What was your Favorite Holiday Gift as a youngster?

I’ve had so many favorites at Christmas time, I’ve lost count. I guess as a kid, it was the most favorite time of the year because you knew all you got were toys. Aside from clothes, us kids didn’t care for them. We’d open them up a find it was clothes, pjs, socks whatever and go “eh...” and move on to the next one. I’ve always saved the biggest gifts to open for last. 

If I had to pick a favorite, I’d say it was The Planet of the Apes treehouse. I was a huge Planet of the Apes junkie back in the 70s and had a few of the action figures then.

That's easy!  My favorite gift was a Lionel Santa Fe diesel locomotive set, #2343.  That was in 1950, and I still have it today.  It's a valued collectors' classic....and it works like the day it was new!

I still remember the awesome blue,yellow, and red plastic turtle I got for Christmas in '67.  Maybe not as cool as my brother's record player, or my other brother's guitar, but I sure loved that thing.  Good memories.

Cheers,
Mark

Loved anything having to do with Matchbox cars, and I particularly remember Remco's 'Thimble City' (with the magnetic wands to run the cars and people around)...but there's only one #1 choice, with no close second:

(With respect to PatW's recent automotive post.)

Terribly un-PC by today's standards, of course...but around 1965 (I was nine), this was the 'Holy Grail' of Christmas toys.

It was this in 1978:

I got so good, I could score on every play. I wish I was that good in real football!

A Red Rider bb rifle with a simulated wood grain stock and a thing in it that told time... Nah, I would had shot my eye out.  

Actually it was Aurora’s 1/13 scale T Rex.  The box was so huge it seemed a dream that dad would even consider getting it for me.  That year was the longest wait to Christmas Day ever!  I think that was in 1975.

To me, the coolest present my sister got was a card table tablecloth that looked like a house.  It had transparent sections for windows.  We played under that thing for hours!  Simpler times.

Cool topic, AND seasonally appropriate!

A "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet" play set, made by Marx, circa 1951.  A future version of the civil war playset above, it contained a metal HQ building, almost 100 spacemen and aliens, rockets, bombs, flying saucer, even a car of the future.  I had a lot of fun with that.

Crossman 760 pellet rifle.  

Easily Lego, Lego and more Lego.   Still have buckets of it.  It is still the best babysitter ever.

I can think of a couple,

Marx Fort Apache Play Set,came with cowboys,indians,wagons,cannons,plastic stockade fort,tin HQ building for inside the stockade.Very politically incorrect,but fun.

My uncle got me a Kenner Girder and Panel Hydraulic Set.it came with a plastic base that had a pump and held the water.You would build the girder and panel factory on the base,run the clear plastic tubing thru the building hooking up the various functions,when turned the pump on.My father would add food color to the water so you could see the water circulating.It was so cool,my old man was just as fascinated with it as I was.Saw it on Ebay a few years ago for $100 didnt really want to spend that though.

keavdog

Crossman 760 pellet rifle.  

 

A good thing you didnt "shoot your eye out."

A good thing you didnt "shoot your eye out."

Ha!  I was also a big fan of gi joe stuff.  The big guys not the little ones.  I got the helicopter one year and that was a blast.  My buddy had the adventure team mobile support vehicle.   Together we saved the world many times.

keavdog

 

 

A good thing you didnt "shoot your eye out."

 

 

 

Ha!  I was also a big fan of gi joe stuff.  The big guys not the little ones.  I got the helicopter one year and that was a blast.  My buddy had the adventure team mobile support vehicle.   Together we saved the world many times.

 

I had the scuba diver set for the big GI Joe figure,complete with wet suit,tanks,mask !!!

My Johnny Eagle Magumba rifle and pistol set from Topper. I loved that set! I feel bad for today's kids since they don't have the cool stuff we had back then, now it's cheap junk with a high price tag that doesn't last.

Tojo72

 

 

keavdog

 

 

A good thing you didnt "shoot your eye out."

 

 

 

Ha!  I was also a big fan of gi joe stuff.  The big guys not the little ones.  I got the helicopter one year and that was a blast.  My buddy had the adventure team mobile support vehicle.   Together we saved the world many times.

 

 

 

 

I had the scuba diver set for the big GI Joe figure,complete with wet suit,tanks,mask !!!

 

I still have the one my dad got me for Christmas in 1965. Eventually I had 3, the foot locker and TONS of carded equipment. I should have never sold any of it making one big mistake many many years ago.. My dad got everything for me and should have held on to all of the Joe stuff but at least I still have the first one.

I managed to buy an original one on Ebay about 15 years back along with the 5 Star Jeep, trailer, recoiless rifle and search light.

Here's my original 1964 Hasbro GI Joe

When I was no more that 4-5 in 1970 I got a metal corgi Batmobile maybe 8 inches and had plastic fire that went in and out of the exaust when you rolled it. So great!

Hi;

 Living half the year in Buffalo , N.Y. and the other half in Little Rock, AR. or Miami FLA .It was Ships and Boats with a Western thing here and there .

 I remember a single Pistol and Belt set particularly .It was made by Nichols right here in TEXAS . The Belt was Real leather ! The Gun , Ah ! That Pistol was a keeper .No orange plastic end ( Yep ! you could look all the way down the barrel !) A cylinder that rotated and flipped out for loading .

  Bullets too .Ten on the belt and five in the Gun , take a bullet out of the cylinder remove the top and insert a small dot like cap . Close cylinder after loading and fire away . Remember you only had five or six shots depending on the Pistol model .

 The Boats and Ships were a good mix of floaty thingys . Revell's Victory at Sea sets ( Minus the Missouri , That's a whole nuther story  ) Marx's fixit Patrol Boat and Lindbergs 36 foot Chris Craft and the big Constellation Motor yacht one year . And not to forget Revells Chris-Craft Tri-Cabin Motoryacht , last seen as a Deep sea Fisherman ( No Way ) And the P.T.212 . The only time I have seen a Higgins P.T.Model done by anyone !

 Next year LIONEL ! The next one Clothes and A whole set of H.O.Rail stuff .Back then you had to assemble everything .Model trains smaller than the Big Three were kits from the wheels up . You build and finished the cars then , went to the Hobby Shop and bought the wheel sets you needed .

 My last Christmas at home many years back our neighbor gave me a gift I still have .he told me " Son , This kept me alive on Iwo , Tarawa and other places.Take care or her and she'll do the same for you ." It was a Colt 45.cal Auto. 1911 model .Still have it and it has been totally rebuilt once .

  Goes to my grandson ! Now back in the day the other gift kids got were Bikes .My first Bike was only the first of a pair .When I wore it out Dad got me a like new one, one Christmas from the Police Auction . It was an English Bike ! With a Sturmy-Archer shifter WOW !

I guess it would be a table hockey set. You know...the ones with the rods you push back and forth to move your players. That game got a lot of use from not only me, but my brothers and even my neighbors. I think even my sisters played with it a bit. My neighbor absolutely loved it. He'd come over a lot. He was crazy about it. The game took a beating and kept on going. A few years later I asked for a bigger and fancier one. That one turned out to be a piece of junk.

An earlier memory was a lego set. Lovd it. You could build a small house that had functioning windows and doors.

TB

My Johnny Eagle rifle set fired plastic bullets and the scope actually worked. The pistol was loaded just like the real thing, loaded mag, racked slide and bang. Great toys back then indeed. And no red thingie on the muzzles either.

I've been waiting for Merrit International to come out with a 1/48 Higgins PT. I have the 1/48 late war Elco from them and it's a work of art, just a beauty.

hogfanfs

It was this in 1978:

I got so good, I could score on every play. I wish I was that good in real football!

 

Was a downer back then (in '64), but looking back kind of wish I still had it.  Parents got divorced that year, and Dad came out to the house a couple of days before Christmas, climbed into the back of his truck and tossed (literally) out a new Schwin bike....Said "here's your d----Christmas present", and drove off.  Didn't see him for another 9 years until I got in the service.

Next best was a wheeled Tonka buldozer.  Still have that one, and have never seen another like it.  Tore the daylights out of the garden plot we had with it.

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

I’ve always saved the biggest gifts to open for last.

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

I’ve always saved the biggest gifts to open for last.

Me too. Reminds me....

As a kid I loved ketchup and put in on darned near everything. I still do, sort of.

One year there was a really big, heavy box I saved for last. I was so excited. It ended up being a case of ketchup my dad bought me as a joke. That actually might have been the worst Christmas gift ever, not the best.

Greg

One year there was a really big, heavy box I saved for last. I was so excited. It ended up being a case of ketchup my dad bought me as a joke. That actually might have been the worst Christmas gift ever, not the best. Crying

And nowdays, people order the same thing from Amazon, and think it's a great deal!

Mine was a Flexible Flyer sled on wheels (I live in California).

I literally wore it out on the hill behind our place. Turned it into a biplane with wings and rigging. 

I even rebuilt it, took it all apart and painted it, clear stained the deck, wrote to Flexible Flyer and they sent me a new decal.

Funny what death machines parents were comfortable giving their kids back when. Look at the handle bars. There are little steel tabs just inboard of the grips. Tilt the bar forward and those rubbed on the tire (brakes). 

The hot set up on the Flexy was that there were springs on the underside that kept the front wheels centered. Pop those off and you could turn the front end 90 degrees at 25 mph.

DasBeav

I had the Head to Head B-ball game. When I look back on it, it was just a gateway drug to video games. Atari 2600, Nintendo's, and now Xbox. 

 

I agree, my path was simliar except exchange the Xbox for a PS3/PS4.

Greg

One year there was a really big, heavy box I saved for last. I was so excited. It ended up being a case of ketchup my dad bought me as a joke. That actually might have been the worst Christmas gift ever, not the best. 

 

hogfanfs

 

 

DasBeav

I had the Head to Head B-ball game. When I look back on it, it was just a gateway drug to video games. Atari 2600, Nintendo's, and now Xbox. 

 

 

 

I agree, my path was simliar except exchange the Xbox for a PS3/PS4.

 

 

 

Greg

One year there was a really big, heavy box I saved for last. I was so excited. It ended up being a case of ketchup my dad bought me as a joke. That actually might have been the worst Christmas gift ever, not the best. 

 

 

 

 

I don't mean to laugh, Greg, but my Dad pulled the same thing on me with a package of AA batteries for something else receivced. LOL

 

 

 

 

GMorrison

 

Funny what death machines parents were comfortable giving their kids back when. 

 

 

 

 

I agree, it was a different time back then. I could go out in the morning, and not come home until dark, and never had any issues. 

 

And when you did something stupid and got hurt it was...."well, now you know not to do that again".

Of course that was after all the "chores" were done on the place.  Feed and water what stock we had, keep 3 wood stoves in fuel (we were at 4500 ft in NorCal, so that was both summer and winter job), plus shoveling about 900 ft. of driveway.

GMorrison

...Funny what death machines parents were comfortable giving their kids back when.  

 

Dangerous toys. Absolutely. The best!

   My favorite was Ideals "Count Down".  It could shoot a rocket a good 30 feet in the air. What a cool bang in made when I shot it off in the living room and slammed the ceiling.  It did not chip any plaster but did mark the paint.  Wish I still had it to show the Grandkids. It was as much fun as the water pressure rockets and way less messy.

   Nino

I remember teh Man From U.N.C.L.E. set.  I wantd one but never got it.  A friend down the street had one with the walkie tiakie and it was set on a frequ. that happenmed to be the local police.

Greg

As a kid I loved ketchup and put in on darned near everything. I still do, sort of.

Greg, yet another thing we have in common. As a kid I loved ketchup. Some of the first words out of my mouth was ketch a, ketch a. Or so they say. I still like it, just not as much.

That is a funny story about the box of ketch a.