These could be things they have asked for in their stockings, such as paper clips, or what they wish would happen to them.
I really wanted compasses for drawing circles with, it so much more sophisticated than drawing round something.
As a child I was curious to spend a night in prison or a police cell, as happened in stories such as The Tinder Box. (Fortunately, I never did anything to make it into a reality: the nearest I got to it was spending a few minutes in a custody van cell, when a crown court had an open day.)