nostalgia Christmas

11 tiny toys that were always stuffed in our stockings back in the day

We still remember the smell of caps.

Nov 23, 2016, 1:09PM By MeTV Staff

Thanks to today's micro technology, you can stuff some big-ticket items into stockings. Heck, there could be a Go Pro, an iPhone and a Fitbit in that big sock over the fireplace.

When we were kids, the toys inside stockings were more of the five-and-dime variety, little tchotchkes made of plastic, tin and wood. Perhaps your parents bought you one of those pre-stuffed stockings, the big suckers made of red mesh, bulging with cheap playthings. Take the one up top, for example, from a 1975 Sears catalog.

Did you get any of these things in your Christmas stocking? Of course, there was always candy, too.

1. Balsa wood airplanes

If you could make these unpredictable gliders merely get across the living room, you deserved a career path in aerospace engineering.

Image: airplanebasic / Pinterest

2. Jacks

How good were you at the old game of knucklebones?

Image: Thinkstock

3. Cap Bombs

We can still smell the sulfur in those rolls of paper caps.

Image: bathman-cooper / eBay

4. Marbles

Do you remember the difference between an agate and a cat's eye?

Image: Thinkstock

5. Parachute Jumper Army Men

So much better than the regular old army men.

Image: VINTAGE5AN10CENTSHOP / Etsy

6. Yo-Yos

Do you think you could still "walk the dog"?

Image: yoyoplay

7. Plastic Boats

Those pre-stuffed mesh stockings from the store always seemed to have a little plastic boat inside.

Image: Ruby Lane

8. Floating ball game

It was just like Pokémon Go, except instead of walking around outside while staring at a smartphone, you blew into a pipe and floated a ping pong ball.

Image: Retro Planet