Presents of Yesteryear…

I walked past a display for “the biggest toy this Christmas” on my way to university the other day, and it made me realise something – I’m totally out of the loop when it comes to trends in toys. Not surprising given that I’m a 21 year old with no children in my household, but I used to actually look forward to predicting the presents that every child in my school would receive that year… based off of the fact that I too was a child, I suppose!

It got me thinking about all the presents I wanted or received as a child (that I can remember, at least!) and I thought it’d be fun to reflect on my past Christmas wishlists…

 

Barbie Airplane

This is ALWAYS the first present that springs to mind when I look back on my childhood. Does anyone remember this!? It was so magical, from being able to change the windows from day to night views and speaking into the little microphone and sounding like an actual air hostess. My only issue was that I was so excited to get it, that I stuck on the stickers included all wrong and pretty much ruined the aesthetics… I must have been around 5 when I got this?

 

Bratz Cadillac

 

Another memorable gift – I got this with my first two Bratz dolls, and it kickstarted a number of years obsessing over collecting dolls that I didn’t even really play with, but just admired. This car was everywhere at the time, with so many cool features for a 6 year old, including a working radio! I always remember getting the radio to work and listening to Evergreen by Will Young (number 1 in the charts at the time, I feel old) – at which point it died forevermore. Gutting.

 

Furby

The original Furby, that is! The craze that hit a few years ago when they were relaunched brought back awful memories of this present… I was too young to really be aware that these were so in demand back then (I must have been in nursery?) but I was pretty excited to have the closest thing to a pet – and he talked! Or at least, he did talk until he malfunctioned randomly and just made hissing noises at random times. No amount of battery replacements could save him, and he finally met his demise when he ended up scaring me so much that my parents had to hide him in our coal bunker.

 

VideoNow

This was an item that I wished and wished for, but never actually got – although I ended up with a CD walkman that year, so I was pretty happy! I’ve included this one just because I think it’s hilarious how desperately I wanted it looking back now… All I remember from wanting a VideoNow was that they were advertised on kids TV channels allll day. They were basically portable video players (note the word video) that you could buy cartridges of TV shows for, and I was convinced it was the most innovative creation ever… Looking back now, I’m glad my parents predicted the popularity of portable DVD players and TV show downloads for iPods.

 

iPod Nano 3rd Generation

Speaking of which, this is a gift that brought a start to a long love of music. I actually still have it to this day, despite numerous iPhones and variations of iPod. I love it!

 

Barbie Beetle

THIS BEETLE. I was ecstatic to receive this present – I don’t remember ever spotting it and asking for it, but it ended up being one of the most memorable toys for everyone in my house. I refused to sleep unless it was tucked up in the bed with me… but I also refused to sleep in my own bed at that age, so the Barbie Beetle slept above me and inbetween my poor parents. My mum ended up passing it on to a younger child when I stopped playing with Barbies and I’m still bitter about it to this day.

 

Wii

Practically every family I knew got one of these  – I feel like I don’t need to explain this one! Wii Sports tennis is still my absolute fave, and I’m definitely searching out my console when I go home for Christmas.

 

Barbie in the Nutcracker doll

I LOVED this doll! She was released to go along with the Barbie in the Nutcracker film released that year, and was able to bend her limbs to create ballet poses. Pink + Barbie = happy small Hannah.

 

Sony Ericsson W580i

I wasn’t as quite a small child when I received this, but was anyone else part of the gang that seemed to come back from the Christmas holidays in 2008 as an owner of one of these phones!? I thought I was so cool until I realised there was about 10 of us in my year alone with one… there was 30 of us in my year. A third of the class. Whit.