Way Back WhensDay: Sears Wish Book

Memories...

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents

Long before the Internet, tablets, and smart phones, kids and parents turned to the Sears Wish Book to do their Christmas gift browsing.  It would always arrive at our house before Halloween, and my brother and I would flip through the 600 plus pages, with pen and paper jotting down the things we hoped Santa would leave under our tree.  Of course the catalog was filled with things like clothes and electronics, furniture and linens, but we bypassed all that and went straight to the last portion of the catalog.

That of course is where all the toys were featured.  I can still remember the excitement of seeing what new releases would be on store shelves.  Not only was this prior to the Internet, this was long before all the cable kids' channels and their gluttony of commercials.  The Sears Wish Book was usually the first and sometimes only time we saw some of these toys.

LJN Delight!

The catalog featured things like Muppets, which I happened to love and got several for Christmas 1982. My brother eyed a Howdy Doody puppet in the book and Santa came through and delivered it that year.  As I got older, it was the WWF LJN figures that had all my attention.  Of course there was a plethora of GI Joe, Star Wars, and HeMan figures that made it to the Hunsperger boys' toy box too.

I don't know what year we stopped receiving the big book at our house, but I remember missing it.  There were wimpy wannabe's, but nothing ever stood up to the Sears Wish Book.  I've found that there's now an app for that.  It's a high tech way to find the things you need, but I think kids today are missing out on turning the pages of the actual catalog, anticipating what they'll find next.

Way Back WhensDay: Colorforms

Smurf Colorforms
Photo from mentalfloss.com

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

Now days, kids have hand held video games, tablets, and iPods to keep them occupied.  The art of play and use of imagination is skipping a generation.  But this blog isn't about that, it's about one of my personal favorites from my childhood: Colorforms.

The toy dates back more than 60 years.  It surprised me to learn that Colorforms are actually still being made, and there's even a website for the toy.  Click here to learn more or how to order them.  Long story short, Colorforms were characters, shapes, and other objects made of vinyl.  They came in a box, that included a flat board with some sort of "scene" on it.  You could stick the vinyl pieces all over the board and come up with different scenarios, because the pieces didn't permanently stick.

Dress the Muppets
Photo from muppetwikia.com

I'd spend hours playing with Colorforms.  I remember having several different sets, including Scooby Doo, the Smurfs, and the Muppet Show.  My brother was more into the action hero sets and had things like the Incredible Hulk, the Super Adventure crew, and GI Joe.  It was always entertaining to have Hulk enter the Smurf village, or Scooby go toe to toe with Batman.

I'm glad to see the product is still going strong.  They're revamped and come in 3D form.  I wish now that I'd known these still existed, I think my kids would have loved them when they were younger too.

Miss Weather

You can find them in southern Illinois (or anywhere online) at My Favorite Toys.  Just click here to find their website.  They have sets in the $12 range that include Miss Weather Dress Up and Silly Faces.  There's also a retro version for sale at $29.95

Check out the video below for a complete history told in a fun and entertaining way.