Okay, I admit I had one of these.
Bugs Bunny Battery Operated Toothbrush 1975
I am guessing most kids had a battery operated tooth brush at some point in there childhood. What one did you have?
Category Archives: Novelty
Woodburning Sets from 1972
It looks my posts may be a bit erratic until things slow down. I usually work on my blog during my lunch hour, but as of late my lunch hours have been busy. So my apologies to those that come here for a daily dose (well more like weekday post since I don’t blog on the weekends) of the 70s, but things should get back to normal in a week or two. I am posting three things today to make up for this week.
We have talked about Woodburning sets many times on this blog so might as well post one of the Christmas ads for them.
Woodburning Sets from 1972
So am I the only one that loved the smell of these things?
Metal Dectector from JCPenny 1974
When I was a kid, I always wanted one of these. Images of me, amassing a mound of coins from my backyard, always seem to pop up when I looked at this ad.
Metal Detector from JCPenny 1974
Recently I was sitting out in front of a Quick Stop store (which is basically a 7-11) and there was a kid with a metal detector scanning the grass around the parking lot. I kid you not, that kid had a gallon size Ziploc bag that was half full of change.
Maybe I should have gotten one…
Paint by Number Sets
I remember these being a popular hobby in the 70s.
Eaton Paint by Number Sets from 1973
My brother had the horse paint by number sets. The paint was in plastic containers, and each container was attached to a plastic bar making it one piece. And they had the brushes which you had to trim before use, because there always seemed to be one hair that was sticking out.
I don’t think I had my own sets. I remember doing the ones that came on cereal boxes. They used to have paint by number sets on the back of the box and you would get water color paint as the “toy” part of your cereal. Do you remember those? The water color paint was between two pieces of paper that you peeled the top away so you could add water and paint. Kind of like the old winning ticket deals before they came out with scratch offs. Oh well, I am getting away from the subject and probably not explaining myself very clearly. 
Have a great weekend!
K-Tel records from the 70s
When you think of 70s commercials, you can’t help but think of K-Tel.
Paraphrased from Wiki: Philip Kives formed K-Tel in 1968. He was a door to door salesman that sold products created by Seymour Popeil. (Seymour Popeil is the father of Ron Popeil, who in turn is the founder of Ronco. I found that interesting.) In 1965 Philip had sold one million of the “Feather Touch Knives” (which were produced by Seymour) in Australia within a five month period!
Of course after you have bought several of the K-Tel records you need something to hold them!
And don’t forget you have to keep them clean. Ronco to the rescue!
Pom-Pom Pets from 1978
I used to make something similar when I was younger to make extra money. We used pom-poms to make refrigerator magnet critters. We had all of the Sesame Street characters, mice, penguins, bunnies, and almost every other critter you could think of. We used to sell them for $.50 to a $1.00. We sometimes had orders for up to $50 from some businesses. That was a lot of money for a kid in the 70s.
Pom-Pom Pets from 1978
Avon Collectable Bottles
I probably had a half a dozen collectable Avon bottle cars that I played with when I was young. I don’t remember what happened to them, I think they all eventually ended up in accidents.
Here are a couple that look like what I had.
Of course they had way more than cars. They had bells, boots, animals and who knows what else. Did any of you have a collection of these?
A couple things that reminded me of mom’s kitchen…
It isn’t anything very exciting, but I ran across a catalog, and there were a couple of items in that I recall playing with in the 70s. I think we got more use out of them then our parents.
Remember this? It is a plastic money counter that you used to keep a running total at the grocery store.
Plastic Money Tally from the 70s
I have no idea why but I loved clicking that thing. It probably drove my mom nuts. The other item that I remembered being in the kitchen is this little gadget here. It is like an envelope scale but it was used to track calories somehow.
Diet Scale Calorie Counter from the 70s
Again, I think I used this more than my parents because I always wanted to see how much food weighed. Had nothing to do with calories lol.
Told you! Nothing very exciting but not all memories are. Some memories just make me smile.
Slinky
It’s Slinky, it’s Slinky, for fun its a wonderful toy.
“What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, And makes a slinkity sound?
A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing, Everyone knows it’s Slinky…
It’s Slinky, it’s Slinky, for fun it’s a wonderful toy.
It’s Slinky, it’s Slinky, it’s fun for a girl and a boy.
Slinky wasn’t strictly a 70s toy, but that was when I received my first one. They were always fun to play with until that fateful time it gets tangled up. I don’t even think Houdini would be able to unravel that mess.
Slinky Ad from 1977
Here is some interesting history about the Slinky from about.com:
“In 1943, Richard James was a naval engineer trying to develop a meter designed to monitor horsepower on naval battleships. Richard was working with tension springs when one of the springs fell to the ground. He saw how the spring kept moving after it hit the ground and an idea for a toy was born.”
“Slinky debuted at Gimbel’s Department Store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the 1945 Christmas…”
“Today, all Slinkys are made in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania using the original equipment designed and engineered by Richard James. Each one is made from 80 feet of wire and over a quarter billion Slinkys have been sold worldwide.”
The history is interesting and worth a read. I was especially surprised by what happened to the inventor of the Slinky. You can read about it here.
How long did you have your Slinky until it became a metal ball of mess?
70s Plastic Smoking Monkey
Smoking monkeys where one of my favorite dime store purchases as a kid. I can vividly remember sitting on our front porch and lighting one up for the little guy. And to think this was actually fascinating to watch! What did they cost in the 70s? $.15? $.25?
What happened to these? Was this another great toy taken away by an over protective society? I mean seriously… how many smokers out there started because of a plastic smoking monkey?
70s Plastic Smoking Monkey
