Forget Elmo, Hannah Montana or Transformers

Save yourself the cash and get a stick for the ankle biter on your Christmas list. According, to this article a stick made the National Toy Hall of Frame. I’d argue and say it should be the card board box, but then I saw it was inducted a previous year. It got me thinking about other favorite toys. Sure my Cabbage Patch kids (Donna Kelly and Cara Ann), My Little Ponies, and Barbies were fun. But my favorite toys were my Smurf Big Wheel

From retro

I’d ride my big wheel for hours, do spinouts and when I’d get tired, I’d flip it upside-down and make ice cream. Why ice cream? I have no idea, but I’m sure you did it too.


And my Sit N' Spin. I never tired of making myself dizzy. Which brings me to my favorite non-toy toys, eventually I outgrew my Sit N’ Spin. Not the spinning, I just literally outgrew the toy. No worries, I found new joy with an old 70’s dining chair that was stored in our basement. I’d spin myself until I’d cling to the back of the chair. No wonder I loved the Gravitron, years later, at carnivals.

Couch cushions! They could be anything, you could make a mountain, a soft landing for super skilled jumps, or you could grab sheets and make a fort. Hours of entertainment, I tell ya.

Bubble wrap was another fun way to kill sometime. Some how the 52nd pop was just as fun as the first one. My oddest non-toy was an ironing board. It raised and lowered for whatever I needed it for. I remember using it as a grocery store check-out counter most often. I’d set up a cash register at the end of it, and ring up goods over and over again.

There's no doubt the over-sized cardboard box was the best. I’d play house inside of it until the walls would weaken. Then, I take it outside and roll around inside of it. Great times.