Childhood Christmas Presents

karcher

gt568 wrote: »

My work colleagues think I'm odd as I give the kids toothpaste as a present.

My mother used to give us toothpaste too!

LameWolf

Mr LW tells a tale of when he was young; this particular Xmas his younger sister was being particularly naughty, and their Dad told her if she didn't behave, she'd get a sack of coal on Xmas Day. Well, she continued to misbehave, and so, on Xmas morning, when she unwrapped her present, it was indeed a sack of coal!:D
Of course, her Dad relented and she got her proper present later in the day - but she certainly didn't misbehave again for a long time!

Wednesday2000

I remember one year getting a lovely dollhouse. I really remember getting ballerina Sindy dolls as well. It must have been about 1982. I had one with blonde hair and one with brown hair. I just looked and there is one for £50 on eb*y!

melodramaticme

Lots of memories there!
I had the twin 6" dolls from Woman's Weekly and some rainbow wool and knitting needles to make them clothes from the patterns printed in the magazine.
I must have been about 6 then and those were first things I learned to knit.

I also had a beautiful Rosebud doll when I was a little older, which my little sister tried to put make up on with a blue biro!
:rotfl:

Prinzessilein

I was born in the 60s...

One present I remember fondly was a laundry set...I wanted that SO much...it had a wash board (on which you could graze your knuckles) ....and a working mangle (that you could trap your fingers in!)...and it had a 'real' flat iron that you could heat over a fire or on a stove (and then burn your fingers on)...each of the accidents occurred only once before I learned to play safely with my treasured set! (I shudder to think what Elf'n'Safety bods would make of this today!)

I REALLY wanted a garage (with a spiral ramp to send the cars down)...but despite asking for it in my letter to Santa for 3 consecutive years it never arrived.....a combination of too expensive, and 'but you're a GIRL!'

Clothes would be given at Christmas...practical ....necessary....and reasonably welcome....(but honestly a jumper is no substitute for a garage!!!!)

No stockings for us...but we would have a small cardboard plate apiece...on which was a satsuma...a red apple...some walnuts...and a big handful of homemade biscuits and marzipan sweets....and often a pinecone that had chocolate buttons pressed into it.

Schools did not provide pens/pencils/crayons...so Santa would also bring us stuff for our pencil cases.

I had a couple of dolls (no Tiny Tears or anything like that....just 'ordinary' dolls)...sometimes one of them would disappear during December...and return on Christmas Eve wearing a new set of knitted clothes (yes, Santa...the doll looks lovely in her new clothes....but where is my garage?????)

Books were always given at Christmas...but 'real' books...no annuals.

Later I had a Sindy (the more 'acceptable' version of the too-sexy Barbie!)...but she had homemade clothes because the branded ones were too dear.....she did eventually get a car (we're getting there Santa....now, about that garage!!!!) which was second hand, but very much appreciated.

One thing that happened every year was that we would be expected to give some toys away....at the beginning of December we would be reminded that we would be getting new stuff for Christmas ( well,new to us anyway) so we should think of other children less fortunate, and give something away to charity (this also made space for new items.)

Sewsosew

I grew up in the 60's as one of a family of 5 so we didn't get massive presents. Our stockings always had a shiny red apple, a tangerine wrapped in tissue and a sugar mouse with other things like pens or pencils. There was usually an annual too.

One year we got a brand new wooden sledge each, all subtly different, with polished metal runners. Many years later I worked out that my Grandad had made them. My favourite present was a Spirograph, it kept me amused for hours at a time.

culpepper

As a 60s family...We always got books that mum had bought from jumble sales. It didnt matter where they were from, it was a sort of mini treasure trove.
Our stockings were mums laddered tights with red wool to hang them by. You only got a half a leg obviously not the whole pair. Inside would be an apple , an orange a small tin of nuts and raisins and chocolate. When we were older, there was often a mini radio too but they were cheap and lasted less than a year. Torches also featured as stocking fillers.
Then there would be one nice present from mum. one from dad(from his ciggies catalogue), one from our grown up cousin and one from our Aunt(usually home made and often accompanied by more chocolate).
There was always an annual and we could say which one we wanted. By collaborating with my brother, we could swap after reading and so it felt like getting two. We very rarely gave each other presents as we never had any money for new ones or even to buy the makings of them.

eandjsmum

A Sindy doll one year, a reconditioned dolls house another time. Dad was a carpenter so a lot of our toys were made by him and the dolls house is still going strong. My daughter also has the dolls cot that was given to my mum during the war,
it was then repainted and given to me in 1962. It has since had another coat of paint and was given to my daughter with a tiny tears in it.
We always got an annual and a selection box.
Mum, Aunt and Nan would knit dolls clothes and Mum would sew us all a new set of clothes for christmas

Pooky

When I was 9 I got a “baby doll”, the very realistic looking ones with soft bodies....I called her Sammy. My Dad built a rocking crib out of hardboard and stencilled it with flowers and my mum made blankets and drapes for it. Best of all, on Boxing Day when visiting family, my cousin (I was the youngest of all the cousins) gave me a bag of her baby daughters new born clothes.....proper baby clothes for my proper baby doll.

For my 10th Christmas I got a Walkman and a wham tape.....I’d moved on from dolls and started my love of cheesy pop.

Happy days!

nannywindow

Being an only child I always seemed to have lots of presents but some stick in my mind more than others. I remember the obligatory tin of toffees with the kitten/puppy on the front, a pelham clown puppet which is still at my Dads all boxed up. It took so long to untangle no matter how careful I was putting it away, it was never really played with. I also remember a metal hoopla set with rubber hoops which had the face of a clown on it, that was scary . I also remember getting a Z Cars annual and when I was older about 10, I got a Dansete record player, which I thought was the bees knees and then another year, a reel to reel tape recorder. The later only got used on a Sunday taping the top 40. However I don't ever remember getting a stocking.
My dad told me that all he had as a child was a tangerine and a sugar mouse, he's now 88.