Having decided to forego Christmas gifts this year for the adults in my life, I concentrated on buying for the little people I love: a nephew, a niece, a great nephew and his half-siblings, and the three grandchildren of our best friends. I was blessed as a child with a mother who loved Christmas and I, in turn, love playing Santa Claus for these kids who are like our surrogate children.
These “kids” range in age from two to almost twenty-two, all ages that I am far removed from. At a loss for what kids these days want outside of video games, I did a Google search for the top toys for kids in 2023. Up popped a list, since you can find anything on the internet.
Near the top of the list was a Bratz Kylie Jenner Doll dressed like a mini Goth prostitute. Let me just say, as a child, I loved dolls. I asked for and received Baby Tender Love (the first soft, real feeling baby doll), Velvet (a blonde doll with hair that grew long if you pulled her ponytail and went back to short when you turned a knob on her back), and Tiffany Taylor (a blonde/brunette doll with a tiny mechanism that rotated on the top of her head to change her hair color back and forth). Full disclosure …. I played with Barbie dolls until I was at least thirteen, then gave them away to my aunt’s stepdaughter, then regretted that decision almost immediately. I know about all of the feminist rigamarole concerning Barbie not being a good role model for girls because of her unattainable figure, blah, blah, blah. I also know that I didn’t want to BE Barbie as a child. I just wanted to dress her up in all those beautiful clothes, make her dive off the diving board of our backyard pool, make her ride on my skateboard down our long concrete driveway, and play with the cool Barbie camper I got as a Christmas gift when I was about nine. I’ve always laughed at the hoopla surrounding Barbie’s image, but Mattel took it seriously enough that there are now Barbie’s with every occupation you can think of, including gynecology. (I know this because I bought the play set that includes twin babies Barbie has just delivered for someone on my list this year.) When I looked at that Kylie Jenner doll, I felt so many things: old, disgusted, sad. First, what kind of world are we living in when any of the Jenner/Kardashian family are seen as role models for little kids … or anyone else, for that matter? Second, who would want to give a kid a doll that was dressed like a hooker?
Further down the list were both a Bitzee Interactive Digital Pet and a Dog-E Interactive Robot Dog. I almost shot tea out of my nose when I saw those. I’m giggling now, thinking about how thrilled our parents would have been back in the 1960s and 70s, when we were kids, to get away with getting us a fake pet. My older brother, Curtis, and I were constantly wanting a new puppy or kitten. The answer was usually “NO!” because our parents could see through those promises that we would feed, clean up after, and pay attention to the unsuspecting animal in question once the cuteness of animal babyhood wore off. I imagine interest in these digital pets probably has about the same lifespan. The poor things will probably wind up thirsty, hungry, and confined to a draw or the bottom of a toy box before New Year’s Day.
Maybe I’m wrong about that. After all, Mom was wrong about that Lite-Brite from Hasbro that I begged for for two years before I got it for Christmas when I was ten or eleven. Curtis and I were avid Saturday morning Warner Brothers cartoon watchers. Savvy advertisers for everything from sugary cereal to toys filled every commercial spot during Bugs Bunny with catchy jingles to sell their wares. “Lite-Brite … making things with Li-i-ight!” put a hook in me, for sure. Mama said, “I’m not wasting money on that. You will never play with it!” Boy, was she wrong about that. When I ran out of the black pattern sheets included with the light box I just made up my own patterns for years. I never owned an Etch-A-Sketch, but had always wanted one. I think the Lite-Brite was similar in that it was a simple way to make art, which I loved. I so coveted my brother’s Spirograph that I would sneak into his room and “borrow” it, along with his dozens of colored pencils, whenever he was out of the house. I thank Judy Hefner, my elementary school Art teacher for inspiring me to create. From the first time I used those finger paints in her class, I have loved to create art whether it was with Play-Doh, Crayons, Lite-Brite, Spirograph or cross-stitch needles.
Make It Real Mini Pottery Studio from this year’s top gifts list was intriguing to my creative side. It also, for some reason, reminded me of another gift I coveted, but never got: the Easy Bake Oven by Kenner. Whoever came up with the concept of baking Betty Crocker cake mixes with two 60 watt light bulbs was a genius. Every girl I knew wanted an Easy Bake Oven. Instead, I got a set of mini appliances including a refrigerator, oven, sink and clothes washer and a bunch of miniature canned goods, cereal boxes, and food-shaped plastic toys. You would think I would have pitched a fit, but I loved playing Susie Homemaker and Store with those toys.
The same year I got the appliances, Curtis received The Legendary Noble Knights by Marx Toys. The set included Sir Gordan and his horse, Bravo, and Sir Stuart and his horse, Valor. The knights came with an array of weapons and full body armor for both the knights and the horses. The horses had little rollers on their feet so you could move them across the floor. One of my favorite pictures is of the two of us with Mama on Christmas morning, just before we left to go to Grandma Cartner’s for lunch. As Curtis looks on, grinning at his armor-clad knights, I am affixing my first Barbie, side-saddle, onto Bravo. This year’s list included Playmobil’s Rainbow Castle in the Clouds complete with princesses and a pegasus. Somehow I think I would have loved that!
That list I found online illustrated perfectly how times have changed in so many ways, both good and bad. The Barbie Dreamhouse Dollhouse now comes with a Wheelchair-Accessible Elevator. In addition to swimsuits and evening gowns, you can get a Barbie who is into mountain biking, a Hawaiian or Ethiopian Barbie, or an obviously gay Ken doll. Instead of Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs, Legos are all the rage now. While the former would cost you just a few bucks and required a lot of imagination and creativity to play with, Lego sets can range into the hundreds of dollars and come with detailed instruction manuals that describe exactly how they should be put together. While we were thrilled to receive board games like Monopoly or Candyland, today kids’ games are mostly digital, cell phone based, or electronic systems to hook up to computers or TVs. They have no need for real life friends to play with out in the yard because they can jump on their PSwhatever system and play games with people all over the world.
After some scrutiny, I ditched the list of most popular toys of 2023. I went with the basics, remembering what I loved receiving the most as a kid. I bought a couple of Barbies with real life professions for the little girls in my life. I bought books and stuffed Paddingtons and Cliffords to go along with them. I bought sports gear for my teenage nephew who loves the Celtics and clothes and bath products for his older sister. No virtual pets, no gift cards, no inappropriately dressed hoochie dolls, just classic, timeless gifts that I hope they will treasure in years to come like I do the ones I was fortunate enough to get. I hope they will grow up with the fond memories I have of us gathered around the tree, laughing, talking, and celebrating the birth of our savior with tokens of love from “Aunt Robin” and “Uncle Darryl”.
Robin's Eggs 