Well, Christmas is already a distant tinkle of fading bells and the pattern of the Seasons moves ever onward, In Childhood Januaries past I would have been still been playing with my new toys from Christmas Day. Having explored every detail of the main items I would have shifted to the smaller gifts by now. So, maybe munching the very last picnic from my month-old selection box, these were the kinds of little things I loved:
Wallwalkers - these were amazing plastic frames with suckers that you placed on a window and watched them 'walk' downwards. I remember a purple one with a squished up face. Brilliant toys.
Action Man carded accessories - medic sets, signalman sets and radio operator sets. My favourite carded set was the rifle rack. I can almost feel the various plastic army rifles stood up in the plastic stand. The blunderbus-like weapon has always stayed in my mind.
Superballs - I loved these. Basically they were hard rubber balls that bounced so high you didn't think they were coming back down! Science for kids!
Zowees - these were little deformed Hot Wheels-like die-cast vehicles by Mattel. I remember a sort of Beverly Hillbillies truck the most. They had tiny wheels.
Zowies Jets? - no idea what these were called or whether they were anything to do with Zowies but they've stuck together in my memory. These jets were tiny and had similar wheels to Zowies. They were die-cast I think and looked like a smaller version of the front jet on the SWORD Booster Rocket. Anyone remember them?
Plastic Bi-planes - again, I don't know who made these but I adored them. Basically they were very brightly coloured bi-planes from World War I. They were plastic and easilly broke but looked so cool! Ring any bells?
What smaller toys do you remember from Christmases past readers?
Superballs - oh where have they all vanished? Used to block whole streets to have a match as kids. Could see them as precious collectibles today, like rare marbles.
ReplyDeleteYour selection box lasted 'till nearly February? You lying lie-boy liar! They never lasted 'till 12th night!
ReplyDeleteRemember the little Mattel cars, we got the Devil, Mexican, the pick-up and the Western Wagon in our stockings around ,73/'74....years before the German Kinder collectors attribute them to Kinder! Zowees?
H
Zowees indeed Hugh! HotWheels for the smaller appetite! ha ha. They were great. Do you recall those little die cast planes? I didn't know that Kinder did Zowees later on!
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