More on Xmases past.

Chris Hobson

Chris Hobson

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Type 2
The nearby thread about stocking fillers made me think about presents that we got as kids, particularly ones that were memorable enough that I can still remember them now that I'm in my dotage.

Spirograph. Packs of additional Lego. A battery operated toy robot. A box of puzzles made out of bent wire. Annuals based on kids TV shows. Selection boxes with chocolate bars and always a couple of items that were a bit crappy that got eaten last.
 
Chris Hobson said:
The nearby thread about stocking fillers made me think about presents that we got as kids, particularly ones that were memorable enough that I can still remember them now that I'm in my dotage.

Spirograph. Packs of additional Lego. A battery operated toy robot. A box of puzzles made out of bent wire. Annuals based on kids TV shows. Selection boxes with chocolate bars and always a couple of items that were a bit crappy that got eaten last.
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Very similar! Particular presents I remember (late 60s / early 70s): a talking Action Man, a 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' car and a Hot Wheels plastic car racing track. Someone at school had an enormous Airfix Saturn V rocket but it seemed more trouble than it was worth to prevent the various little bits falling off.
 
The ones I remember most are my brother's. Boys always got better presents.
I especially remember his fort.
As children, "Santa" (aka Dad} delivered our presents to our bedrooms, usually in a pillow case at the end of our bed.
The fort was special because "Santa" set it up on the floor of the bedroom.
 
In the late 40s and into the 50s my favourite toy was a Bayko set. You built houses and shops with small bricks that slid onto metal rods. I understand you can still buy it today but I bet it would fail health and safety rules with small parts and metal rods. I played with it until I was at least 13. I received extra kits to go with it over a few years.
 
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helli said:
The ones I remember most are my brother's. Boys always got better presents.
I especially remember his fort.
As children, "Santa" (aka Dad} delivered our presents to our bedrooms, usually in a pillow case at the end of our bed.
The fort was special because "Santa" set it up on the floor of the bedroom.
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Yes, I think you're right about boys' presents being better - and presents were very strictly divided along gender lines then. Hopefully things are more imaginative now - although I get the sense that current presents for 'boys' are even more focused on fighting and war than they were in my day :(. Having said that, hopefully no-one nowadays gives kids toy guns.
 
Witchylin said:
In the late 40s and into the 50s my favourite toy was a Bayco set. You built houses and shops with small bricks that slid onto metal rods. I understand you can still buy it today but I bet it would fail health and safety rules with small parts and metal rods. I played with it until I was at least 13. I received extra kits to go with it over a few years.
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I remember Bayko! I inherited mine from my sister, who was 8 years older than I was, and probably got it in the 1950s. I played with it a lot, but I remember kneeling on a row of the inserted rods at one point, and very painful it was, too!
 
helli said:
Or those sweets which looked like cigarettes
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Oh yes! I remember pretending to smoke them 😱. Thankfully, by the time I was old enough to try smoking for real it had fallen out of fashion amongst young men (although not young women, yet, by that stage) and I never started :party:.
 
Besides the obligatory selection box we always had a few brazil nuts and a mandarin orange in our pillow case as well as the big presents. I disagree that boys got better presents; I used to hunt out my presents in mum and dad's wardrobe so they usually ended up having to buy me a extra present as a surprise. Yes, I was a horrid brat, and was also known to change the time on my sister's alarm clock from 5am to 7.30 as I'd been warned on pain of a good slapping not to wake her before then. I did indeed get a good slap when she checked her watch!
 
I remember the huge red apple, even bigger orange, the shiny penny, selection boxes, books - one year I got a typewriter, one year a bicycle - but there is a whole book I should not write about my family.
 
Drummer said:
I remember the huge red apple, even bigger orange, the shiny penny, selection boxes, books - one year I got a typewriter, one year a bicycle - but there is a whole book I should not write about my family.
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I've never heard of giving a child a typewriter for Christmas :confused:

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Our presents were always in pillow cases too. I got a typewriter too @Drummer it was an avocado green, it was a plastic child’s one, maybe Lilliput? :confused: I’ll have to Google it. I had sisters so never coveted boys presents. We got baby Annabelles , prams, cot, Monopoly, Scrabble, Cludo etc. . But as I got to about 10 years old, books were my best present, especially The Guinness Book of World Records, some of which I still have.
 
Speedbird said:
The Christmas morning I will always remember is when my brother and I were aged six (we're twins) and our father led two ponies into the dining room.
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My eldest daughter is the horsey person in our family and always wanted a pony but we lived in the city. She started riding lessons when she was 8, went on to be a BHS riding instructor. She met her husband, he had his own horse, and they had their first child, for his second Christmas, he was nearly two, they got him a Shetland pony, Milo, she wrapped him up in Christmas paper! My grandson wasn’t bothered at all! She really bought him for herself I think! She’s now got a few ponies, a stallion, gypsy cob plus some I probably don’t know about. Milo sadly died a few years ago, grandson is almost 18 now, and unlike his two sisters, who have a pony each, has never had any interest in riding.
Did you go on to always have horses?
 
Speedbird said:
The Christmas morning I will always remember is when my brother and I were aged six (we're twins) and our father led two ponies into the dining room.
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Oh no!!
I wanted a pony for Christmas the year the bank foreclosed. I spent the half term holiday picking the Crispin apples in the orchard so they could be sold.....
 
eggyg said:
. I got a typewriter too @Drummer it was an avocado green, it was a plastic child’s one, maybe Lilliput? :confused:
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I was right. Ah, great memories.
 

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I think I still have mine somewhere - all those sci-fi stories about when the lights go out must have had some lasting effect.
 
eggyg said:
My eldest daughter is the horsey person in our family and always wanted a pony but we lived in the city. She started riding lessons when she was 8, went on to be a BHS riding instructor. She met her husband, he had his own horse, and they had their first child, for his second Christmas, he was nearly two, they got him a Shetland pony, Milo, she wrapped him up in Christmas paper! My grandson wasn’t bothered at all! She really bought him for herself I think! She’s now got a few ponies, a stallion, gypsy cob plus some I probably don’t know about. Milo sadly died a few years ago, grandson is almost 18 now, and unlike his two sisters, who have a pony each, has never had any interest in riding.
Did you go on to always have horses?
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My brother went on to qualify as equine vet in France; he and his wife now breed and train horses in the Dordogne. My job involved quite a bit of time away from home, so owning a horse wasn't really an option. I still enjoy riding, though, particularly the New Forest drifts.
 
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