barbie.

What great toys do you remember getting for Christmas?

 

[CincyDave]

Slot car set
Creepy Crawlers
Incredible Edibles
Battling Tops - We would play for hours on end. Finally wore the starting gates out. Much late in life, found one at a garage sale and my kids loved it as much as I did.

 

[MTB4me]

So many good memories of toys for Christmas. For me, it was anything to build, construct, wire, what-have-you. In no particular order:
- Slotcar set
- Lionel train set
- HO train set
- Erector set
- Girders and panel set

Yeah, I eventually became an electrical engineer. And I still race slotcars to this day, including an annual race in Ferndale, CA, of all places.

Oh, and I almost forgot. Never got Legos, though I've always loved playing with them. I had an older brother and sisters who had them...and left them on the floor...and parents stepped on them barefoot in the dark...I got no Legos. :-(

Thanks for the memories!

 

[latexman]

One Christmas my 2 brothers and I got a Honda Mini Trail (Z50A).

I recall getting a Gyroscope one year that I played with a long time.

 

[athena53]

Creepy Crawlers
Incredible Edibles

Ah, I remember those! The Creepy Crawlers were made by heating up a liquid plastic mixture in a mold. Some of those units also allowed you to create vacuum-molded items by heating up a plastic sheet, flipping it over onto a mold and pumping it to remove the air. Given the risks of fire (overheating the plastic sheet), burns and the fumes from the plastic, I doubt they could ever sell something like that now.

Interesting how many of the items people remember are for making and building things. I particularly liked Tinkertoys and Lincoln Logs.

I wanted "boy's" toys, but never got them, partly because my parents were old-fashioned, partly because those toys cost a lot (or so I was told). I wasn't at all tomboyish; I was creative.

I was in a toy store recently and noticed there's still some segregation going on- everything pink, purple and doll-related in one section, construction stuff and cars and trucks in another.

Meanwhile, I liked to look at dolls, but never got the point of playing with them. What could you do with Barbie, except put different clothes on her?

My sister and I spent tons of time making clothes for them. In medical school her stitching techniques were so good they suggested she might want to specialize in surgery! (She became an OB/Gyn.)

 

[Accidental Retiree]

Ah, I remember those! The Creepy Crawlers were made by heating up a liquid plastic mixture in a mold. Some of those units also allowed you to create vacuum-molded items by heating up a plastic sheet, flipping it over onto a mold and pumping it to remove the air. Given the risks of fire (overheating the plastic sheet), burns and the fumes from the plastic, I doubt they could ever sell something like that now.

Interesting how many of the items people remember are for making and building things. I particularly liked Tinkertoys and Lincoln Logs.



I was in a toy store recently and noticed there's still some segregation going on- everything pink, purple and doll-related in one section, construction stuff and cars and trucks in another.



My sister and I spent tons of time making clothes for them. In medical school her stitching techniques were so good they suggested she might want to specialize in surgery! (She became an OB/Gyn.)

Girls in the neighborhood “played Barbies” together, choosing names for our dolls—“Kathleen King” was one choice, deemed very elegant in small town south Texas—swapping outfits for various social events, having conversations about these events, and things like that.

It was always an exciting day when a girl had a birthday and got a new outfit or two for her Barbie from the small catalogs that came with dolls. It was especially nice when girls would share these new outfits with others in the group.

Ages of the girls in the neighborhood ranged from about 5 to 12. I think the interaction probably did good things for our imaginations and language development.

And, looking back, that kind of doll play probably made for a good balance with all the baby doll mothering I did. At one time I had about 20 baby dolls with more fanciful names like Paige and Payton and Vanessa, and I was pretty sure I also wanted 20 children, preferably 10 sets of twins. Egads.

So, yeah, I think I needed those Barbies! I don’t have children, but I still have several Barbies and dolls in her family.

 

[Walt34]

Real steam engine - had load of fun with this but probably would be banned these days

Oh, no they're not. I had one too and wore it out (a bearing failed and I never could find a replacement). Not sure of the brand but the Wilesco stationary ones look a lot like it.

Here are some sources (be prepared for some sticker shock):

https://www.ministeam.com/category/Steam-Engine-Kits

https://www.wilesco.de/en/

https://www.ministeam.com/category/Wilesco-Stationary-Steam-Engines

https://www.amazon.com/Wilesco-D18-Steam-Engine-Generator/dp/B0000WPAH6

 

[MichaelB]

My oldest and fondest memory of Christmas was the Lionel train set my father would set up around the tree. It was a simple oval track with a diverting section to add and unhook cars. The locomotive made white smoke and it had a passenger car, a coal car, a missile car that shot a missile, a log carrier car and a caboose. It was loads of fun and we played with it for hours. I still have it, cars and track.

I also have a Lionel train set my father’s uncles gave him when he was a young boy. The locomotive is enormous and very heavy and the track is big. I can’t imagine setting up inside a house.

Both sets need work, which I’ll get around to one day.

 

[Lawrencewendall]

BB Gun
Slot racer until the cat walked all over it and broke it in a week

 

[O2Bfree]

Girls in the neighborhood “played Barbies” together, choosing names for our dolls—“Kathleen King” was one choice, deemed very elegant in small town south Texas—swapping outfits for various social events, having conversations about these events, and things like that.

My best friend and I collected the plastic Noah's Arc animals that Arco gas station gave out. We'd use bricks and other things from around our yards to build little resorts where the animals would have various adventures.

Now that I think about it, it seems strange that a gas station would give out toys related to religious beliefs. But apparently they wanted kids to bug their parents about stopping at Arco, and came up with the ark scheme as a play on their name. Pretty sure that wouldn't fly today!

 

[Koolau]

Coincidentally, the History Channel has a series: The Toys That Built America. Both Etch a Sketch and Rock em Sock em have been featured in recent episodes. Interesting episodes.

Heh, heh, Walter White can show you an amazing use of an Etch a Sketch. What a great episode.

 

[Koolau]

My oldest and fondest memory of Christmas was the Lionel train set my father would set up around the tree. It was a simple oval track with a diverting section to add and unhook cars. The locomotive made white smoke and it had a passenger car, a coal car, a missile car that shot a missile, a log carrier car and a caboose. It was loads of fun and we played with it for hours. I still have it, cars and track.

I also have a Lionel train set my father’s uncles gave him when he was a young boy. The locomotive is enormous and very heavy and the track is big. I can’t imagine setting up inside a house.

Both sets need work, which I’ll get around to one day.

Model trains. A great toy. Just ask Gomez Addams.

 

[ERD50]

...
Real steam engine - had load of fun with this but probably would be banned these days
...

Oh, no they're not. I had one too and wore it out (a bearing failed and I never could find a replacement). Not sure of the brand but the Wilesco stationary ones look a lot like it.

Here are some sources (be prepared for some sticker shock):

https://www.ministeam.com/category/Steam-Engine-Kits

https://www.wilesco.de/en/

https://www.ministeam.com/category/Wilesco-Stationary-Steam-Engines

https://www.amazon.com/Wilesco-D18-Steam-Engine-Generator/dp/B0000WPAH6

We had one around the house, was my Dad's when he was a kid. We would fire it up once in a while, not sure what happened to it. Ran on an alcohol burner - looks exactly like this one (I saw others that were slightly different). I don't recall a name plate on it though.

But same cast legs, all in one, same glass water sight, whistle, valve, (the one in video is missing the governor, but it was fake).

https://www.antiquetoys.com/product/weeden-steam-engine-for-sale-1920s/?v=7516fd43adaa

-ERD50

 

[nafddur1]

I got tons of these slot car sets all through the 60's, loved them all, and still have most pf them.

 

[ERD50]

Model trains. A great toy. Just ask Gomez Addams. ...

I grew up with a real nice Lionel Train set, early 1950's model, all die cast body on the loco, a real precision piece - gears and the push rods and everything moved smooth as silk. Smoke generator and a REAL whistle (a motor ran a fan that blew the whistle), spot light car, electromagnetic decoupler, a siding and switches, a beacon tower, working crossing gate, all very cool.

But it wasn't a Christmas gift to me, or I was just too young to know. There was a picture of the set, I was a few months old, my brother ~ 4 years old, with the uncles all on the floor playing with it!

Turns out a family member still had it a few years ago, I figured it was gone by now. I decided I didn't really want it, I don't have room to set it up, and I have my FILs old tin-plate Lionel from 1930's that I do set up around the tree, and an N-gauge layout that I haven't run in decades. I told him, find a club near you and get it in the hands of someone who would appreciate it. But I did some research on it, and it sure was tempting...

From my response:

that 2056 loco was only produced in 1952. So either old stock, or my Dad bought it used in 1954-55?

https://www.tandem-associates.com/lionel/lionel_trains_2056_loco.htm

Couldn't find anything on the original price of these things, similar/lesser were maybe $60, so this with the transformer and cars maybe ~ $100? But that would be $1,000 today!

-ERD50

 

[GrayHare]

Someone gave me a small Lost In Space robot. I watched the show a bit but it wasn't high on my list. I think even as a kid it was too camp for my taste. The Johnny Williams score, however, might be the best one he did for TV.