What gifts do you remember (childhood)?

[MrsJonesAndMe]

I have few memories of presents specifically:

• a barbie aged about 6 best thing ever
• a Snoopy handbag from granny, was his little house shaped with him on the top
• a bike at around 10

Yours??

I only remember the wrong gifts. My parents are terrible for never getting it quite right.
Think Barrie set, shower clothes etc when you are just past the age of wanting them, a bike that was fold up and more suited to an old lady.

Best one was a barking dog from my cousin- one of the battery ones that walked, barked and flipped over.

I do remember making Ready Brek for Baby Alive!!
And Pippi Longstocking books!! Brilliant!
And after Tiny Tears, the next Christmas I got Teen Tiny Tears. And then came Teen Weeny Tiny Tears! What a marketing racket!!

Barri- barbie

My first computer...an amstrad with a green monitor
A massive wooden dolls house. It was all open plan with dodgy wall paper but it had working lights.
A 2 way cinderella flip doll which had her in her rags one way and her ball gown the other.
An action man set when my dm finally got the hint.

I remember getting a Secret Keypers, it was a snail (I think) and you could open the shell with a key that it came with.

Also remember lusting after a Little Miss Make Up, I was so excited on Christmas morning. It came with a little cloth and if you rubbed warm water on her face her make up would appear, and cold water would make it disappear. Or vice versa!

That's the only thing I remember getting!! I don't know why they don't bring out those Keypers things again - my girls would love them!!

I particularly remember the year I got Monopoly. I hadn't particularly wanted it or even known what it was. But I honestly thought I was in PARADISE to see it because Santa had chosen it just for me and I can still remember seeing the money notes inside all perfect and crisp and colourful. (Maybe it was the obvious NEW-ness that I was going crazy for, which makes me wonder if many other gifts were not actually new, money was tight!)
The sheer memory of seeing it brings me right back, almost brings tears to my eyes!
I hope my children can know such excitement and it kind of inspires me to believe it's not just the price tag that counts, it's just the magic of Santa.

My playstation one 😍
Also playstation 2 and Gameboy colour

Still a gamer now!

This Lego station was my first ever Lego set: a 5th birthday present from my grandparents, and it must have cost quite a bit in 1985. The detail on it was amazing. Not visible in the picture, but it had a little telephone with a dial, a post box with a letter to put into it, suitcases that opened, chair in the signal box that swivelled, and lots of German place names visible on the timetable. It was my first proper Lego model, unlike the big boxes of it we had at school.

A desk
Wooden stables with horses, sawdust and hay - it wasn't ready until January so I had to wait (probably got extra presents!)
Video player - it didn't work when we tried to use it on Xmas day...and every Xmas after that my aunty was a bit obsessed about making sure stuff was working

White roller boots with pink and green stripes.

A Barbie post office.

Windy make up counter.

Fashion wheel.

A couple of books that I still have today, loved them so much.

Sindy make up counter!

Barbie crystal carriage. I'd have been about 7 I think. I remember writing to Father Christmas to ask for it too!

My favourite presents remembered are quite strange considering the lovely bigger things I had but an aunt gave me a small torch which I thought was brilliant, another gave me a China money box in the shape of a snail which I kept for years and years (received at about 8 and kept until left home) and an encylopedia which I read in bed night after night, it was about the ‘world’ nature, animals etc.

Apart from that a record player one year.

Oh and a glass jar with a cork stopper, filled with those little bath pearls. They were all different shapes- animals, a tree, a flower.... I loved them, I was careful to only use one very occasionally so they lasted me ages. I still have the jar!

A Petite toy typewriter when I was about 8. I vividly remember my mum telling me off when I was trying to type at the dining table while Christmas dinner was being served.

I always wanted a Mr Frosty but never got one

Also when I was about 6 I got the Avon Little Blossom perfume (I've still got the bottle) and the nail varnish, which washed off. I thought I was so grown up!

A keyboard where the demo was whams wake me up before you go go.

One year i got some reebok jogging bottoms some adidas tracksuit bottoms and a leather jacket. It blew me away as i was old enough to know santa wasnt real and how much all those things cost and felt very special that dps had managed to get them ALL for me.

My absolute favourite toy, I must have been 4 when I got it. Hope the photo works. Also had a rabbit toy that cried real tears (can’t remember what it was called).

I’ve remembered more and I still have them all, my DM has tried to pass them on to my DD’s but I’m having none of it!

• A handmade, by my grandad, dolls house. It’s has off cuts of their carpet
• A tiny tears that gave me nightmares and had to ‘sleep’ elsewhere.
• Cabbage patch kids - one large one and one of the ‘baby’ ones, it still faintly smells of talcum powder

My dad was in the Navy and when I was 6 he was on a tour of the Far East over Christmas. We spent that Christmas at his parents. He had sent presents there. I must have had other things but the one thing I remember is a toy monkey. To my childlike mind it was incredibly realistic. It had cream fur, a plastic face, felt paws and a red collar. The head could be turned and if you squeezed him he squeaked.

When we went to church on Christmas morning I desperately wanted to take him. Granny was worried that I would make him squeak so suggested I took him in a carrier bag. I was quite amenable but remember the noise of the bag rustling every time I checked he was still ok!

That monkey has always been one of my most treasured possessions. It now resides in a display case along with lots of other vintage toys.

A cardboard sweet shop with tiny jars of seeets (like 100s and thousands). We got one each Xmas for several years. We lived abroad so my mum must have got them when on leave in the UK and carried them out in luggage. I remember a mini baking set like child sized rolling pin and so on one year after I’d asked for one. I remember being amazed that Santa had found one! Giant blue space hopper. And when a young teen a discman. We were never allowed game boy/ type stuff so v surprised my parents got us a discman each.

• Toy farm for Christmas when I was 4.
• A copy of Just So Stories from my godfather for my birthday.
• a silver necklace with little stars and bells for Christmas when I was 7, from my godmother. I still wear it round Christmas.
• a silver bracelet from my other godmother when I was about 9. I still have it, though it's broken and can't be worn unless I get it fixed one day.
• blue corduroy knickerbocker for my 12th birthday.
• An alarm clock radio for my 13th birthday. It finally died after about 31 years, and I was quite sad about it.
• A ghetto blaster with tape-to-tape recorder for my 15th birthday.

@Helpmeltb Good for your Aunty, making sure stuff was working in time for Christmas. A common problem used to be batteries not being included with that shiny new toy, or a plug not being on that new ghetto-blaster, and then there would be no shops open to buy them for several days!

There was a time when my parents bought me a camera, which was toy-like and brightly coloured, but when they helped me put film in it, they realised it didn't work. So they returned it and took me shopping for a more "adult" camera, which I loved.

These are all great.

Little weep at the thought of the monkey hormonal Must have meant a lot to you hairbrush

My first walkman with a NOW cassette. I loved that so much! I also have good memories of a big pink Barbie van, a V tech computer, and a tamogotchi.