The most remembered present you received as a child

[ahunf]

Over 30 years ago my aunt. (Who died a couple of years later age 42) bought me and my siblings a child size porcelain mug. They each had a cartoon drawing on the front and a small corresponding teddy inside. So mine said "I'm a little Angel" and had an Angel doll. The other two said Vampire and Monkey. They all fit our personalities too. I was very quiet.

My dd's would definitely not appreciate them as much as I did however I've looked and cannot see anything similar. I'd love to see a photo of one again.

What's your story?

A bike. I think I was 9. We were not the most wealthy family.
The bike was the right size and lasted me a while too.
I wasnt sure I was going to get one and it was all shiny new.

A Cinderella reversible doll. She was in rags one way and a beautiful ballgown the other. Must have been about a foot and a half tall. She was sat on top of my stocking one Christmas morning and I loved her. Really wish I'd kept her. She had pearls in her hair and an embroidered dress.

A Playmobil zoo when I was 5 or 6. I loved it. Also gutted my parents got rid of it as it was so much better than the current Playmobil zoo

A train set and a shower gel in a parrot bottle.

This is a lovely tread OP to reminisce.

i too remember getting a bike @lightand and still have it in my shed all these years later. Oh to feel that excitement again of being young and waiting for Santa. I love seeing my DC get excited.

A Barbie wedding dress which my mother had sewed herself. It was white satiny type material with lace trim and a chiffon overskirt and veil. Six-year-old me thought it was the most incredible thing ever. (Those lucky Barbies got married every day for quite some time afterwards.)

The fact that it was handmade by her impressed me even at that young age

I feel this way about my old barbie stuff. The things I've bought DD have all been so expensive, yet made from cheap, flimsy plastic.

I remember the barbie furniture and sets I had being really good quality. I spent an evening googling loads of the things I had, it brought so much nostalgia finding all the old toys I had (but I could never afford the ridiculous prices ebay wanted for them!)

A snoopy shaped hairdryer from boots from my nan
Also a Mr Fungus hot water bottle.

Also a bike but that sticks in my memory as it had no pedals (the reindeer needed to use them) and a week or so later the doorbell rang and mum said "mileaminute go answer the door!" Which was strange in itself as I was never allowed to answer the door, but Father Christmas had left a parcel outside for me. I can just imagine how irate my dad was late Xmas eve night trying to put together a bike with no pedals in the box

Oh god that reminds me. My grandma bought me this bubble bath one year. Milo from the Tweenies. I was maybe 13/14/15 She said as I don't have a bf this could be him or something along the lines. Strange lol.

@ahunf I had one of those mugs- it was a little devil one! I loved it

It was less about the present and more about the mode of delivery.

I always loved dogs and my parents bought me a massive, white, stuffed dog toy. Too big to wrap. So, instead, they put it in the back of the car and left a series of clues written into a poem under the tree - so I would have to solve the clues to find it.

I did and it is probably my most remebered toy.

Ohh I had the Snoopy Head hairdryer. Also a dolls house mansion with a lift lots of trolls/ pilot pockets. My dd has saved all of hers but my mum must have thrown mine.

I used to get a Disney film on VHS in my stocking. I vividly remember getting Lady and the Tramp and being so excited.

A few years ago DM explained that she put a film in my stocking as I could unwrap my stocking at the crack of dawn, watch the film and by time I was done, DF would be ready to get up!

I've just tried googling. No luck.

Ohh maybe it was a devil Instead of a vampire lol. Makes more sense 😂😂

Most memorable was a little toy red wheel barrow full of matchbox cars I got for Christmas. It wasn't the most expensive or even something I'd asked for or thought I wanted. Even now, I don't really know why I remember it, but it was "just right" at the time. I played with the cars constantly for days/months, as I did with the wheel barrow which I'd fill with all kinds of things to move from one room to another. I suppose I must only have maybe 18 months/2 years old. I can't really remember any other presents as a young child - nothing else stands out at all until I was much older.

I asked my son the same question and he said his main memory is of a Brio train layout which we got him for his first Christmas, aged 11 months! We bought a toy table and made a simple layout for him, just a circle of track with a siding, a tunnel, a station, and a couple of locos/carriages. We remember him standing at the table (he couldn't walk, but he could stand and lean against the table), and he played running the trains around for hours. We assumed he'd have forgotten, but he says he remembers it. What he can't remember is all the other presents we bought for him over the following few years including lots of lego, electric train sets, meccano, games consoles, etc!

I wonder if there's something "special" about the first time you remember getting presents?? Funny that my main memory and my son's are both so young, and then neither of us can remember much for several years after!

In answer to the question, mine was the dolls house my grandparents built. It was from the dolls house emporium, you bought it as a kit and built it but they added carpet, wallpaper, net curtains and electric lights. Luckily I still have it, I considered selling it but I wouldn't want to. Its so beautiful and I remember how utterly magical I thought it looked lit up with my Sylvanian Families inside.

A pogo stick when I was about nine. Absolutely loved it, and spent hours playing with it on the garden path.

An adult cousin bought me a Judy annual in about the late 70s/early 80s. It was absolutely brilliant. I loved the stories. She also used to pick other things like toiletries, that I really liked

I got a bottle of Matey bubble bath every year

I remember getting a Girl's World.

I was convinced that I wouldn't get one but there it was under the tree on Christmas morning so probably the best sort of present.

Have gone on to have absolutely zero interest in hair and makeup though - obviously traumatised by the blue and green eyeshadow crayons.

I don't remember getting it but I remember playing with it. It was a little dog playhouse set thing with a working shower bath thing that you filled up from the tap 😄

Me too!!!

My most memorable and prized gift was the playmobil Edwardian house with all the furniture. I adored that house and I still have it!

I ALWAYS wanted a Mr Frosty but never got one, my mum always said Father Christmas doesn't bring messy toys!! 🤣

Toy farm the Christmas I was 4.

Also a bike for my 11th birthday- I got it a month early, as they were doing Cycling Proficiency at school over the Easter Holidays. It later served me well on a two week cycling/youth hostelling holiday with schoolfriend after our GCSEs and then came to college with me, and is possibly the only bike never to have been nicked in Cambridge.

Ohh I remember also I had three cabbage patch kids. A girl called Emma you could curly her hair with pretend tongues, a Boy called Gareth and a hard plastic one called Sandy who had a tan if you ran her under water. You could see a tan line under her swimming costume.

Myself and sister also had the horses.

I had another hard plastic doll named Toby. He had a Mohican and if you ran him under water chicken pox appeared. You could also put his thumb into his mouth as though he was sucking it.

The first two aren't wearing the clothes I had.

Stilts