They don’t make them like they used to
March 8th, 2008
I love living in a big city BUT there are great disadvantages to it, namely space. Our flat is not small but it is still very hard to keep toys in the kid’s room and keep a grown-up living room free from clutter and inanimate plastic objects.
I have decided (not entirely successfully) that the toys my daughter plays with must have a certain design appeal. I remembered that a long time ago Fisher Price made fun toys for kids to play with which are nowadays considered vintage so are therefore cool enough to count as design objects.
They’re really inexpensive– the best place to get ‘vintage’ toys is on ebay, especially the US website, and most of the sellers are happy to ship worldwide.
I think the main appeal of these toys is nostalgia; do you maybe remember playing with the little dog you could pull behind you and the little garage that had a handle on it so you could operate the car elevator?
I love seeing my daughter playing with the telephone on wheels that discreetly blinks when you pull it around, instead of making a really annoying mobile phone jingle sound that its modern equivalent would.
-Emilie
Entry Filed under: For Kids, Shopping, Things We LOVE!
10 Comments Add your own
1. Courtney | March 8th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Oh my gosh- I so remember that Fisher Price phone! I’m sure we still have it at my parent’s house somewhere… I should dig it up when I’m ‘home’ next!
2. Krees | March 8th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Oh, I loved that Fisher Price garage! All those toys you’ve pictured are iconic.
3. Shawn | March 9th, 2008 at 12:44 am
That black and white dog in the Little People set really brought back memories. I will report that we have both the pull along dog and the garage and my littles love them!
4. Esther | March 9th, 2008 at 10:48 am
My parents still have the Fisher Price farm and the phone – my children are playing with them as I am writing this!
5. Jessica | March 10th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
You should know that in the US they have reissued the telephone as well as the television, and the cash register. They are currently being sold in Toys R US. Don’t let those e-bay sellers fool you into thinking they are truly vintage.
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2308266
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2674710
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2857750
6. Kidlet | March 12th, 2008 at 1:44 am
I totally remember that parking garage – hilarious, and thanks for bringing back the good memories!
7. Amanda | March 12th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
London Mums take note! Was just in Cheeky Monkey in Notting Hill and they have a few pieces from the newly reissued Fisher Price Vintage line!
8. Emilie | March 12th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I guess I should be changing the title of my post to: THEY DO MAKE THEM LIKE THEY USED TO. Good on Fisher Price to bring out a vintage line. Thanks for the info, Jessica and Amanda.
9. Michela | March 12th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
the funny thing is that most of our kids (I know courtney’s children are an exception) do not even know how telephones used to look like…with the round dial! thery just know the buttons ones.
10. Stephanie | March 12th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
I have all the latest Fisher Price Little People for my kids and they like them, however, my mom still has the “vintage little people” from when I was a kid. They LOVE them even more. There is something about the simplicity and the colors on the old toys, love them!
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed