my dolls

My freshman year in college, parents upsized to a larger home and doing so in clearing the the old house she got rid of all my cherished dolls, sigh!

Yes, my favorite childhood toy was one my carpenter granddaddy made for me. I loved the character Jiggs, he made a wooden one for me that was about 3 feet tall. It has to be somewhere in our farmhouse. Noticed it was missing many years ago. Mother cleaned out the house and we looked everywhere for my Jiggs. Would have been so happy if we had found. I would take him outside and pretend we were dancing, having tea parties in the barn , dragging him up and down the dirt driveway. Now you youngsters may have to look up Jiggs. Reading your post about dolls, I have two , bride dolls that I received when I was 8 and 9. I am 82 and always treasured my dolls.

I wish I still had the Nancy Drew books written in the 1930's and 1940's which were passed down to me. My mother sold them while I was at university.

I still have my two Madame Alexander large 12" dolls -- Little Women -- Meg and Laurie. What I wish I still had are the original boxes they came in, sadly long gone.

The Xmas after I received Meg, my mother - in secret, of course - made her a lovely wardrobe which was presented in a sweet dome-shaped wooden trunk. Black silk bustled dress, parasol to match with a deep pink silk lining, pink cotton summer dress, pale blue thin silk nightgown. I loved it all! Sad that no granddaughter wanted them...

My father threw everything out. I collected clippings of my favorite stars and they were kept in an antique wooden box and he pitched them. What really made me mad was the under the tree tableau that I set up every year was thrown out. There were the wooly sheep, the celluloid reindeer, little red barn, a mirror with snow on it and a little wooden fence. I will never forgive him for this as I would have used it every year under my Xmas trees.

Growing up we had the Child Craft books with the beautiful hand drawn illustrations that she had gotten from her mom. I also had a lamp in my room of a large toadstool with faeries underneath it that my mom had painted. My mom would be the first to say she doesn't have an artistic bone in her body but it was very well done.

When I asked about them years later she had given the books away and thinks she sold the lamp at a garage sale. I was so surprised and disappointed that she didn't have either. I was able to buy a set of books from Ebay but I can't replace the lamp.

This has happened with other items too so now my sisters and I speak up about what we want to inherit. My mom takes it as us trying to bump her off which of course is not the case.

I'd like to have my trolls. I don't know where they ended up. I had a little one with green hair, a regular sized one with orange-red hair, and another regular size one with scraggly gray hair. I also loved our fisher-price circus, but Mom handed it down to younger cousins. Oh look! There's one available on ebay. But I'll pass *sigh*

The hand-me-down Barbie I inherited from my cousin who was 8 years older than me. Looking at the timeframe and pictures I have seen online, it was one of the first Barbies. I really wasn't into dolls at the time. She and her original 1959 wardrobe were lost in a waterheater flood. They might have been worth something intact.

Newborn Thumbelina, working washing machine for kids - I had so much fun with it, My original Schwinn bike (it was for boys or girls, just inserted a bar for boys).

Not a toy but when I was about 11 my mother got an electric sewing machine. Her old treadle machine was put up in the attic and I would go up there and sew on it. When I was 14 we moved to another house and (unbeknownst to me) my father took that machine to the dump. I was heartbroken when I found out although he said my mother had to let me use her electric one.

I still have my Chatty Cathy I received for my 5th birthday in 1965. Today I was looking at her contemplating if I should sell. Maybe this thread is an omen.

I liked taking apart and putting together my Mr Machine

I also loved making things with my brother's Vac-U-Form

Probably not as interesting as I remember it but before the family moved to the country and it was boxed up I had a pressed metal doll house that had a few pieces of furniture and people. It was never unboxed and when the box was torn moving something I was forbidden to take it out and play with it.

There are a few dolls I wish I still had. One was a Tiny Tears which was left behind at the hospital after I was in there for febrile seizures and the other was my Thumbelina doll. I also wish I still had my cardboard Barbie house and furniture which my Dad burned in the coal stoker after I forgot to put it away. If anything was left out including school books my Dad would burn them. The other thing is a child's china tea set I received in the mail from my Aunt Elizabeth. I was thrilled when I received that gift, it was so special. Three of us cousins received the set. My cousin Rose still has hers. I have no clue what happened to mine.

My china dog collection. I don’t really want it but I’d love to see it again. My sister collected horses and I collected dogs. When I was 13 we moved and I don’t remember seeing it after that. For all I know it’s in a box in my mother’s attic. However, I have a sneaking suspicion it was sent off the the thrift shop. The one I remember most was a white poodle with curls that I called Coconut.

I still have all of my dolls and it’s hard to part with them. Might have been easier if my mother had gotten rid of them so I wouldn’t have to. She saved everything. Except my china dog collection!

I'd like to have my hot wheels & match box cars. I had quite a collection.

I wish my husband had his baseball cards. He had some that now would have brought some major $$. Unfortunately, his Dad pitched everything the kids had, except for their school papers. Father in law just didn't see the need in keeping anything.

I loved playing house and had all sorts of things for my dolls. I had a bathanet that I could fill with water to bathe my dolls. I also had a set of glass bottles with the rings and caps just like the real babies had. It even had a sterlizer pot and rack. My Dad made a little chiffarobe for me that had a hanging rod and a little drawer below. I still have a set of glass dishes that I received when I was about 6. It is not fiesta ware but looks just like it.

I am very embarrassed to say that most of my childhood toys and books are in my or my parents basement. I keeo coming across them as I clean their house out. Except for Chatty Cathy, who I hurled across the room in a tantrum; forever after she spoke garbled gobbledy-gook. I kind of miss Thumbelina, though, I loved they way she moved.

Oh, and I found boxes of books in their attic, where I had never been before.

Just last night I was thinking of the wood burning set (controlled burn for decorative use) I was given when I had a long illness and had to be kept inactive. I liked it then, but I think I'd get much more out of it now, as I can think of a lot more things to use it on, things that I would not have had permission to alter as a kid. I'd maybe burn some basket weave patterns onto the backs and legs of my light wood dining chairs, for instance.

I think the childhood wood burner was really just a soldering iron. I do have one. Should try it out on wood.

Mego 2-XL Robot. It came with trivia type games on 8 tracks. .

There is a faux Hummel boy in my china cabinet from 1960's. I have no idea what happened to the girl.

Trolls from 1980's-90's are in my basement from kiddos childhood. I wish their clothes had been saved as they are all pantless.

I had entire Dawn Doll collection. Sold it to collector for$500 sight unseen.

Loved my betsy wetsy doll!

I was a tom boy. . My prized toy was the baseball glove my father bought me with Mickey Mantles signature stamped on it. I still have it.

I was given a doll, probably for Christmas in the early 1950's that was a precursor to the Chatty Cathy doll (dolls that talked). The one I had, had a small record/disc player inside the chest and several different discs you could exchange for different conversations. I loved that doll; I have no idea what happened to her, but she probably broke and was tossed. I've never found out what brand she was, as I can't seem to find anything similar on the internet, I have the feeling she would be worth a lot of $$ now.

Not really toys. There was a story book my godmother had given me. I really loved it. My parents both have some sort of issue with stuff, and seem to have only allowed us to have stuff so that they could have the pleasure of throwing it out when we were at school and couldn't fight for it. Anyway,she donated the storybook. It hurt me that she did that. When I was old enough to order from ebay, I found it and bought it and she donated that one too. I decided not to buy anymore of anything that really mattered until i was out of their house. And i didnt. Although i haven't found another copy of that book since.

The very first barbie...no real hair, in a striped bathing suit and wigs in a little

case. Collector's item. No clothes other than home-made ones though.

Bought at a yard sale...way, way long ago. ;) And a "hi-wheeler" tricycle..hand-me-

down from my big sister. Don't know what year it was...but my Dad had it repainted

for me. Bright Red. :)

I had a farm set....lithographed barn with animals, fences, and even the farmer. I still have some of the animals.

My mom saved all of my favorite toys as she can't part with anything. I have my Barbie's from the late 50's, Barbie's green cardboard dream house, Chatty Cathy, Thumbelina and a lot of their clothes. She also saved my brother's toys.

I had a large model of a 1964 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud, which was my favorite toy car, and my brother Mike destroyed it, like he did with all the other toys that he was given. Mike is five years younger than I am.

Sadly, no. I thought most were useless. However, I did find Betsy Wetsy mildly entertaining for about five minutes. Interestingly and thankfully, my two kids could get lost in imaginative play for hours and hours. I loved watching them and marveled at their imaginations. ETA that I always enjoyed books.

My sister and I loved going into the attic and playing dress up with whatever we found in my mothers cedar chest.

My mother gave away my three favourite child hood things. Though very disappointed to learn of it, I couldn't really hold it against her. I had moved away for a job in a large city after college, and my younger siblings eventually did the same.

Our mother just assumed that anything 'old' my siblings and I hadn't taken with us, must not be that dear to us, as we'd taken our current favourite things with us when we moved out, like record players, albums, etc. So when Mom decided to downsize, she just really didn't think to call and ask us kids if anything we hadn't played with, read or worn in years, would be something we'd want to keep, and we couldn't blame her for thinking that.

Hence my 1957 Shirley Temple doll, my early '60s Chatty Cathy doll and my Nancy Drew book collection were all given to a few neighbourhood children and one of my younger cousins. It was at least good to know that Mom hadn't just pitched them in the garbage and that the child who asked for them would probably cherish them as much as I had, as a young girl.

Glenda, you bring back memories. My first cousin was about 15 years older than myself, was a beauty queen. They lived in a huge house and had all her formal gowns in one room. She would let me go in , try on her crowns and pull her dresses on me. Guess I was around 7 , so much fun she would let me play beauty queen. Love the memories.

I never, ever liked dolls. Ever.

I got a 'walking doll' one year that was as tall as I was. It stood in a corner, never played with. I stayed at a school chum's house overnight once and she had Barbies, and I was bored silly playing with them.

But my brother had a cast iron farm set, the green John Deere. I loved playing with those.

I remember once, mom had some lady friends over and he came crawling on his hands and knees into the kitchen pushing the tractor pulling a wagon loaded with 'logs'. They were the cardboard tubes from her tampons. She was mortified!!!

You can take comfort from the fact that none of this stuff would be worth anything if people didnt throw it away back in the day.

I seem to be given the generic girl stuff which did not appeal to me. I was not into dolls for instance but my mother actually put some thoughts into one of my gifts. I loved to sew and she bought a small sewing box-one of those cheesy asian woven things with tiny spools of thread and cheap thimble and useless scissors and several one yard pieces of fabric. I had such a wonderful time with that. She got me some real scissors and packets of needles. I had it until my own house burned down after it was struck by lightening. She could have given me art supplies like she did my inartistic younger sister or the Chemistry set she gave my unscientific brother. I dont know what the thinking was there.

My handmade teddy bear. It just disappeared in a move. :-(.

Sounds like Thumbelina was a hit back in the day. I remember it very well. Mom did not keep anything. She never liked "clutter".

The only toy that I remembered really loving was a toy electric organ. But it broke. Remember taking it apart and knowing what was needed to fix it.

Definitely would not be the Tinker Toys. We played with them a lot; so much that they wouldn't stay stuck together. I think that is when I learned to cuss.

I would have loved Legos but they weren't around (in the US) when I was a kid.

Did have a lot of dolls but was never into playing with them much. As I got older, I was more into trying to make clothes for them on my mom's sewing machine but wasn't very good at that. Prolly where I got my second lesson in cussin'.

So, no there aren't any toys that I wished I still had...but I do wish that I had had Legos so I could miss not having them now. :-)

Best toy was the sandbox that Dad built for us. He built a brush arbor (primitive pergola covered w/ cut willow branches) over it so we had shade. We spent hours out there with those die cast metal cars...the larger ones that were forerunners to Hot Wheels...building roads & tunnels. And a couple of bigger earth movers--Tonkas or Tonka like. The cars were more fun than the Tonkas. Next best was the Red Wagon and then my bicycle.

I had a metal doll house I just loved. I wish I had that and the furniture that went with it.

PattiG(rose)I had a metal doll house too. Lay on the floor for hours and played with that and bunches of plastic farm animals. I have seen those metal doll houses in antique shops for anywhere from $50 to $150 dollars.

Mine would be my doll house also! It was wood and on a turn table base. My Dad fixed it so that there was a bit of 'back yard' attached to the back, so that I could put the people who lived there 'outside' playing or having a picnic. It was given to a niece. And then passed down again in later years. I will have to see if I can hunt it down... if it is still in the family.

I had one of those metal doll houses, too. But I never played with it much. My favorite play house was one that I made. Our house was the last one on a dirt road at the edge of town. All of the land beyond was land that the government had purchased because the rivers were being dammed to build a lake...so was flood zone w/ a lake that would fill after the dam was finished.

Along the road borrow ditch, Johnson grass grew tall, way over my head. Along w/ my dog, we tromped down some of the grass to form 'rooms' in the overgrown Johnson grass. Something of a maze with 'rooms'. My dog & I spent hours in there. It was a good place to hide away & get away from my pesky little brothers who were 5 & 6 years younger.

My early years were as a Lonely Only. Was excited & happy when Brother #1 came along. But Brother #2 was one brother too many. Naturally they were closely bonded being so close in age and didn't need a sister. Combined, they were a path of destructive horror. The exponential version of Lars brother, Mike! Fortunately for me, the dog preferred me to everyone else in the family & was always by my side.

Jasdip, I had one of those walking dolls too. I also never played with dolls, except I had a doll when I was about 2 that I named Tom Doll.....after hearing mama talk about the tom cat. (I named one of my cats Fig Orchard....I guess I was a weird kid. Still am. One of my cats now is named Rattlesnake Pants).

I can't think of anything I played with as a child that I'd want now. I don't think there will be any roller skating in my future, and I wouldn't fit into my red Irish Mail (sidewalk car that you pumped with your arms). Betsy Wetsie was pretty smelly back then! My hands are too big for the dollhouse. Why would my father think a 6 y.o. girl would want a full size xylophone, however much she'd enjoyed dinner-with-absent-father at the Edgewater Beach Hotel and entertainment by Xavier Cugat. I gave my picture books to our grandchildren.

Our DS *may* have forgiven me for giving away his matchbox cars...maybe. OK, here is something I'd like to have now: His Fisher Price music box with vinyl 'records'. (I'd just hide the record about the rabbit, which s still burned into my brain after endless playing!) We have his wooden train set; our grands have enjoyed it for years. DGS (15) wants to be a mechanical engineer -- possibly to finally have enough *bridges*.

I don't think I really played with toys much. We had babies around so dolls didn't interest me much. I had a Barbie that was in good condition until my sister came along several years later and cut the hair off. We played outside a lot. We used our imagination and created our own games. My dad bought my brothers bb guns and I became a pretty good shot with that. My dad also bought us a couple of bows and a set of arrows for each kid. I got pretty good at that too and fishing. We had a pond behind our house. We had a v shaped boat that wasn't prone to tipping so we were allowed to go out in that. We got canoes when we got older. Interestingly, I suck at navigating them because a smooth pond is not the same as a flowing stream.

my metal doll house...it was a ranch and had all kinds of great furniture!!