CIJ 2023 Christmas Through the Decades 1970's: Hot Toys and Gifts

[jampss]

Day 1
HOT TOYS AND GIFTS

Happy Christmas in July 2023!! You are now entering the 1970's!! Groovy!!

Let's take a look back on how Christmas was being celebrated during the era of the first Earth day, the energy crisis, computer-generated effects in movies, Dallas, the VCR, the launch of Saturday Night Live, the Antiwar Movement, Watergate, Pong, the first ATM, Apple computer started up, Walkman, Skylab, bell bottoms, and disco. I was 7-16 years old from 1970-79. These were my childhood years!

I found this article while searching the topic of Christmas in the '70's. How fun it was to remember McDonald's gift certificates, Stretch Armstrong, Star Trek/Star Wars toys, Jello, Coke's "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", and ... and looking forward to Charlie Brown's Christmas on TV every season!!


20 Ways Christmas Was Better in the '70s
Between Charlie Brown and food in Jell-O molds, there was nothing like a very '70s Christmas
https://bestlifeonline.com/70s-christmas



Toys!!
I didn't realize that the pocket camera was a "toy" for adults. While I did have one of these as a teen, I also was given my grandfather's (mom's dad) old Polaroid as a Christmas gift one year! Loved that thing!!!

Christmas in the 1970s - Life in America – about 8 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aZhCfw3Owg

Most Popular Toys Of The 1970s – about 10 minutes
Wow, it's crazy but ... we three kids had most of the toys shown! Talk about too much "stuff"!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sAMykZ3BR0



Going to Lazarus Department store downtown Columbus, Ohio at Christmas time with their wonderful magical window displays and the 6th floor converted into Santa's Toy Land was a highlight! Also ... my dad worked there! The "Kid's Store" was great fun because we kids could 'shop' with the preset an amount of money parents set. So, the secret of what we bought each family member was kept a secret until Christmas morning. The helper elves made sure all the kids shopped within their limits.

Lazarus’ Santaland Was The Most Magical Christmas Destination In Columbus
https://www.columbusnavigator.com/santaland-lazarus-columbus/

*** I didn't know this!!! " ... Lazarus had so much pull that Fred Lazarus Jr. successfully lobbied President Franklin Roosevelt to permanently fix Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November so that stores could have a reliable timeline to start the holiday shopping season."

I watched reruns of Star Trek after school every day! BIG fan of Captain Kirk! I even have my own dolls still today!! They are packed away in my Memory Bin (The Minimal Mom on YT talks about memory bins!!)

Vintage Commercial: Star Trek Communicators
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXay4jr_Dlo&t=38s




Another hot toy was the dolls with growing hair! I had Crissy as I am brunette and my younger sister, by three years, was given Velvet, as she is a blonde. The button would either let you pull out the hair, or twist it back in for short hair! We sure had fun with them.


Does anyone else remember playing with Colorforms? I could sit with that for hours. We three (me, sis, and brother) had oodles of different Colorforms. We would mix up the sets and Snoopy and Scooby Do would have an adventure together! Another toy we could play with for a long time was the Magic Slate. My sister and I each had our slate and we would draw a squiggle and then trade. We would then have to draw something out of each other's squiggle. This was hours of entertainment!



The Most Popular Toys https://www.rd.com/list/most-popular-toys/
1970 NERF Ball
1971 Weebles
1972 Big Wheel
1973 Baby Alive
1974 Pong
1975 Pet Rocks
1976 The Green Machine
1977 Mattel Football
1978 Star Wars figures
1979 Strawberry Shortcake

Peace out until tomorrow when we look at:
1970's - Day 2 - TV SPECIALS & MOVIES & BOOKS

 

[halimer]

What wonderful memories!

 

[AuntJamelle]

I was born in 78 but I remember Colorforms!!!! I had forgotten all about how fun they were!

I also had several Magic Slates! Had forgotten about those too! Both toys were great for long car rides!

@jampss I would watch Star Trek reruns after I got home from school too - but for me it was The Next Generation We have Paramount streaming service so have been watching TOS episodes here and there - just for fun!

 

[Holiday_Mom]

I feel like I saw that Peanuts colorform before. I bet my brother had it or it came out as a retro game. I remember using Magic Slates though I didn't know it had a name until now. My brothers had Nerf footballs, Big Wheels and Star War figures. I had Baby Alive. Santa gave our daughters Nerf guns. I often wondered if it was really for the adults.

 

[GrammaDeb]

The 70s were an absolute whirlwind for us. High school graduation, college, marriage, military, and 5 babies all born before 1980. Tired of all the materialism, dh and I turned to simpler, homespun Christmases. We did buy a dd a Speak & Spell, which I snagged every time someone put it down - I loved it more than the kids. And the boys had a Big Wheel. We didn't buy many toys again until the 80s, when the kids were older. Instead we did lots of crafting, play doh, coloring, reading, sewing cards, board games, and playing outside. Our TV was rarely used, but we did watch all the Christmas cartoons. Started buying a Christmas album every year. Happy times.

 

[teachermomof2]

I remember colorforms, baby alive...my favorite doll of all time, Star Wars and the figurines, Strawberry Shortcake, Holly Hobbie, the Sears Wish Book, and of course, big wheels!

 

[AnnieClaus]

The 70's were my era of childhood.
I have wonderful, wonderful memories of Christmas.
How my parents did it on teacher's salaries is beyond me but Christmas was always special.

I remember the "Simon" toy and we had one and also Hobby Lobby was very popular!

Annie

 

[ChristmasPir8]

I was born in 73. I remember my brother getting Star Wars toys. I didn't get mine until the eqey 80s for the 3rd movie. I remember color forms, spirograph (guessing 80s) ,little people play sets,

 

[luludou]

Funny! I just found a Simon game in one of the basement closets and gave it to my grandson to play with last week!

 

[Lori K]

I was in high school in the 1970s, but had 3 younger sisters. So many of these ring true. One of my sisters had a Chrissy doll, and Simon drove us all nuts one year. David Cassidy was all the rage, along with Donny Osmond. And the Coca Cola song -- we all learned it and even sang it in choir. So many good memories here.

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

I was given a Velvet doll when I was about 10 (1975) and I still have her today. The 70's were my times so I know I am going to enjoy this.

 

[jampss]

@Lori K My ‘guy’ was …. Bobby Sherman!! He had the song, “Julie, Julie, Do Ya Love Me?”

So cool you still have your Velvet @sweetpumkinpye !!

 

[Myron's Mom]

I graduated in 75 so I was moving out of toys into other things. Records and clothes were more at the top of my list. I do remember David Cassidy and Bobby Sherman!
My ex husbands mother worked for American greetings so I ended up with tons of holly hobby, strawberry shortcake, etc stuff.

 

[AuntJamelle]

Strawberry Shortcake!!!! I LOVED her! Did anyone else have the small plastic figures that smelled like their flavors?

 

[Lori K]

Strawberry Shortcake!!!! I LOVED her! Did anyone else have the small plastic figures that smelled like their flavors?

My DD (b. 1982) fell in love with them! Her GM would buy them for her all the time and she had the carrying case to tote them with her back and forth from Chiago to Michigan (where GM lived). When I was packing to move out of our house, she found them in a bin in the basement and kept them -- some 35 years later, and many of them still had their scent. She has them tucked away, along with several other childhood favorites.

 

[GrammaDeb]

Strawberry Shortcake!!!! I LOVED her! Did anyone else have the small plastic figures that smelled like their flavors?

My youngest dd, who I live with now, loved strawberry shortcake dolls. I think she had all of them, and yes, they smelled so good. (Early 80s) I made her a quilt with the dolls all over - she might still have it. I made one for dd a year older than her too. Oldest dd got a Holly Hobby quilt.

 

[MinnieCo]

I remember things like the Easy Bake Oven, Simon, Speak and Spell, Barbie, Hello Kitty and the one and only Atari. I never owned an Atari, but my cousins did and I thought that was the BOMB!!!