View Finders … the toy only a 70s child could love.
BY REBECCA SPARROW.
Santa and I had a falling out when I was about four. Not that I want to sound bitter. Okay, I’m a bit bitter. And it was all because of Baby Alive. She was the Tickle Me Elmo of the 70s. She ate! She wee’d! She pooed! She was a triple threat and every little girl in the 70s wanted one. (Yes they did. I have spoken to every little girl who was alive in the 70s and they all agreed they wanted one. So shut up).
So from October to December I prayed to Santa every night for him to pleeeeeease bring me a Baby Alive on Christmas Eve. (In hindsight, it’s entirely possible I thought Santa and God were interchangeable … ). But I digress, Christmas came and “Santa” bought me a plastic doll with red curly hair that looked oh, not unlike Ronald McDonald. (You picturing this? Ronald McDonald’s head on a baby doll’s body.)
A few months later for my birthday I finally received my very own Baby Alive. Naturally, I was bored with her within weeks. Welcome to childhood.
But while I may have received a Baby Alive, there were a few other 70s toys I desperately wanted and never got. Like ….
The Barbie Campervan
A Barbie Campervan: Let’s be honest, Barbie doesn’t camp. You know that and I know that. But still it’s good to have a campervan just in case you decide your Dream House and your townhouse aren’t comfortable enough and you’d rather sleep in a bed where your face is 2 cm from the ceiling. And use a portaloo every morning (actually, Barbie doesn’t have a va-jayjay, so she can turn the portaloo into a walk-in-wardrobe). OR Barbie could turn the Campervan into a crystal meth cookhouse like they do on Breaking Bad. So. Many. Options.
The Family Treehouse.
A Family Treehouse: It’s a house in a tree with little people living it it. A bit like that guy living in that tree in Maleny. Okay, not really.
A Viewfinder: This was both cool and stupid. It was like being trapped in your very own slide night. Gimme.
Mousetrap: I don’t remember much about this kids game but clearly it had a mouse. And a trap. In hindsight, it’s not sounding that appealing but I’m sure the eight-year-old me totally deserved it. That’s the year Santa gave me a Slinky instead. Bastard.
So over to you, what childhood toy did you always want? And if you eventually got it, did it live up to expectations?
Comments
196 Comments so far
Delayed reax but I’ve only just read this post and I’m cracking up. I wanted absolutely everything on your list, Bec, along with most of the other things listed. Gosh I was hard done by! No one seemed to mention Fuzzy Pumper!! (Frightful name!) Remember the play dough hair dressing salon? Classic. Of course I’m reliving my ‘neglected’ childhood through my kids, but they’re just not that into toysm(phew). Have you done a post on clothes we wanted but never got? I wanted Smile Jeans, Campus sneakers and Adidas Enforcer track pants, a rah rah skirt and one of those wide black elastic belts with the silver press studs. No chance.
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Yes! The Barbie campervan! But the mid-90s version which was pinker and more circular. The year I didn’t receive that for Christmas was the year I figured out Santa wasn’t real because if he was he would have known it was the only thing I wanted. Still tears me up inside…
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I really, reeeaaallly wanted Sea Monkeys. They looked super cute on the ads on tv. I never got them of course.
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I desperately wanted a Rainbow Bright doll. I got Lurky. If you’re not an eighties child, you’ll have to look it up, but suffice to say I sobbed for hours.
Also wanted a dolls house, which I never got. But happily a few years ago (at age 30, with 3 boys), I entered an Internet competition and won a beautiful lundby dollhouse, with electric lights and even a swimming pool
Husband thought I should sell it. It lives on top of my dresser 
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I was 9 and the toy of the moment was a Puppy or Pony Surprise. I had been really sick in hospital over Christmas and my parents promised to buy me one once I was released. I remember walking the length of the local shopping centre (being carried by Dad) looking for a black and white Pony Surprise. We had to visit about three different shops, eventually finding one in another town. I was so excited. She had four foals – three girls and a boy. They’re currently living in our toy room waiting for my little ones to discover them.
My other favourite was my Magic Nursery Baby. They used to come in a box wearing just a nappy, and you had to submerge the nappy in water to find out if it was a girl, boy or twins. If you got twins you had to send the nappy back to the company and they would send you your second doll. I remember getting mine (a little girl) so clearly!
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You guys know you can buy many of these toys on eBay, right? Not that I’ve been tragic enough to look or nuffink.
You’re welcome.
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Oh man did I want that Family Treehouse! So much so that I bought one for one of my girls a couple of years ago. A French company makes it now but it’s bloody expensive. I was lucky enough to get it on sale for $120 but still, it was a lot of money. She loves it though. It was the one and only thing she got for her birthday that year.But you know what, it doesn’t come with the white furniture these days! I KNEW it was missing something!
Bec, I think we must be the same person sometimes…
I so wanted the Barbie Campervan too. Had the townhouse and my sister had the spa, we just needed the campervan to be complete!
The other thing I always loved playing at other people’s houses was the game Mousetrap, we never had it though. It was the only board-game-envy I had.
We did have a viewfinder – loved it!
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Omg Bec!! Mine we’re exactly the same as yours!! Add a ‘Poochie’ & a ‘Cabbage Patch doll’, ‘magic sand’ & a ‘Frosty the snowman snow cone maker’ (which I don’t even think exist anymore.. but every year i’d get one.. lose parts & get it again the next Christmas & rip it open with just as much enthusiasm lol).
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Poochie, Cabbage Patch Kid and Family Tree House for me too. Plus a Barbie Perfume Maker.
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OH MY GOD, MAGIC SAND!
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I remember my brother and I one year (post Santa-believing) assuming we’d get what we asked for – a Nintendo and a TV for our shared bedroom. We were just swanning around in the weeks leading up to Christmas telling everyone that’s what we were getting, it was a sure thing.
Mum thought we were a pair of presumptious little buggers who needed to learn a lesson, so Christmas morning presents were opened and we both got a book, a parachute material tracksuit (the height of awesomeness in the 90′s) and a gym bag. We spent Christmas lunch whispering to each other ‘Where’s our Nintendo?’ ‘Ripped off!’
Later in the evening, not long before bed, Mum shouts at us to come to her bedroom as if we’re in trouble. Two presents on her bed to unwrap – TV and Nintendo, with stern words about how lucky we are, how grateful we should be for gifts and that they are a privilege, not a right. Lesson learned!
On another note, does anyone else now give their kids things they had (or wish they had) when they were a kid? On layby for Christmas 2012 at our house: Barbie swiming pool, Cabbage Patch doll, Twister – lots of old favourites.
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I still covet Barbie.
Clearly my Mother decided she was not socially correct, and instead I received Havoc. I kid you not. Action doll. Black catsuit. Own weapons. Short hair.
Still bitter.
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Sylvanian Families !!
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Ooooo my best friend had these and I was so jealous!
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When I was about 9 or 10 I desperately wanted a toy suitcase. It was basically like an office suit case, with pens, papers, sticky tape and all sort of things in there to play ‘office’, obviously I wanted to be an accountant or so when I grew up. Never got it. It took me years to get over it. I think that after that I pretty much stopped believing in Santa.
On a side note: I became a nurse.
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When I was about 6 I was distraught one Christmas because Santa didn’t bring me the bridesmaid dress that I desperately wanted. I had apparently told Santa but not Mum.
Then there was the time I got the cabbage patch doll I wanted but it had short hair and I wanted a long haired one.
Other toys I really wanted were an etch-a-sketch and a remote controlled car. I should have learned from my sister. When she wanted a baby alive she just wrote baby alive on her christmas list about a hundred times. She was very clear about her demands.
I did recently play mousetrap at a friend’s house. It is still awesome.
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I had the Barbie campervan – the big one. I loved taking my barbies on adventures around our backyard. It was hijacked by my younger brother of course during a game if Indiana Jones vs Masters of the Universe..I also had the family tree house which I still have and will pass onto my son soon. There were also Cabbage Patch kids which are resting somewhere in my parents shed waiting to be loved by daughter when she is old enough. But the one toy I really wanted – so desperately – but never received was a Strawberry Shortcake doll.
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I think I wrote baby alive on my Christmas list for 5 years running. I too had an inferior version, mine cried when you pulled her dummy out. How I wanted a doll that weed and pood. As a forty year old mother of miss 4 and master 18 months I wonder what the hell was I thinking! (at least I could have put the doll back in the toybox).
and my cousin’s Family Treehouse is the only toy my aunty has stored as it was so treasured.
My so called ‘Barbie” pool set was not ‘Barbie’
I do still have my viewfinder in my treasure box. Toys were expensive and treasured then….ahhh, the good old days.
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My daughter has one (don’t know if it’s BabyAlive though) that crys, sucks (on its bottle or the dummy) and closes its eyes when it’s going to sleep. It’s drives me batty so I turn the sound off & tell her it’s out of batteries. Mean I know…
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A cabbage patch doll; Santa gave me a fakie…there was 4 kids in my family; I was so gutted but can so understand what “Santa” was dealing with now
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You got the baby alive! I am so jealous, I had a doll that cried when you pulled it’s dummy out (prettier than your ronald version though). I have to admit I had the viewfinder, and if i went to Mum’s it will still be in my toybox of special things I wanted to keep. I got some cheap version of Barbie pool set, which never cut it, and was green with jealousy of cousins Family Treehouse. thanks for the memories.
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I really wanted a horse and my Mum was clever enough to say I could get it when I turned 16 and you would never guess what? Had moved on by then. Will totally be using that on my kids too.
I had one of those Family Tree Houses when I was a kid and loved them and I discovered last year that they had been released by a French Company so when my 4 year old daughter told Santa she wanted a dolls house shaped like a star or a tree I ordered in the new one. When she unwrapped it on Christmas morning she said “Santa got me that treehouse you have been wanting” and later than morning she requested that I stop playing with it……and that is why she won’t be getting a horse.
PS the new treehouse is exactly the same as the old one but is missing the cool furniture – luckily I have been able to get some of that on ebay …..for my daughter of course
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My parents kept my Family Tree House, which still has the family, the car and the dog but is minus a few pieces of furniture. The grand kids love it and is probably now considered a family heirloom!
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The Barbie horse. I never got it. I got the Barbie motorbike. Motorbike!
Oh, and I wanted a Poochie. Never got one of those, either.
Not that I’m bitter.
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I had a poochie and I loved it. I have to find it at my parents’ house so that my kids can find out where their nickname comes from.
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I asked for a Smurfette for my eighth birthday it never arrived………still devo. Mum tried to make it up to me by getting me smurf earrings recently, I told her it was too late. Also my sister had the Baby Alive my Nonno used you turn it on and blow smoke up it’s arse so it looked like I was spitting out smoke, funniest thing ever!!
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I wanted a swimming pool. So much. Mum’s standard reply to my begging (which only ceased when I moved out at age 19) was that they paid private school fees so that I have tons of friends pools to choose from. Fair call.
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I wanted a baby born so badly and a camera.
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Rigadoon dolls, they were puppets, I begged and begged… And I got the small version that wasn’t a puppet. Cheers Santa
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I got the Rigadoon doll after begging and begging…. Then a few weeks later watched ‘Child’s Play’ at a birthday sleepover. Couldn’t stop think about the Rigadoon doll coming to life and murdering me a la Chuckie, so promptly gave it away to a friend and pretended it had just disappeared when Mum asked where it was. Hahaha….
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I really, really wanted a Talk to Me Tiffany doll. The original one in the blue dress and pony tail. I wrote sooo many letters to Father Xmas very specifically asking for this doll. Anyway on Christmas Eve we were allowed to open a present each and I received the doll except it was the wrong one in a pink dress with pigtails! And to make it worse my sister was also given a TTMT doll, and it was the one I wanted! Father Christmas had a lot to answer for that day
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Great day for this post!
Always wanted rollerskates, a remote control car and more lego (I got one poxy beginners set at age 5, but that was it).
I didn’t get them because they were considered ‘boy toys’, or toys that could break my ankles.
Ha ha parentals: I spent this arvo with my 2 boys lego-ing up, kicking the footy and zjooming those little cars around.
This is why I was given sons!
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I really wanted a Dancerina (don’t know if it came out in Australia; I was in Canada at the time). Or a Barbie. Never got either. Not bitter at all!
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We had that doll! And my Mum’s just brought it out for my daughter to play with…
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It was Dancerella here and she was a brunette, I still have mine!!
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A ‘My Child’ doll. My cousin had one and I thought I’d never seen anything so cute. Never got one myself but would spend every visit to my cousin’s place pretending that her doll was my real baby…
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I spent hours playing with my Baby Alive doll, but the doll I really wanted was the one that crawled. Can’t remember its name.
Did anyone else have a ‘Perfume Maker’/'Perfume Factory’. Can’t remember exactly what it was called but my mum hated it as it made my room (and me!) stink!
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It was called ‘Baby That-a-way’, and I desperately wanted one too. When my sister got one a couple of years later, I was so jealous!
The best thing about it, I found, was sending it chasing after the cats
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Pretty sure it was baby that away!
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OMG!!! The Tree House!!!! I got that for Christmas 1979. I was OBSESSED with it…the best toy ever!!! I fantasised living in something like that…I loved the lift the best of all!! and yes…I had EVERYTHING Barbie except the house and the horse…but I had the Campervan…the pink racing car with seatbelts…the double bed,..the bubble bath…and the vanity seat with REAL lights (in which I used to leave on whilst in bed…atmosphere lighting…)and a hair dryer attached that WORKED!! Happy days indeed. Does anyone remember the giant baby ballerina with pink plastic ballet shoes and you had to push her crown down for her legs to poiret??
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Incredible Super-Stamper. Asked Santa for it Xmas I was 7 and ‘the elves couldn’t make it in time’. Asked for it again when I was 8. Got it that time!! Persistence pays off
I still remember the jingle from the ad…sigh.
Edit: Just found the jingle (and the ad)! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DrkaKbtm8E
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the jingle is going to haunt me now. please get it out of my head…. super stamper.
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I am quite embarrassed about this one. In primary school a couple of my friends and I were talking about alarm clocks, and one of them said “have you got a snooze?” and they all started saying how good a snooze was. I had no idea what one was, but from then on, I wanted one. My grandparents asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I said “a snooze”. I could give them no more information, because I didn’t know, and there was no way I was going and asking my friends. I sent them on a bloody wild goose chase. Poor darlings. They had no idea either, surprise surprise, and every toy store they went into provided no help. They were so apologetic when my birthday came and they had to tell me that they had looked everywhere but couldn’t find a snooze.
I also wanted a pound puppy and a puggle. Never got ‘em. But after I got a real cabbage patch doll I felt like I could never ask for anything ever again!
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Christmas 1985. All I wanted was a cabbage patch. Instead I got a Flower Child (cheap immitation) I was crushed as my best friend got a cabbage patch kid. The one thing I remember about the flower girl was that her hair only went around the rim of her head so when you took her ponytail out she was bald!! Ironically the year after I did get a cabbage patch kid and it was one of the newborn ones and was bald anyway.
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Oh my god.
I have no toys to add Bec because I wanted every single one of those toys !!
But I never did get my baby alive doll
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Teddy Ruxpin! They were too expensive (I think around $100 at the time). I do feel fortunate though as my parents bought me a Cabbage Patch doll (“Melanie” whom I cherished), boardgames Operation and Mousetrap, Battleship and possibly one of my top 3 toys, a kit called Capsula I think which was bits & bobs you made robots/watercraft/vehicles with consisting of bubbles w motorised parts. Was awesome! Wish they made it today…
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Cabbage patch doll with long hair, instead got me with short hair, who does that to a little girl…. Thanks mum hmmmm
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It took every ounce of restraint not to spend $99 on a Cabbage Patch Doll for my 2 year old’s birthday last week….. I only ever had ‘genuine imitation’ Cabbage Patch’s ($15 at Paddy’s Markets), so I feel your pain.
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Oh my goodness… this also happened to me! Short haired girl cabbage patch called Anastasia to make it even worse! I changed her name to Priscilla (actually that now sounds not much better). I still talk about the injustice of getting the short haired doll!
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Me too! My sister also got a short haired one and decided to cut its hair to help it grow. That cabbage patch doll preceded to wear a bonnet for the rest of her life.
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My parents got me one second hand, and it was a boy one. I was not pleased.
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Ker-Plunk
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I remember the name but can’t remember the actual game??
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Big plastic cylinder with lots of plastic sticks stuck through it holding up 10,000 marbles. You took turns taking the sticks out, being careful not to cause a marble landslide known as a KER-PLUNK!
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ARGH! I loved that game until I had my own kids! In hindsight, probably introduced it a bit early to my 3yo son – he can’t put the sticks in himself, but ALWAYS wants to play the marble game! Takes 10 minutes to put the sticks in, only to have him rip them out in 30 seconds flat!!!!
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I play that game every night with my son. He gets to pull out a stick every time he gets three speech therapy words right. Loves it.
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I too coveted the Mr Slushie. Instead, I got one of those crappy freeze-the-insert-of-the -mug things. Not the same, Santa. Not the same.
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Oh the Barbie Campervan! My family still talks about the Christmas morning when my sister and i and our best friend who lived next door came flying down our driveways to meet at the end with our 3 new Barbie campervans. Good times… pretty sure i didn’t actually play with it that much though
I really wanted an Alf doll – my best friend had one and i thought my life would be so much better if i had one too. Mum obviously didn’t agree!
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I really did want a Family Treehouse – never got one.
But I did get lots of other awesome things like a Fred baking set. His head was the sifter, his face the bowl, his hands held up the spoon and rolling pin and his hollow body held the rest of the baking gear. So cool. My sister has it for her children, but they are much older now. How do I ask for it back my younger children?
I also got some white, boot rollerskates that my 7 year old now wears and LOVES!
Oooh, I wanted lots of things, but of course didn’t get them all. I guess that’s what make Gen X save, appreciate and wait for big-ticket items. Parents’ decisions were final. There wasn’t a lot of money floating around (or freely available credit). No child psychology techniques to wear down parents with the ‘nag factor’.
So much has changed now. Kids want, want, want, but the difference is that they get, get, get. Parent guilt? Nah, it goes deeper than that, which is another story altogether.
No wonder Gen Y need instant gratification for EVERYTHING. New iphone5 anyone? Ask yourself: do you really, really need it? It’s obselence has been planned anyway before it was launched. Before you know it, iphone6 will be here.
BTW, I am not GenY bashing, it’s not their fault – it’s their parents’, the rise of the global economy, technology, marketing and economics.
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I remember him! He looked fantastic! You MUST ask for it back!!!
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I remember wanting one of them too! As for asking for it back, you say “hey you know that fred cooking dude? Can I have him back for the kids, please?” Easy!
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OMG!! I had one of those!! I loved it.
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I had and loved my Blyth doll. She had a big over sized head and a mop of blonde hair. And a ringpull chord that you would pull and it changed the colour of her eyes! They rolled back in her head and her eyes were a different colour. I loved her.
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I’ve still got my Family Treehouse, Baby Alive and Puppy Surprise tucked away safely,
The one toy I can remember wanting but not getting was a dog that was on a leash and could be walked. I have no idea what it was called!
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I also deeply craves a spirograph set. I think i got one in the end. Heaven.
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I adored my Spirograph but my mother threw it out when I left home. I recently bought one on eBay for my 7 year old daughter who loves it!
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I loved this! Hand me down from my older sisters but spent so much time with it. Fantastic!
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I was lucky enough to have a young mum, who had a spirograph that i was allowed to use under the strictest of supervision.
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I wanted a Velvet doll. She had long blond hair which you could make longer or shorter by winding a knob on her back – it wound up through a hole in the top of her head. She was the ultimate in dolls back in ’72.
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I don’t remember this doll but I remember a Barbie whose hair could be long or short. I think they even said you could cut her hair???
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Twirly curls Barbie !!!
Of course the mechanism broke and she ended up in perpetual awkward growing her hair out stage lol
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Oh wow … that really brought back a lot of memories!! I had the Velvet doll but pretty sure mine had a purple dress and purple shoes. My mum got me the Chrissy doll with the brown hair for my birthday but I desperately wanted the gorgeous Velvet with her lovely blond locks. I was very jealous of my best friend who had both.
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Yes!!! And I never got one. Only ever got educational toys … Sigh …
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I always wanted a toy cemetery. You couldn’t buy one anywhere then, I doubt that you could buy one now.
My father could make just about anything. So I always had high hopes that one fine day he’d present me with the handmade plot of ground complete with headstones, hidden coffins, bodies and assorted mourners standing about the place.
Every time we drove past a cemetery he’d remark….”Look ! There is Bradley’s playground”. I still remember this each and every time I drive past a cemetery today.
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Where did you get the idea from? Did you attend a lot of funerals as a kid? I s’pose it’s not that different from those kids games where they chip away at a block of plaster to find the plastic dinosaur bones, my kids love those. They could dig up the bodies and make zombies out of them.
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A cabbage patch kid. My mum wouldn’t let me have one because she thought they were ugly. She wouldn’t even let my grandma buy one or me
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I wanted a cabbage patch kid too! But my parents couldn’t afford it so I got the cheapo “Flower Girl” version. So not a cabbage patch kid. I remember I tried to autograph it’s bum (like the CPK) but the ink smudged and it looked like she had a bad skin infection.
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Oh I so feel ur pain. Christmas 1985. All I wanted was a cabbage patch. Instead I got a flower Girl. I was crushed as my best friend got a cabbage patch kid. The one thing I remember about the flower girl was that her hair only went around the rim of her head so when you took her ponytail out she was bald!!
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I wanted one of those too.
They have CPD out this year for NZD $89. Luckily my girls haven’t been swayed by the advertising just yet….
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You know they are still making CPK`s. I have all my kids CPK`s packed away, I still remember all their names, the dolls that is, I sometimes forget my kids names.
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I also wanted one of these ….
This is better than therapy.
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OMG! I had one of those, with dr Seuss records. Aaah, the memories.
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I wanted a tape recorder.
Not a cassette recorder. A reel to reel tape recorder.
Showing my age ?
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To play in your cemetary??
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Sadly I remember the reel to reel players. Mums best friend had one. SHe was the only one.
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I still have a working record player and treehouse that my g kids are still enjoying! Generations of imaginative fun:)
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Still got ours, and it STILL works! My kids played with it and my nephew loves it too!
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I had a Sesame Street one of these… actually, I still have it at my Mums place!
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I had a train that played records like that
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I had this and loved it! Twenty years later my niece and nephews love it too!
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I always wanted a cash register, I loved playing shop. I also always wanted to play monopoly, we were never allowed because mum said it make people greedy
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Your mother is right. Monopoly turns my normally beautiful, kind, empathetic 11 year old into Donald Trump.
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We had a great Fisher Price cash register, it had slots for different amounts of money, which was different widths. It was awesome.
We also had Monopoly, but none of us ever lasted long enough to actually start to get greedy. I got Junior Trivial Pursuit when it came out though. That was an awesome birthday!
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I always loved Paddington Bear. I thought he was so cute.
When I was a teenager, my parents sent me to England to stay with the relatives for Christmas. As a Christmas present, my uncle took me to Harrods and bought me a Paddington Bear. I was rapt. He even came with a matching PB pjs & dressing gown.
My 16 year old school friends could not believe that I went to London and proudly bought back a Paddington Bear and not a suitcase full of fashion clothes!
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I too always wanted a Paddington Bear. I finally got one when my parents went to England for a holiday – I was 25!!!! Still have him.
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Reading these comments have made a great Sunday even better! So many toys I wanted or had that I’d totally forgotten about. Operation was awesome although I practically peed a little every time that buzzing noise went off. Speak and Spell was brilliant too!
I’m not sure if this was big in Australia but for the longest time I wanted an Easy- Bake Oven. This was bigger than my Cabbage Patch obsession. When I finally got it after close to a year of begging it was everything I’d hoped for and more! I was making several cakes a day and they still are some of the best I’ve ever tasted.
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Is that a REAL oven? How very, very cool.
Where were you living? In the US?
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I was in between Canada and the US for most of my childhood and this was huge there. It’s totally a real oven! It used lightbulbs somehow to cook things. And when you bought it you got mixes for cakes, cookies and muffins.
I was thinking it must’ve died out by now but it hasn’t! They had to change it a bit because the US government banned incandescent light bulbs a year or two ago but here’s the blinged up 2012 version. I think this is what my son’s getting for Christmas.
“Bake up sweet and tasty treats with the EASY BAKE Ultimate Oven. No more light bulbs needed! Use the included mixes, pans and other goodies to whip up cake and cookie batter. Follow the directions to bake them inside the oven.
Oven comes with baking pan, cupcake pan, pan pusher, chocolate chip cookie mix, red velvet cake mix, pink frosting mix, rainbow sugar crystals package, paper cupcake wraps and instructions/recipe booklet.”
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I want one!!!! (Disturbingly that oven looks like the ghetto blaster I had when I was 14!)
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My kid wanted an easy bake oven. Instead I bought her mini bake pans and a toaster oven. They call me “kill joy” – seriously. But she bakes up a storm with the toaster oven. I thought it more practical. I can just imagine her blog post on Childhood Toys in 2024, and her subsequent couch sessions with the therapist.
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Don’t fret too much. The “food” tasted really bad…even to a 6 year old. I remember forcing myself to eat what I made. I loved twinkies and yodels, yet found the Easy Bake treats to be so artificial (not that this is how I put it back then).
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I had an Easy-Bake Oven too! That same gold/brown one as in your photo… And yes, I recall making cakes in that oven that tasted pretty bad. A couple years back I got to design a cookbook for the Easy-Bake Oven. The recipes were all by well-known chefs and each one was teeny tiny. We even got to do a photoshoot for it… most fun I ever had on a book project!
This is an awesome thread.
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