In search of toys of yesteryear
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/10/2021 (604 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
I used to think it was silly that people spent ridiculous amounts of money to buy back their beloved childhood toys.
That is, until I realized my own treasured childhood horde of dolls and games was long gone… lost to countless donation drives and thrift stores over the years, not to mention the elements of a rickety old shed. I’m fairly certain my favourite walking doll (a gift from Santa when I was five) and my Cabbage Patch Doll named Kathleen (a birthday gift from my parents) are somewhere at the bottom of a water-damaged box sharing a home with spiders, mice, and other creepy crawlies in the shed.
I remember when I first realized my childhood toys were considered vintage. A museum I was visiting had a trunk of “old” toys, including many of the Fisher Price gems I grew up with like the school desk, farm set and record player. I recall staring at the toybox and thinking that I barely 30 years old! How could these be in a museum already?
Of course, while the toys I grew up with in the ’70s and ’80s are now definitely vintage, I’m surprised at how much I really wish I still had them with me. I know I only have myself to blame. I’ve had plenty opportunities over the years to take them back from my parent’s before they became garage sale items and mice nests.
But did I? Unfortunately, no.
One of my biggest regrets was allowing my mom to donate my Weeble Wobble Haunted House to a local thrift store. I’ll admit it: I was young and foolish and didn’t have a clue how much it would later mean to me to be able to show my own daughter one of my favourite childhood toys. I have since spent many hours and an embarrassing amount of money trying to buy back the set but have only been successful in getting the house so far, minus the chimney and fence.
I’m now officially one of those people who pays ridiculous amounts of money to buy back the toys they loved as a kid. So take it from me: if you’re fortunate enough to have your childhood toys stored away somewhere and you’re tempted to let your folks put them out in the next garage sale, please reconsider.
Unless you have the Weeble Wobble Haunted House with its original accessories. Then please consider contacting me.
Heather Innis is a community correspondent for Windsor Park. You can contact her at htiede@gmail.com
Heather Innis
Windsor Park community correspondent
Heather Innis is a community correspondent for Windsor Park.