Christmas presents in the late 50’s

I remember bouncing on my parents bed one Saturday morning and falling off only to find a Basil Brush tea set I had asked Santa for underneath it. I was a very confused little girl after that....

Juliet27

I loved those French knitting sets. In fact I found a wooden cotton reel with nails in in an old box the other day and I might have a go again!!

But what do you do with the knitting when you've done it?

Silverlinings
We had those clip on candles, lit only on the day,
This is so nostalgic, we didn’t have very much money, and my parents definitely ones for making merry, but we always had what we asked for at Christmas. Having said that, we only asked for one thing, and then I probably got a book, and maybe an Alice band, or some gloves.
One year I desperately wanted an anorak when they became all the rage, I had to have it for Christmas, but I didn’t mind that.

Nostalgically, I bought two of my granddaughters French knitting sets one year, but none of us could remember how to use them.

Tina doll - a cheap substitute for Barbie.
Betta Builder - a cheap substitute for Lego
A giant China doll
Spirograph
Monopoly
Second hand bike- done up by dad
Box of peppermint creams
Box of flat fruit oranges and lemons
These were all for different Christmases. We had one big present and a few ‘things to open’. All much appreciated. (Well, maybe not the peppermint creams.)

Anybody remember chocolate machine, you put your penny in and a miniature chocolate bar dropped out.

I was four, given a little kitchen in which was a cooker and tiny pans, plus little lump of fuel, presumably to heat things up with(!). Fortunately being so small, my parents lit it for me. It shot a huge flame up and the whole of the roof of the kitchen bent and sagged with the heat before starting to drop bits of burning plastic onto the floor, before they managed to blow it out! Also remember stilts and later on, though I never got one myself, Space hoppers.

Oh Yes! OXFORD GRAN I had a Wind up Dalek, LEGO, a TinyTears doll, later Teeny Tiny Tears, aaah, the smell of a new doll…. a replica Silver Cross dolls pram, Cadbury Chocolate Machine, Post Office set, Rupert Annual, chocolate smoking set, sweet cigarettes, Avon Pretty Peach stuff …divine, …Kids lipstick and nail varnish sets, Massive Tubes of Massive Smarties and Fruit pastils. Spirograph - never got the hang …Selection boxes- to be eaten before Christmas dinner obviously!
Various crayons, paints, pens and books, a quilted dressing gown and was allowed an eggcup sized glass of Warninks’ Advocat. Heaven☺️

Oops forgot the real china dolls tea set, bits of that kicking around for years

Big presents were for birthdays, for Christmas we usually received (and gave) what were known as 'wee mindings'. One granny always sent us boxes of hankies with our initials on. An aunt invariably gave me nylons which were too big for me - she evidently expected everyone to have her large feet. As the 50s wore on, toiletries were followed by scents, even cosmetics, clothing, especially when I escaped from school uniform and, with any luck, half crowns were succeeded by folding money! In the late 50s, I was a late teenager and a university student. I had always been a book lover (still am) so relatives were happy to supply me with book tokens and enough money to supplement my allowance. Money to pay for driving lessons was also welcome.

What a great nostalgic thread. So many things I’d forgotten about. Thanks Oxfordgran.

My mum liked Yardley’s English Lavender products, anything from the range would do. I often bought visitors’ soaps for her - seemed like a real bargain, 6 soaps in a nice box! I often bought a small tin of cigars for my dad - E.g. Will’s Whiffs!

We always got a chocolate selection box, and that was a popular gift from aunties & uncles and others we didn’t see very often. My gran always bought us a Post Office Savings Certificate, which earned interest. I loved getting something like the Judy Annual, and would find somewhere quiet to read it.

Super thread !
…the year I was 8 given a Vulcan child’s sewing machine - loads of cut out material - and a doll in a wardrobe. I remember well the horror of thinking I had to sew all those clothes for her myself ! I couldn’t do it for some reason ! When I was 14 mum bought me a real Singer - I hadn’t asked for one. She clearly thought I should take up sewing ! I also called the doll (out of the blue) Susan. Mum looked shocked and asked why… I found out many years later I had an unmarried great grandmother called Susan no one talked about ! In fact she was described as an ‘imbecile’ on the 1891 census ! What a Christmas !

Re the French knitting sets which I hated. I could never follow the instructions how to make the dreaded knitted worm.

I must have been very dense. Still am at anything ‘crafty’.

I was given a chemistry set at the age of 12. I adored it and spent years experimenting . You used to be able to buy replacement chemicals over the counter at Boots . It wouldn't happen these days !

Lovely memories here. We really loved those presents and they were really appreciated. Many children have far too much today - I asked ours what they got last Xmas & they couldn’t remember!

Books - one or other of the four of us would usually get the latest Monica Edwards book which we would all read.
And we collected all the Arthur Ransomes between us too
Brittains farm & zoo animals
Dinky or Corgi mini vehicles
Usually something my mum had made - she was a superb soft toy maker & knitter
Coloured pencils
Something for the dolls’ house my sister & I shared (except it was inhabited by a family of toy mice my mum made, some of which I still have)

I have been enjoying this thread very much but debating whether or not to join in as l am a little younger and my memories are mostly of seventies Christmases as I was born in the mid-sixties. My birthday is just before Christmas so my memories of presents are intertwined in many ways, but the presents many of you remember are not so different from the ones l had. We always spent Christmases with my mum’s sister’s family and grandparents on that side. My cousin is nine months younger than me and we very often had the same main present. One of my favourites ever was my Tiny Tears doll, Deborah. My mother had knitted a wardrobe for her. My cousin had the same, except that her mother had sewed the doll’s clothes. I remember a Casdon cash register - it must have been one of the first to have decimal currency. Another year we had a Lilliput typewriter and, when we were older, a cassette recorder. There was always an annual, usually Judy for me, and a selection box. A post office set seems to have been ubiquitous. I used the stamper from mine when I played at libraries. For my tenth birthday l received the treble recorder l really wanted and the birthday and Christmas when I was thirteen I had my first violin - because it was an expensive present it needed to be shared between both occasions.

Cressy

Petite typewriter- still have it.
Talkative Jane
Little roll top desk
A game called Sorry. Can’t remember how it was played
Tube of Smarties

@cressy - we have a Sorry! game which my father in law played as a child in the 1930s. It’s basically Ludo with cards instead of dice, with a Sorry! card to send you back to the beginning. Our set still has the card announcing a Sorry! competition which closed in October 1934.

I received a Tressy doll one year in the early 60s- you pressed a button in her tummy and her hair miraculously grew out of a hole in the top of her head.

Magic robot - you pointed the arrow or something to the question then twisted the robot and it stopped on the answer, I think that was how it worked. Needless to say it wasn’t computerised so it only had about 10 questions and answers to choose from.

I remember Avons pretty peach being the height of sophistication to me and soap on a rope was absolutely decadent.

A buxom maiden Aunt gave all her (many) nieces and nephews a tin of Roses chocolates every year.
Another local elderly Aunt appeared at the front door every year with a box of (cheap) crackers. Strange as she was a wealthy woman.
Have you noticed that people often give presents of things they would like themselves? I find myself doing it and sometimes it’s hard to part with them.

Dippysixty

Anybody remember chocolate machine, you put your penny in and a miniature chocolate bar dropped out.

Oh, how I longed for one of those! Mum said it was a waste of money basing the cost of it and the chocolate that it contained. She would say "you get more chocolate in a normal bar, much better value" . She was right of course, but Mums generally were.
I can relate to lots of the comments on here, Vulcan sewing machine, value. range teenage dolls - parents couldn't afford Tressy or Sindy, chemistry set, play make-up, box of paints......the lists are endless. And always, always........a tin of Blue Bird Toffee. How we kept or teeth intact I will never know!

This is such a lovely thread. Like @Musicgirl, I was born in the Sixties so my memories are a little later. Standout presents for me were, the basketwork dolls cot on rockers, handmade by my Mum when I was about 6 (I still have it), a Spacehopper when I was 10,and a brand new bike when I was 13 ( which again I still have). My Mum knitted lots of clothes for my dolls for Christmas. I also loved books and still have the Blue Peter, and Sandy annuals I had, as well as several Pony books I was given.