Where To Watch
10 most wanted Christmas toys of the 1960s
All we wanted were small kitchen appliances and lifelike dolls.
Image: Thinkstock
Let's face it, kids just wanted to be little adults in the 1960s. From small kitchen appliances to baby dolls, the toys of that era were pretty mature.
Well, now the joke's on us. We would give anything to play with an Easy-Bake Oven again instead of cook dinner for our families.
These were the toys every kid wanted to find underneath the tree Christmas morning in the 1960s. Did you have any of them?
1. Chatty Cathy
This talking doll gave Barbie a run for her money in the 1960s, becoming the second highest-selling doll of the decade. Pull the string from her back and Cathy would speak one of 11 phrases. "I love you" was one, of course. Even Marcia Brady was a fan!
Image: mycomicshop.com
2. Ken Doll
Barbie made her debut in 1959, and went without a companion for two years before Ken arrived in 1961. The doll had "real" hair (made of felt) its first year on the market before getting a plastic 'do.
3. Barbie's Dream House
Dolls were hot commodities in the 1960s, and they needed a place to live. In 1962, some prime real estate opened up for Barbie - a cardboard ranch complete with mid-century modern furniture. Years later, she would add levels and decadence to her abode.
Image: flickriver
4. Easy-Bake Oven
Teaching kids how to bake at a very young age, the Easy-Bake Oven utilized two light bulbs and came in two colors — yellow and light blue.
Image: Pinterest
5. G.I. Joe Doll
Dolls got a little more masculine in the mid '60s with the introduction of G.I Joe. An army of little plastic toy soldiers just couldn't stand up to Hasbro's mighty doll.
Image: Action Man HQ Forum
6. Wham-O Super Ball
Wham-O produced many of the most memorable children's toys of the 1960s and 1970s, but this was one of the most popular. The company's "super" rubber contained polybutadiene, hydrated silica, zinc oxide and stearic acid. But who cares, those things could BOUNCE!
Image: Pinterest
7. Suzy Homemaker
Like "Chatty Cathy," Suzy Homemaker was so popular, it became part of the American vernacular. This line of shrunken appliances, introduced in 1966, momentarily made children forget about their Easy-Bake Ovens.
Image: Lizzie Tish Vintage
8. Lite-Brite
When launched in 1967, Lite-Brite was billed in catalogs as "an amazing new toy that lets a child color with light." It came with 16 pre-printed picture sheets to lay on the "magic box." Soon enough, kids across the country quickly learned what real anger felt like when the box was tipped over while working.
Image: nostalgicevocations
9. Hot Wheels
Matchbox had been selling tiny cars since for over a decade when Mattel jumped in the game with Hot Wheels in 1968. The initial line of models included American muscle like Camero, Corvette, Firebird, Mustang and more.
Image: White Metal
10. Flatsy Dolls
Ideal Toy Company premiered these sort-of-two-dimensional dolls at the end of the decade. They came in three sizes, and each with a theme. These groovy, mod relics are quite collectible.
Image: National Museum of Play
15 Comments
ghaha
