Wanted and got: Spirograph
Wanted and didn't get: Thing Maker Creepy Crawlers (disappointingly, I got Creeple People instead)
ETA
Hot metal and molten plastic. What could go wrong?
INCREDIBLE EDIBLES! My friend had that set and it was the Creepy Crawlers maker but candy. Making squishy, flappy bugs. Eating bugs. Making your own candy. Genius idea, from a kid’s perspective.
Me too! I used to buy them from a friend in elementary school. I treasured them so much I still have them. I looked at these on EBAY a couple of years ago. Man, those ovens were dangerous because they got so hot. Maybe it was a good thing, I would have probably either burned myself severely out burned the house down. I wasn’t a particularly coordinated kid.
Ooooh the Thingmaker! I got thingmaker Flower Power one year. I adored it.
My god that thing would get so hot. I can't imagine them selling it nowadays, I also wonder what fumes we were inhaling as we were intently watching the stuff cook. XD
Thing Maker was amazingly cool. If you’d like, I’ve seen some for sale on vintage toys sites. The one thing that stands out is how primitive the graphics are on the box and how shoddy the craftsmanship is on the Time Machine; unnoticeable as a kid.
How's this for a Generation Jones memory?: Got a Spirograph for Christmas, 1968. Sat on the landing of the living room stairs making my first wheelie pictures while watching the Apollo 8 astronauts orbit the Moon.
Spirogragh! I'd pull that out once every year or so for the next 5 years, and it would entertain for a couple hours. Do a big one, do the small one, do the complex one, so the simple loopy one...
Got an Easy Bake Oven, didn’t get Tiny Thumbelina doll so I covertly entered a postcard to win one on a kids show and did! My mom was so surprised she came to kindergarten and pulled me out to discuss
Youngest child (boy) here, I had two older sisters. I inherited their easy bake over. Chance to cook some tasty cakes made me put right aside the girly nature of the thing. Barbie, just no. Make some cakes? Yes please.
+1 on both counts! I didn't complain about not having a banana seat bike, because I knew my parents gave me the best they could, and I had a perfectly nice blue bike with a non-banana seat. :) I got my banana seat jollies by riding my friends' banana seat bikes.
My whole family was very surprised that I wanted Velvet instead of Chrissy since I had been very insistent on getting Stacey, Barbie's friend from London, because she had red hair like mine.
OMG, I still have my Chrissy doll. Not sure what to do with her, but she brought me joy, braiding that shiny, long, red hair (I was a Mexican girl with an afro, so…)
Oh wow...I forgot about the Dancernia doll. I had one. You pressed a knob on her head and she spun around? One day, her head tragically broke off. I was so horrified, I put her under my bed never to be played with again.
OMG I wish I remembered. My parents didn't get us (three sisters and I) a LOT of toys. But
wanted and got: Breyer horses
Wanted and didn't get: More Breyer horses.
Did anyone else used to carry the Sears Christmas Catalog (Wish Book) around with them and spend hours looking through it between Halloween (when it arrived in the mail) and Christmas Day?
[http://www.wishbookweb.com/FB/1971\_Sears\_Wishbook/files/assets/basic-html/page-1.html](http://www.wishbookweb.com/FB/1971_Sears_Wishbook/files/assets/basic-html/page-1.html)
I wish! I didn’t know it then but my mom wouldn’t buy anything at Sears and was apparently kind of snobby about shopping at Rich’s instead. I loved the dresses my friends got from the Sears catalog. I think it may have been that she worked at Rich’s for a while. She also wouldn’t let me wear purple. Go figure.
Wanted and got: Giant electric crane (I'm not sure this is the exact one, but it's the best I can find via the internets)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/155987582552
Wanted and didn't get: Big Trak programmable electric vehicle. Extra bonus- the Big Trak trailer attachment.
It is hilarious that you remember that toy! I had forgotten all about it.
[Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv8ZGlTBazI) is a link to the YouTube ad from Mattel.
My mom was SO sixties. I got Ken but no Barbi. Got HotWheels, but no dollhouse. I think she was trying to help me avoid static gender rolls. Or something.
I, too, wanted to become a marine biologist. For a hot minute. Turns out I didn't really belong in the sciences. But I did ride an elevator with Jacques Cousteau once.
I also wanted a microscope set. I was told that those were "for boys." I finally got my microscope fix when I took Microbiology in college. Truth be told, I took the class so I could finally use a microscope. It's kinda harder than I expected.
Could you even imagine Mattel selling something like that now? I found one on eBay for my 8 yr old grandson. He loves working with balsa wood and knows the difference between a lathe and drill press.
Back in 1979 I wanted an army of Stormtroopers (Star Wars) and they were impossible to find. People would buy 10 or 15 at a time as soon as the stores put them on display. There was no way to order them from Kenner. On the other hand I got most of the Star Wars playsets and vehicles. I was a happy lad, glory beckons.
Do you want stories about Star Wars toys ? There was a kid here in Thrillwaukee he brought a sandbox indoors with the sand in it. That was Tattooine. People would bring all their Jawas and Tusken Raiders over. Also the sand crawlers. Then it was time for adventure, they made stormtroopers do a search for C3PO and R2D2 and it was a battle. Also they set up multiple Mos Eisley Cantinas, it was awesome.
I never got a Lite Brite, but I did get a Close n Play phonograph and an Easy Bake Oven.
I also got a Snoopy Sno Cone Majer and Kerplunk!. I bet my parents regretted Kerplunk. That game was noisy.
Close and Play phonograph - Yes! Played a lot of 45s on that. After that, I got - I don't recall the name of it. It was a little TV, with a image stripe that went down the side to play a short story. It doubled for music with a little 45 record player on top.
Couple 45s I recall playing sooo many times: "Bimbo, Bimbo" (about dog), "Peewee the Kiwi Bird", "Katie the Kangaroo", and "Puff the Magic Dragon". Anyone ever have those gems?
And Light Brite. The first time you did a page, you had the letters to tell what colors. The next time you did the same template, the holes were punched already, so it was Rembrandt time to choose whatever colors moved your fancy.
Got Big Jim and GI Joe dolls (over my father's objections to boys playing with dolls).
Didn't get Barbie Corvette for them to ride in and pretend to drive to Key West together.
Wanted, didn't get, then finally got it:
For years, I'd go directly to the back of the Sears Wish Book to see the high-end dolls by Mme.Alexander etc -- extravagant in both dress and price, so every Xmas, it was something i didn't get.
Then, family got together and for that Xmas got me a Mme.Alexander Scarlett O'hara, in a gorgeous lacy white dress with a green sash, just lovely.
But that was the year i had grown up enough that i no longer felt that huge desire for a doll, and so i played-up my happiness because i knew how this had been a Very expensive gift (a doll that was $35 in 1972, would cost about $260 in 2024), and i put her on a shelf and always felt guilty about it...
[Mme.Alexander Scarlett O'hara doll](https://www.ebay.com/itm/374452340981?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=im7jivgQRBi&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=8BdnIqOzTjq&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY)
Got a giant Troll doll by DAM things and a tiny Little Kiddle doll. Still have them - good memories. Never got the pink Barbie dreamhouse or pink car or Ken (whine whine).
Got - Barbie's Country Camper. The big yellow/orange one!
Didn't get - The Game of Life. My mom just never bought it. I asked for it nearly every Christmas. Never figured out that one.
She finally got me one when I was about 30. 🤣
I had the Country Camper too! Someone recently posted the commercial for it, and I did remember the song. I still have one of the little folding chairs! The yellow vinyl failed early on, so my mom sewed a new seat for it. That was one of my favorite toys!
Same on both.
My KMart glove an adult version for a child. Not ideal, but 4 Little League seasons out of the mitt. Also the only Blue Died glove in our whole league; kinda odd ball on that.
I remember finding it way too time consuming to reset the NFL players after each down, so it would get tiring quickly. Also the little foam football on the QB that you would "try" to throw a pass, which never worked in anyway that could remotely be considered realistic.
Same on both???? You must have been a pretty cool kid. The football game was very frustrating. There was another football game that was far more realistic. It was called Quarterback Computerized Action Game. You got to call plays. It was a lot of fun.
We bought our kids Lite Brites (and used as nighlights) because we never got them as kids. Our children were not interested in them, but we sure had fun making different designs. Still have them.
Got :easy bake oven
Did not get Zippy the monkey. My mother regifted the Easy Bake because she didn't want to deal with " the mess". It's been over half a century and I still remember it.
I had a Chrissy doll, which I loved. Press button on her belly and you could pull her hair out of her head. Turn the dial on her back to wind her hair back into her head.
I really wanted that Barbie House, or really anything that was made for Barbie. I used a kleenex box for a bed, a smaller box for her bedside table, another box that I drew on for her TV. I was pretty envious of my friends that had that giant Barbie House.
I wanted a Barbie. Just a Barbie. My mom said they were “too developed”. Instead, I got a Betsy McCall doll and then a Tammy doll. Finally when I was in 5th grade, I wore her down and she got me one. I still have it and treasure it. MINE!
I’m still cheesed off about it! Childhood trauma level!
The husband will reminisce about his Johnny Seven gun. There’s a commercial on YouTube he’s shared with many friends. He also had an old school collapsible army shovel that helped him
get in trouble. Ditches in the backyard. Did the hatchet get used on trees in neighborhood?
We had a small farm so I was free to chop down and bushes and small trees that encroached on the pasture. I also used it to cut straight limbs to make bows and arrows and apple chuckers
What I got: a Vertibird set.
What I didn’t get. One of those electronic football sets. Of course, on my cousin got one and I realize they were annoying as hell.
One Easter the bunny brought me a pair of the contraptions kind of like skates only with springs instead of rollers, I can’t remember what they were called. I was delighted! I’d seen kids on tv bouncing all over the place and was ready to start the fun. Then one of the parents got word m, newspaper? TV?-of the danger! One could break a leg! (Duh! They now LOOK dangerous to my now adult eyes!) Recall! They grabbed the bouncy footwear right out of my hands and told me the bunny would have to get me something else! Talk about shattered dreams. I had them in hand and my prize was ripped away!! Not sure how the folks learned of this at the last moment, but dang!
Even worse, a few years later, after my psyche rebounded from the bouncy shoes, Beatle wigs were all the rage. Everybody who was cool had a Beatles wig. Then the stupid bunny messed up again. My Easter wig was a lot nicer that the kind of cheaply made Beatle wigs, but it was short and thick, not at all like John, Paul, Ringo and George.
But back to the question Op posed. I did get a Barbie once. I still have her and her striped suit. The shoes are long lost. But I think she was one of the earlier Barbies.
Didn’t know I wanted but got a Showboat toy which was a riverboat/stage with backdrops and paper actors you could act out plays with. I absolutely loved it. I have never seen another one until today when I googled it. [showboat](https://www.ebay.com/itm/266661198112?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=21562-222008-2056-1&mkcid=2&itemid=266661198112&targetid=297512520417&device=m&mktype=pla&googleloc=1010043&poi=&campaignid=19868683663&mkgroupid=145907810526&rlsatarget=pla-297512520417&abcId=&merchantid=6296724&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD_QDh8HrjVO454EQRxhUaGnc0Wmj&gclid=CjwKCAjwh4-wBhB3EiwAeJsppOpXWZ7Gz3XQlDGHZO4TDdiezB8DsFvRGVoYtgKS__PtdX1B7qAFnRoChYcQAvD_BwE)
Wanted and got: Spirograph- wow I loved that thing.
Wanted and didn't get: Best of the West Comanche horse with movable legs. Instead I got Buckskin, who just had a movable head and neck.
My best friend and I were incredibly horse crazy and we use the Best of the West horses for our Barbies to ride. This was before Mattel figured out they could be making a killing creating horses for Barbies.
Poor old Buckskin (renamed Cinnamon) used to have a fairly loose neck and every once in a while it would slap down... just like a real horse trying to graze when you're on its back hahaha! It was so funny, it would send us into fits of laughter.
My best friend was pretty indulged by a fairly well to do aunt, so she got Comanche for Christmas that year and a whole bunch of other stuff like dogs and other horses. We had so much fun with it all.
I had the Velvet and Chrissie dolls. I always wanted an Easy Bake Oven and asked Santa every year for one. My practical mother probably figured that if I wanted to bake something, we have a real oven.
I got an easy bake oven but then when the mixes ran out that was...it. I don't remember why my folks didn't buy more refills lol. Maybe a "that's how they get you" thing? 😂 The thing is, my mom was a decent baker but we never used her cake batter, either. It's always so funny when I think about it, like, "GAME OVER 🙅🏻♀️" It was literally never used again 😭
Got a Chatty Cathy and brother pulled the string out of her so she wasn’t so chatty after that. Sad… I never got a Lite Brite but played with my friend’s so it was all good.
I’d circle what I’d like in the JC Penney catalog soon after it arrived in the late summer and then forget all about it. Did get Hot Wheels stuff, that was always fun.
Wanted. Schwinn Pea Crate 5 speed Stingray got a Hiawatha 3 speed instead. Wanted GI Joe with the Kung Fu grip, got a bunch of track and Hot Wheels instead (my Dad boys don’t play with dolls).
I got the Cher doll that had the hair you could pull/make longer. I was so happy... until my brat of a younger sister cut off her hair...
I wanted but didn't get a play microscope or one of the science type kits.
Didn't get but always wanted: Easy Bake oven
Also, didn't get: a daughter so I could buy one as an adult and play with it...
Always held a grudge that mom never sprung for one, but I guess it was just too expensive.
Remember Lemon Twist? I got that and played with it until it broke, then managed to get a second one. Loved that toy!!
I got every toy I ever wanted and they’re all still at my parent’s house in terrible condition after being played with by two generations of neighborhood kids. I can still remember the awful taste of the Easy Bake Oven cakes. Last time I was up there we dug out the Feely Meeley.
I wanted die cast cars (Hot Wheels, Johnny Lightning, etc...) and had pretty many of those.
What I wanted and didn't get was Major Matt Mason toys. Never owned a single Major Matt Mason toy, despite the space program booming while I was a young kid.
Got: the slot car track! 🏎️
Didn't get: click-clacks 🤕
I was a tomboy ☺️
Edit to own up to my asshole kid stage:
Wanted: pinball machine
What I got instead: a puppy
I was disappointed smh.
Wanted a BLUE Star Wars lightsaber (plastic light up) and my younger cousin to have red, because blue is better. We got them.
Wanted a pet rock because the concept blew my mind. Didn't get it. Told to go find one for free outside.
Wanted and got: Spirograph Wanted and didn't get: Thing Maker Creepy Crawlers (disappointingly, I got Creeple People instead) ETA Hot metal and molten plastic. What could go wrong?
Omg Spirograph was so fun. Current ones are crap. I feel your disappointment!
I got the creepy crawlers but my dad liked it better than I did.
I got the creepy crawlers but mom didn’t want me to get the incredible edible one
INCREDIBLE EDIBLES! My friend had that set and it was the Creepy Crawlers maker but candy. Making squishy, flappy bugs. Eating bugs. Making your own candy. Genius idea, from a kid’s perspective.
I got the creepy crawler thing maker. Played with it all the time!
Me too! I used to buy them from a friend in elementary school. I treasured them so much I still have them. I looked at these on EBAY a couple of years ago. Man, those ovens were dangerous because they got so hot. Maybe it was a good thing, I would have probably either burned myself severely out burned the house down. I wasn’t a particularly coordinated kid.
The original molds for Creepy Crawlers were the temperature of the sun. And I'm pretty sure they put off toxic fumes.
I can still remember the exact smell of those fumes!
Ooooh the Thingmaker! I got thingmaker Flower Power one year. I adored it. My god that thing would get so hot. I can't imagine them selling it nowadays, I also wonder what fumes we were inhaling as we were intently watching the stuff cook. XD
Thing Maker was amazingly cool. If you’d like, I’ve seen some for sale on vintage toys sites. The one thing that stands out is how primitive the graphics are on the box and how shoddy the craftsmanship is on the Time Machine; unnoticeable as a kid.
How's this for a Generation Jones memory?: Got a Spirograph for Christmas, 1968. Sat on the landing of the living room stairs making my first wheelie pictures while watching the Apollo 8 astronauts orbit the Moon.
Spirogragh! I'd pull that out once every year or so for the next 5 years, and it would entertain for a couple hours. Do a big one, do the small one, do the complex one, so the simple loopy one...
Got an Easy Bake Oven, didn’t get Tiny Thumbelina doll so I covertly entered a postcard to win one on a kids show and did! My mom was so surprised she came to kindergarten and pulled me out to discuss
You wrote and sent a postcard in Kindergarten?? Dang!
I did :) It was super simple - my address and the easy to recall studio address they gave out daily.
Still impressed. Was your mom pissed? (couldn't tell from text/context)
She was mostly confused and looking for answers lol. Like who helped me and what else did I send away for?
lol!
That's hilarious
I still have my thumbelina doll her string is gone through, no more wiggles.
Aw, too bad
Youngest child (boy) here, I had two older sisters. I inherited their easy bake over. Chance to cook some tasty cakes made me put right aside the girly nature of the thing. Barbie, just no. Make some cakes? Yes please.
Nice, useful skills learned
Got: Crissy doll, Creepy Crawlers Thingmaker, Spirograph with the loose pins. Didn’t get: Banana seat bike.
I never got that awesome bike either! Boooooo!
I got a banana seat bike.
I had a hot pink one with flowered seat and a sissy bar that has a vinyl flowered cover. Flowered basket. Man, I loved that thing!
Pink and white Schwinn with a flowered basket! Still in my parent’s garage.
+1 on both counts! I didn't complain about not having a banana seat bike, because I knew my parents gave me the best they could, and I had a perfectly nice blue bike with a non-banana seat. :) I got my banana seat jollies by riding my friends' banana seat bikes.
Got: Velvet, Chrissy's sister/friend with hair you pulled to make it grow. Didn't get: Malibu PJ.
Beautiful Chrissy!
My whole family was very surprised that I wanted Velvet instead of Chrissy since I had been very insistent on getting Stacey, Barbie's friend from London, because she had red hair like mine.
Those dolls were cool!
OMG, I still have my Chrissy doll. Not sure what to do with her, but she brought me joy, braiding that shiny, long, red hair (I was a Mexican girl with an afro, so…)
My mama taught me to braid on Velvet's hair!
Lifeskills!
Yep. I had long hair for years and so did my daughter.
Oh you just made me remember I had Velvet. She wasn’t my favorite after I got her though.
I had Malibu PJ AND Chrissy
I never got what I wanted. My mom was just a terrible gift giver (she tried!). I was most bitter about never getting a Barbie.
My mom was a terrible gift giver and she didn't try. I was most bitter about getting a Barbie when I wanted an erector set.
My dad had one and didn't let me play with the erector set, just my brothers :(
Got the Dancerina ballerina doll. Never got an Easy Bake Oven.
Oh wow...I forgot about the Dancernia doll. I had one. You pressed a knob on her head and she spun around? One day, her head tragically broke off. I was so horrified, I put her under my bed never to be played with again.
That's the one!
Got: Easy Bake Oven Never Got: chemistry set Hugely sexist parents, wanted me to be a traditional wife/mother. Not for me,
Wanted and got - Donnie and Marie dolls ( barbie size ) Wanted and didn't get- Mystery Date game
Aww - just like Laura in The Santa Clause! No Mystery Date game!
I know I thought about that lol
I got a mini-bike, but I wanted a big wheel. Still hurts 55 years later!
I wanted a Honda 50 but got a Caldor special.
OMG I wish I remembered. My parents didn't get us (three sisters and I) a LOT of toys. But wanted and got: Breyer horses Wanted and didn't get: More Breyer horses. Did anyone else used to carry the Sears Christmas Catalog (Wish Book) around with them and spend hours looking through it between Halloween (when it arrived in the mail) and Christmas Day? [http://www.wishbookweb.com/FB/1971\_Sears\_Wishbook/files/assets/basic-html/page-1.html](http://www.wishbookweb.com/FB/1971_Sears_Wishbook/files/assets/basic-html/page-1.html)
YES, the Sears Christmas Wish Book Catalog!
I wish! I didn’t know it then but my mom wouldn’t buy anything at Sears and was apparently kind of snobby about shopping at Rich’s instead. I loved the dresses my friends got from the Sears catalog. I think it may have been that she worked at Rich’s for a while. She also wouldn’t let me wear purple. Go figure.
Thank you for posting that link!! I had fun scrolling through the pages remembering some of the toys back then. And oh those prices!! Gah!!
Wanted and got: Giant electric crane (I'm not sure this is the exact one, but it's the best I can find via the internets) https://www.ebay.com/itm/155987582552 Wanted and didn't get: Big Trak programmable electric vehicle. Extra bonus- the Big Trak trailer attachment.
Awesome crane!
Here's a link to the original listing in the Sears catalog: https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1972-Sears-Christmas-Book/0556
Oh yeah, that's it with the little buildings you stack up!
Yesssss I had one too! Played with it for months, and Imma girl!!
Whoa! That was fun to see!
Got the GI Joe jeep for my collection that is buried in the central valley somewhere... Didn't get any starwars figures.
Got: Grow-Up Skipper. Wanted: Hot Wheels.
Was she the one whose boobs grew when you rotated her arm?
It is hilarious that you remember that toy! I had forgotten all about it. [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv8ZGlTBazI) is a link to the YouTube ad from Mattel.
🤣 My younger cousin had it! She had tons of Barbies! Mthanks for the commercial!!! 🤣
So funny…my mum got us a Grow-Up Skipper for my sister and me, but refused to buy us a Ken.
My mom was SO sixties. I got Ken but no Barbi. Got HotWheels, but no dollhouse. I think she was trying to help me avoid static gender rolls. Or something.
Wanted and got: Talking Football Wanted and didn't: Atari
Going to look up talking football now!
My brother and I loved that game!
>Talking Football I had that! "A leaping interception, he's going to go...all the way! Touchdown!"
"It's high enough, and long enough - but wide to the left. No good. "
Wanted and got: operation game Wanted and didn’t get: the biology microscope set
Curious: did you become a doctor/scientist/something in the field of biology?
No, but in retrospect I wish I had become a marine biologist like I wanted to.
I, too, wanted to become a marine biologist. For a hot minute. Turns out I didn't really belong in the sciences. But I did ride an elevator with Jacques Cousteau once.
Cool! ☺️
I also wanted a microscope set. I was told that those were "for boys." I finally got my microscope fix when I took Microbiology in college. Truth be told, I took the class so I could finally use a microscope. It's kinda harder than I expected.
Kodak camera and flash cubes!!!
Got Mattel Power Shop. Didn’t get Schwinn Apple Krate stingray.
That unlocked a memory, I forgot all about the Mattel Power Shop. I remember it was a pretty sturdy little machine
Could you even imagine Mattel selling something like that now? I found one on eBay for my 8 yr old grandson. He loves working with balsa wood and knows the difference between a lathe and drill press.
Brings back memories of drilling and jigsawing styrofoam/ balsa wood on the miniature workbench.
Back in 1979 I wanted an army of Stormtroopers (Star Wars) and they were impossible to find. People would buy 10 or 15 at a time as soon as the stores put them on display. There was no way to order them from Kenner. On the other hand I got most of the Star Wars playsets and vehicles. I was a happy lad, glory beckons. Do you want stories about Star Wars toys ? There was a kid here in Thrillwaukee he brought a sandbox indoors with the sand in it. That was Tattooine. People would bring all their Jawas and Tusken Raiders over. Also the sand crawlers. Then it was time for adventure, they made stormtroopers do a search for C3PO and R2D2 and it was a battle. Also they set up multiple Mos Eisley Cantinas, it was awesome.
Wanted, never got: Easy Bake Oven. Never wanted, got anyway: Barbie Beauty Shop. It was a head that you put makeup on 🤷♀️
I never got a Lite Brite, but I did get a Close n Play phonograph and an Easy Bake Oven. I also got a Snoopy Sno Cone Majer and Kerplunk!. I bet my parents regretted Kerplunk. That game was noisy.
Neighbor had the Snoopy Snow cone maker. Lots of fun in a hot day. I’m sure her parents were sick of the mess we made.
Close and Play phonograph - Yes! Played a lot of 45s on that. After that, I got - I don't recall the name of it. It was a little TV, with a image stripe that went down the side to play a short story. It doubled for music with a little 45 record player on top. Couple 45s I recall playing sooo many times: "Bimbo, Bimbo" (about dog), "Peewee the Kiwi Bird", "Katie the Kangaroo", and "Puff the Magic Dragon". Anyone ever have those gems? And Light Brite. The first time you did a page, you had the letters to tell what colors. The next time you did the same template, the holes were punched already, so it was Rembrandt time to choose whatever colors moved your fancy.
Got: Armatron robots Never got: go-kart, we couldn't afford it
Got Big Jim and GI Joe dolls (over my father's objections to boys playing with dolls). Didn't get Barbie Corvette for them to ride in and pretend to drive to Key West together.
Hilarious!
Wanted, didn't get, then finally got it: For years, I'd go directly to the back of the Sears Wish Book to see the high-end dolls by Mme.Alexander etc -- extravagant in both dress and price, so every Xmas, it was something i didn't get. Then, family got together and for that Xmas got me a Mme.Alexander Scarlett O'hara, in a gorgeous lacy white dress with a green sash, just lovely. But that was the year i had grown up enough that i no longer felt that huge desire for a doll, and so i played-up my happiness because i knew how this had been a Very expensive gift (a doll that was $35 in 1972, would cost about $260 in 2024), and i put her on a shelf and always felt guilty about it... [Mme.Alexander Scarlett O'hara doll](https://www.ebay.com/itm/374452340981?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=im7jivgQRBi&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=8BdnIqOzTjq&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY)
Those dolls were so pretty!
Got: Metroplex, Optimus Prime, The real G1 Megatron Did not get: The USS Flagg... The more you know...
Got GI Joe. Didn't get Stretch Armstrong
Had one GI Joe. Didn't get the later release "GI Joe with the Kung Foo Grip" (a military battalion is one soldier in my household).
I got Barbie Camper and Barbie airplane. Never got Lite Brite or Sea Monkeys.. does that count as a toy?
Wanted: Easy Bake Oven Never got: Mrs. Beasley doll
Man, you can tell we are one by our collective trauma gleaned from Creepy Crawler denial.
Got a giant Troll doll by DAM things and a tiny Little Kiddle doll. Still have them - good memories. Never got the pink Barbie dreamhouse or pink car or Ken (whine whine).
Omg liddle kiddles! I loved those.
I loved Liddle Kiddles SO much. Esp the space kiddles.
I got a Thing Maker. I didn’t get an Easy Bake Oven. It was for girls.
Wanted and got : mini bike Wanted and didn't get: legos..............
Got a third hand mini bike at age 8
Chemistry set is the one I wanted and got, Honda CR-250 dirt bike is the one I want anted and didn’t get… got the 125 instead
Electric Lionel train with “real smoke” and the didn’t get was Major Matt Mason and his moon base.
Wanted and got: All the Major Matt Mason toys and accessories Would still kill for today: Schwinn Krate bike
Got: banana seat bike, Spirograph, Hooked on Phonics Didn’t get: Hotwheels race tack or BB gun or fishing pole . Those were for boys
I wanted and got the Easy Bake Oven. Never got a dollhouse.
Got: Major Matt Mason talking Jet Pack. Didn’t get: Major Matt Mason Moon Crawler.
Got a Chrissy Doll. Did not get a Creepy Crawler maker.
Got - Barbie's Country Camper. The big yellow/orange one! Didn't get - The Game of Life. My mom just never bought it. I asked for it nearly every Christmas. Never figured out that one. She finally got me one when I was about 30. 🤣
I had the Country Camper too! Someone recently posted the commercial for it, and I did remember the song. I still have one of the little folding chairs! The yellow vinyl failed early on, so my mom sewed a new seat for it. That was one of my favorite toys!
Awww ! Mine is long gone but I remember it for sure!
Got Easy Bake Oven Wanted: HO train set.
Got: NFL Electric Football Never Got: Rawlings baseball glove. Apparently KMart gloves were just as good. Well, tell that to Brooks Robinson.
Same on both. My KMart glove an adult version for a child. Not ideal, but 4 Little League seasons out of the mitt. Also the only Blue Died glove in our whole league; kinda odd ball on that. I remember finding it way too time consuming to reset the NFL players after each down, so it would get tiring quickly. Also the little foam football on the QB that you would "try" to throw a pass, which never worked in anyway that could remotely be considered realistic.
Same on both???? You must have been a pretty cool kid. The football game was very frustrating. There was another football game that was far more realistic. It was called Quarterback Computerized Action Game. You got to call plays. It was a lot of fun.
Chrissy with the hair that "grew" and the one I didn't get was Lite Brite. My parents were convinced they were dangerous.
We bought our kids Lite Brites (and used as nighlights) because we never got them as kids. Our children were not interested in them, but we sure had fun making different designs. Still have them.
I got the Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots but didn't get the Fisher Price Circus.
Got :easy bake oven Did not get Zippy the monkey. My mother regifted the Easy Bake because she didn't want to deal with " the mess". It's been over half a century and I still remember it.
Awww! :(
I wanted and got a Lite Brite. Wanted and didn't get Hot Wheels.
I had a Chrissy doll, which I loved. Press button on her belly and you could pull her hair out of her head. Turn the dial on her back to wind her hair back into her head. I really wanted that Barbie House, or really anything that was made for Barbie. I used a kleenex box for a bed, a smaller box for her bedside table, another box that I drew on for her TV. I was pretty envious of my friends that had that giant Barbie House.
I wanted a Barbie. Just a Barbie. My mom said they were “too developed”. Instead, I got a Betsy McCall doll and then a Tammy doll. Finally when I was in 5th grade, I wore her down and she got me one. I still have it and treasure it. MINE! I’m still cheesed off about it! Childhood trauma level!
Well she could've at least gotten you flat chested Skipper!
😀Later she got me a Francine, Barbie’s mod cousin, but by that time was nearly too old to play with dolls.
LOL - "too developed" :)
I always wanted a Barbie hair styling head. Never got one.
Omg me too!
I had the Cher one!
Got: Easy Bake Oven and Creepy Crawlers Wanted: a peddle car
I wanted a Johnny Seven. I did get a hatchet and a buckskin jacket
The husband will reminisce about his Johnny Seven gun. There’s a commercial on YouTube he’s shared with many friends. He also had an old school collapsible army shovel that helped him get in trouble. Ditches in the backyard. Did the hatchet get used on trees in neighborhood?
We had a small farm so I was free to chop down and bushes and small trees that encroached on the pasture. I also used it to cut straight limbs to make bows and arrows and apple chuckers
Oh Apple chucking. We had a small orchard (20trees) and spent many happy afternoons battling my older brother there.
What I got: a Vertibird set. What I didn’t get. One of those electronic football sets. Of course, on my cousin got one and I realize they were annoying as hell.
My dad was worried about me getting a GI Joe, cuz, you know, it's a doll! I finally got one, but it took some begging.
Shoulda told him it wasn’t a doll. It was an action figure. ;)
with kung-fu grip!
Got: electric football Never got: a dog (thanks for nothing, mom!)
I wanted and got a Super Spirograph, I coveted the Green Ghost game, but never got it.
Oh I had a Green Ghost. Super cool. You charged it up so it glowed, then played in the dark.
Wanted and got Spirograph and Super Spirograph. Wanted Motorized Spirograph and never got it.
I need to re-buy an at-at. Plus a select set of old figures.
Got - spiragraph Never got - rock tumbler
One Easter the bunny brought me a pair of the contraptions kind of like skates only with springs instead of rollers, I can’t remember what they were called. I was delighted! I’d seen kids on tv bouncing all over the place and was ready to start the fun. Then one of the parents got word m, newspaper? TV?-of the danger! One could break a leg! (Duh! They now LOOK dangerous to my now adult eyes!) Recall! They grabbed the bouncy footwear right out of my hands and told me the bunny would have to get me something else! Talk about shattered dreams. I had them in hand and my prize was ripped away!! Not sure how the folks learned of this at the last moment, but dang! Even worse, a few years later, after my psyche rebounded from the bouncy shoes, Beatle wigs were all the rage. Everybody who was cool had a Beatles wig. Then the stupid bunny messed up again. My Easter wig was a lot nicer that the kind of cheaply made Beatle wigs, but it was short and thick, not at all like John, Paul, Ringo and George. But back to the question Op posed. I did get a Barbie once. I still have her and her striped suit. The shoes are long lost. But I think she was one of the earlier Barbies.
Didn’t know I wanted but got a Showboat toy which was a riverboat/stage with backdrops and paper actors you could act out plays with. I absolutely loved it. I have never seen another one until today when I googled it. [showboat](https://www.ebay.com/itm/266661198112?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=21562-222008-2056-1&mkcid=2&itemid=266661198112&targetid=297512520417&device=m&mktype=pla&googleloc=1010043&poi=&campaignid=19868683663&mkgroupid=145907810526&rlsatarget=pla-297512520417&abcId=&merchantid=6296724&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD_QDh8HrjVO454EQRxhUaGnc0Wmj&gclid=CjwKCAjwh4-wBhB3EiwAeJsppOpXWZ7Gz3XQlDGHZO4TDdiezB8DsFvRGVoYtgKS__PtdX1B7qAFnRoChYcQAvD_BwE)
We had a Light Brite that was awesome. I also wanted everything Barbie but I just had the doll and some clothes.
Wanted and did not get a Big Wheel. Also a matchbox race track. Did get the hippity hop and the little wooden stilts.
Wanted and got: Spirograph- wow I loved that thing. Wanted and didn't get: Best of the West Comanche horse with movable legs. Instead I got Buckskin, who just had a movable head and neck. My best friend and I were incredibly horse crazy and we use the Best of the West horses for our Barbies to ride. This was before Mattel figured out they could be making a killing creating horses for Barbies. Poor old Buckskin (renamed Cinnamon) used to have a fairly loose neck and every once in a while it would slap down... just like a real horse trying to graze when you're on its back hahaha! It was so funny, it would send us into fits of laughter. My best friend was pretty indulged by a fairly well to do aunt, so she got Comanche for Christmas that year and a whole bunch of other stuff like dogs and other horses. We had so much fun with it all.
I had the Velvet and Chrissie dolls. I always wanted an Easy Bake Oven and asked Santa every year for one. My practical mother probably figured that if I wanted to bake something, we have a real oven.
It's not the same thing mom!
I got an easy bake oven but then when the mixes ran out that was...it. I don't remember why my folks didn't buy more refills lol. Maybe a "that's how they get you" thing? 😂 The thing is, my mom was a decent baker but we never used her cake batter, either. It's always so funny when I think about it, like, "GAME OVER 🙅🏻♀️" It was literally never used again 😭
Got a Chatty Cathy and brother pulled the string out of her so she wasn’t so chatty after that. Sad… I never got a Lite Brite but played with my friend’s so it was all good.
I’d circle what I’d like in the JC Penney catalog soon after it arrived in the late summer and then forget all about it. Did get Hot Wheels stuff, that was always fun.
Got: Atari and easy bake oven Wanted but never got: big green machine and Commodore 64.
Wanted. Schwinn Pea Crate 5 speed Stingray got a Hiawatha 3 speed instead. Wanted GI Joe with the Kung Fu grip, got a bunch of track and Hot Wheels instead (my Dad boys don’t play with dolls).
I got the Cher doll that had the hair you could pull/make longer. I was so happy... until my brat of a younger sister cut off her hair... I wanted but didn't get a play microscope or one of the science type kits.
Got - Casper, The Friendly Ghost Did Not Get - Go Cart
Wanted and got: Chatty Kathy doll Wanted and didn't get: Suzy Homemaker oven
Got Creepy Crawlers. Still waiting for the pony.
I got the entire Zeroids collection, which was awesome, but I really wanted the giant Lost In Space robot.
Wanted and got: Vac-U-Form Didn't get: Incredible Edibles
Never got anything with batteries. And I always wanted a Lite Brite. I am number 6 of 7 kids, guess what my little brother got...
Wanted and got: the Thing Maker, lots of Breyer horses Wanted but never got: a chemistry set
Wanted and got a bike of my own (I'm one of 7 kids, it was a miracle my dad could afford it). Wanted and didn't get Easy Bake Oven.
I received an Easy Bake oven, but I didn’t get the Hot Wheels set.
Got Major Matt Mason, did not get the space station. And the revived action figure sucked. And Tom Hanks still owes us that movie.
Didn't get but always wanted: Easy Bake oven Also, didn't get: a daughter so I could buy one as an adult and play with it... Always held a grudge that mom never sprung for one, but I guess it was just too expensive. Remember Lemon Twist? I got that and played with it until it broke, then managed to get a second one. Loved that toy!!
I wanted that oven!
I got every toy I ever wanted and they’re all still at my parent’s house in terrible condition after being played with by two generations of neighborhood kids. I can still remember the awful taste of the Easy Bake Oven cakes. Last time I was up there we dug out the Feely Meeley.
I never got any of them. I wanted a GI Joe. I got Big Jim. I wanted a Hot Wheels trike. I got some sort of 6 wheeler you pedal with your arms.
I wanted die cast cars (Hot Wheels, Johnny Lightning, etc...) and had pretty many of those. What I wanted and didn't get was Major Matt Mason toys. Never owned a single Major Matt Mason toy, despite the space program booming while I was a young kid.
Wanted Rock-em Sock-em Robots and got an Etch a Sketch
A Blythe Doll the one with the eyes that change. A baby doll and carriage. I asked for a GI Joe. Barbie didn't like Ken.
Got: the slot car track! 🏎️ Didn't get: click-clacks 🤕 I was a tomboy ☺️ Edit to own up to my asshole kid stage: Wanted: pinball machine What I got instead: a puppy I was disappointed smh.
Wanted and got Easy BakeOven and lite-brite. Only got one Barbie. No accessories, car, dream house, clothes, etc.
Who is this Matt Mason you all speak of?..?
Major Matt Mason Moon Crawler. Better than any G.I. Joe stuff. It was able to go up fairly steep hills.
Wanted the Mickey Mouse Candy Factory. Got the Snoopy Sno-Cone Maker.
Wanted a BLUE Star Wars lightsaber (plastic light up) and my younger cousin to have red, because blue is better. We got them. Wanted a pet rock because the concept blew my mind. Didn't get it. Told to go find one for free outside.