A 1970's Christmas!

[merryone]

Thanks again Donna for reminding me of bath cubes in the QVC christmas presents thread. It brought back a whole host of thoughts and memories. How people use to actually save money to buy their presents. Gifts weren't anywhere near as lavish as they are today and apart from a few bits and bobs (and I mean bits and bobs) in a Christmas stocking for an adult the main gift got no more exciting than a Goblin Teasmade or a Pifco hairdryer. Toiletries were usually just a trade up from what you'd usually buy, eg a box of M&S peach soaps, your tin of Cusson's talc would be replaced by a pretty circular box full of scented talc with a fancy puff. Chocs were Black Magic or Dairybox, there was none of your £40+ boxes of Hotel Chocolat. Perfumes came from Yardley or Lentheric if you got something a bit more upmarket. There was not such a thing as Xmas Eve boxes, tree presents and table presents which nowadays can consist of expensive bottles of Fragrance and the like. Of course credit wasn't handed around to anyone regardless of whether they can pay it back, in fact credit was rare, people used Christmas clubs and catalogues. As a child of the 70's I was happy with a Sindy Doll, a Blue Peter annual and a board game. I know it's all about Barbie these days but could you imagine a kid being happy with that lot these days? Barbie would need to come with a car, and a massive pink castle and that's just to start with! I wanted Sindy's horse as well but I was told I'd have to save up for it - I didn't btw! But hey, happy days!

 

[Vienna]

My youngest son is 37 and since he was about 5 he`s had a Beano annual every year and I still buy him one to this day. Funnily enough my other 2 sons aged 49 and 47 still talk about their Star Wars toys and He Man toys from their childhood and it took me all year round paying into a local toy shop`s Christmas club to buy them. Every saturday I`d pop into the toy shop and pay my money and then about 3 weeks before Christmas I`d go and choose toys to the value I`d saved. Some years were better than others but they usually got one main toy such as a Star Wars space ship or a He Man castle and then bulked up with selection box, jigsaw, colouring book , felt pens etc. No spending hundreds of £`s like parents do these days.

 

[Peppermint Patti]

One year I got a new dolls pram fir Christmas. My nan knitted an outfit for my doll and a blanket to cover her. I know I got presents from my other nan and my aunties and uncles but can't remember anything.
We had a stocking at the end of the bed with something for the doll's house,chocolate money,sweet cigarettes etc.

 

[merryone]

It was the little things that I remember as well as the stuff I begged my parents to buy me but they wouldn't. I wasn't allowed anything "faddy" so I did feel left out at school quite a lot. I would've "died" for an etch a sketch but my parents thought it was rubbish and that I'd be much better off with paper and pens which were nowhere near as exciting, I wanted a slinky but yep we lived in a bungalow so fair do's for my parents telling me it wasn't worth getting. On the good side one of the gifts I treasured was a little purse on a string containing a fruit flavoured lip balm I got from my aunt, a transistor radio that couldn't hold a station for more than 2 minutes, it was bright blue and plastic and I loved it! We spend far too much money nowadays and of course that's fine if you can afford it, but unfortunately many people would rather bankrupt themselves than disappoint their loved ones at Christmas - this just wouldn't have happened in the 1970's!

 

[mediastar]

There is a photo of me standing in front of a Christmas tree with a doll and a toy grand piano and a dolls cot. That cot had a "clock" with moveable hands and my late brother (ten years my senior) spent the better part of the following summer holidays endeavouring to teach me to tell the time, I have Dyspraxia and think I had time blindness, well I have always been known for being late for everything! My mother had a regifting drawer and we took notes each present opening time to ensure no one got back the present we had received from them! Bath salts featured heavily! I remember probably aged about 5 or 6 opening my Christmas pillowcase (and stocking, yes, I was thoroughly spoilt materially) on my parents' bed one of the gifts was an acetate walking stick filled with tiny little acid drops, of course I couldn't open it with my hands so teeth were engaged and it opened with an explosion of 10s of these sticky little lumps all over their bed and sheets, I was NOT popular!

 

[Vienna]

My hairdresser has 2 daughters aged 15 and 13 and when I went for a haircut a couple of weeks ago I asked her was she organised for Christmas ? To cut a long story short, it seems her youngest girl (age 13) is getting a £600 phone she wants and her oldest girl wants tickets and merchandise to see a particular band she likes, costing roughly the same plus as their Mum put it "some bits and bobs". I looked my hairdresser straight in the eyes via the mirror and told her she must be mad ......... that`s an awful lot of haircuts she needed to do to pay for them !

 

[Wanderer]

My hairdresser has 2 daughters aged 15 and 13 and when I went for a haircut a couple of weeks ago I asked her was she organised for Christmas ? To cut a long story short, it seems her youngest girl (age 13) is getting a £600 phone she wants and her oldest girl wants tickets and merchandise to see a particular band she likes, costing roughly the same plus as their Mum put it "some bits and bobs". I looked my hairdresser straight in the eyes via the mirror and told her she must be mad ......... that`s an awful lot of haircuts she needed to do to pay for them !

Seems they are not alone

https://www.gohenry.com/uk/blog/family/how-much-to-spend-on-christmas-gifts-per-child