Top 10 Best Birthday Presents

My son is turning 6 this weekend, and we are off to Pump It Up for his birthday party. This got me thinking about the different theme parties we had, and all the cool presents that we wished for. I am in my early 40’s, so that should give you some kind of clue as to the difference between “Cool Presents” from my day, and the cool presents my son wants for his birthday.

There are some similarities, and some not so common ground. Here is my list of the Top 10 Best Birthday Presents for children (from a 40 year old man-child):

1. Big Wheel. This was every young boy’s dream gift. Sure, everyone had a bike, and we even used our wagon as a means of transportation. But the Big Wheel was like a new Ferrari to a young boy.

2. Legos. I must admit, I still love legos. We could spend hours creating cities, space ships, or whatever we wanted with a huge pile of legos. Now, the kits come with specialized pieces and instructions to make them perfect every time. Legos have definitely stood the test of time.

3. Nerf toys. I was around when the nerf ball was an actual invention. Then came the nerf hoop for indoor basketball. Then the nerf football, nerf baseball, and my favorite the nerf rocket. I think that the nerf ball was created as a compromise for letting kids play ball in the house without actually worrying about them breaking stuff.

4. Models. Model cars, planes, motorcycles, etc. Sure, you have to follow the age suggestions on the side of the box, and you should always go inexpensive first with the snap together models before moving on to the glue models. I just remember the huge aisle of models at Toys-R-Us that would captivate me for hours. Maybe it was minutes, but it seemed like hours.

5. Play-dough. I loved play-dough. I loved the way it smelled right out of the container. I was a little perfectionist, and would never think of combining two different colors. Still, the different shapes you could make just amazed me. Now there are even better accessories for our kids to enjoy this generations-old tradition.

6. Army men. I don’t think kids play army men like we used to. Today, they play “Star Wars” which is essentially the same thing, but good luck finding a whole container full of both sides of combatants for $10. You can’t even get a miniature Yoda figurine for that in today’s market.

7. Electric Football. This toy just goes to prove that if you can create the desire for a product, kids will want it even though the game itself sucks. As a kid I played street football and watched it on television on Sundays. If someone could explain to me how plugging in a vibrating metal field and watching the players bump into each other is similar to real football, I would love to hear the explanation. Still, the little white felt footballs were cool to try to kick field goals with.

8. Games. My personal favorites were Monopoly, Life, Battleship, Clue, Backgammon, and Candy Land. For the large part, they still are my favorite games. A lot of my friends liked to play Risk, but I never had enough time or energy to invest in learning it. Also, I never wanted to take over the world, so it didn’t really interest me.

9. Creative toys like etch-a-sketch, lite-brite, and spyro-graph. I had 3 siblings to share with, so I never got enough game time in on any of them to be considered a pro at them. Still, they were fun when I had them.

10. Cap guns. As kids, we didn’t know that playing with cap guns would lead us to violent acts. We just liked to point them (never at someone’s face was the rule) and grimace as the hammer fell on the cap which just was a cool effect. We would then take the roll of caps, and either use a coin or a long finger nail to POP the cap. Even better, you could use a magnifying glass to burn the cap into exploding. The super best thing would be to crush a whole roll of caps at one time with a brick, but that was just wasteful.

What are your childhood memories of your favorite toys? Please share with the rest of the class by entering your comments at the bottom of this post. By the way, Happy Birthday Michael. Daddy loves you.