What Don Draper's Kids will find under the tree this Christmas?

Growing up in the 60s there were some great, now classic, toys that were popular. Most are still on the shelves today.

It was probably the golden age of advertising, as Mad Men tell us, but also the golden age of toys. Combine the two, and our new facination with the Television Set, and kids of the 50s and 60s saw a LOT of commercials selling toys for Christmas.

I recall waking up early on Saturday mornings to fix myself some cinnaman toast or cereal, set up the TV trays and watch cartoons with my brothers! We were little princes of suburbia. We ruled TVland!

Leading up to Christmas Day in the burbs, my brothers and I would sift thru the Sears Wish Book, the bible of Christmas for kids of the day, and make a list of things we HAD to have for Christmas. Madison Avenue commercials of course had an impact.

Since it's almost Christmas, I've put together a retro Mid-Century look at some classic toys, vintage designs, innovations, packaging and fonts of the day. Hope you enjoy the time capsule!

We'll be taking a blog-holiday for a few days until Jan 1. Hope you have a fantastic holiday and wishing you a great New Year with kith and kin :). Thanks for visiting! Shine On! Braxton



Loved my matchbox collection. Great open ended toy. Oriental carpet makes a great freeway!
Left Click to ZOOM. Left Click again to ZOOM the ZOOM



Classic!



Great travel game. Probably kept my parents sane on the long trip to VA Beach...




Original Barbie. Not a personal fav, but pretty HOT in retrospect : )



The original commercial!

Loved G.I. Joe! Great adventures with brother Jay and his fighting men! Democracy was safe while Joe was fighting for us.



Classic Toy from gumball type machines- came in many sizes. Featured in ToyStory3 recently...



Fun to play with but not a personal fav. Classic though.




Another classic. A bitch to fix when tangled up. Never the same after that. Crimped it. Damn.




Many happy hours here...



Excellent toy! Great Innovation. Wow. Still a winner today.

Classic - as in Yule...not that I have a log...(Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation)

Sold modern versions of this in our family's toy shop Kringles for years.

Great rainy day toy. A quiet toy- dig the modern design muse! Hmmmm

Cool toy. By the time I had one of these beauties they had plastic heads. His friends, in my collection were Frankie Frank and Mr. Mustard.

Scary original vintage AD for the King of Spuds...