Let's be nostalgic. New Year's toys from our childhood

4713

26.12.2014

The good thing about modern Christmas tree decorations is that most of them are made of plastic or other unbreakable material. But, as my grandmother says: “It’s not the same anymore”...

Lydia Trofimovna, my grandmother, had Christmas tree decorations in her box, the age of which deserves respect and admiration.

The oldest toys are made of pressed cardboard and papier-mâché. They were released after 1947. Such figures, says the grandmother, are reminiscent of “Dresden” cardboard pre-revolutionary toys. Pieces of embossed cardboard were covered with silver foil and then spray painted with powder paints. For the grandmother they are of particular value, because they store the memories of the first peaceful years.

Another New Year's heirloom in our family is a heavy ball made of thick glass - from 1949. Previously, he had a pink pair, together they glowed in the dark, but only the pink ball broke, sliding off a weak spruce branch, and the phosphor paint on the green one was so worn out that one can only guess about its former splendor.

Confetti from 1973
Believe it or not, even a bag of confetti from 1973 has been preserved. I opened it out of curiosity. Colored circles are made from old magazines. On some, even block letters are clearly visible. And the bag cost 13 kopecks.

There are toys on clothespins that are convenient to place on the lower branches of the tree. According to the grandmother’s recollections, they come from the early 1970s.

Plastic fairy-tale characters - hedgehogs, foxes - have gathered in large numbers. Grandma dates them back to 1964.

Toy fruits often appeared on our Christmas tree. The color, however, did not always match the original - blue raspberries, steel bean pods...

Old Christmas tree decorations are like a small history guide. Except corn

cobs, fairy-tale heroes and figurines of people in national costumes, after the first flight into space, many space-themed toys appeared. So we still have two cosmonauts.

By the way, on auction sites such toys can be sold from 50 thousand rubles apiece to 500 thousand. But I’m in no hurry to exchange the magic of the New Year for money.

A competition that was held several years ago. People posted photos of old Christmas tree decorations and told stories of how they appeared in their homes. All the photographs are amateur, but the toys are real and most likely, some of them are found in our homes...

1. In our family we have a small collection of old Christmas tree decorations. They came to us in different ways: some were inherited, some were gifts from friends, some were found at flea markets. But this Father Frost and Snow Maiden probably have the most interesting story of how they ended up under our Christmas tree.

One day, my daughter and grandmother went to visit an old neighbor. She started sorting out all sorts of unnecessary things, took out this Santa Claus from the mezzanine and threw him into a pile of garbage to be thrown away. My daughter took it out and said that she would take it home because she really, really needed it. Our delight knew no bounds - we had never had a grandfather like him!

We decided that he would be sad alone and we urgently needed to look for his granddaughter. For several weeks we rushed around various flea markets in search of the right Snow Maiden, and now, when we had almost despaired, she was finally found - lying so unfortunate in a box with assorted dishes and broken records.

We immediately realized that it was She, the only granddaughter! Of course it was bought and solemnly brought to my grandfather. Now they will not melt away from each other and their life slowly flows among the Christmas tree decorations - their peers. And we are very grateful to them for choosing our house to live in, we hope, for many, many years! What a story! Happy New Year, everyone! (c) Sona.

2. These New Year's toys were given to me by my beloved grandmother. Now she is a twice-great-grandmother and turns 80 in January! All my Christmas trees from childhood were decorated with these toys...

The oldest is a bird made of cotton wool, the most patriotic is a ball with a red star, the most fabulous are toys on clothespins (a cheerful clown, a Snow Maiden in a shiny outfit and not at all scary Baba Yaga). And of course, New Year’s watches, which, it turns out, many people still have...

Our family values ​​these toys very much, despite the fact that over time they lose their shine. They are from the past and preserve the spirit of those distant times. These toys have soul! I still believe in New Year's miracles! (c)bel-mama.

3. Perhaps no one knows the full history of these toys. I remember how my mother was decorating the Christmas tree, and I watched, climbing with my feet on the sofa and holding my breath, I was terribly worried. After all, if a thin thread breaks, the toy will turn into a myriad of multi-colored fragments. But the thread, in my memory, never broke.

A lot of time has passed since then. The cool pine needles with the smell of resin were forced out of the house by a synthetic rival. And the colorful plastic balls are no longer afraid of any fall. But in the closet, under the heap of all this holiday tinsel, there is still a treasured box of old toys.

“Throw away this old stuff,” my mother advises every year, coming across a box. - We accumulated it in our first marriage. Anyway, you don’t hang it on the Christmas tree anymore.” She’s right, of course, I haven’t hung it for a long time. But a thin thread of childhood memories still keeps these toys in the house. (c)Bri.

5. My husband has an old grandmother. One day we went to visit her, and she asked for help in dismantling old things. On the mezzanine, my husband and I found an old plywood suitcase.

With great difficulty we opened it (the locks were not working properly) and... lo and behold! There, covered with tissue paper, lay several Christmas tree decorations! It turned out that she bought these toys in Moscow when she went to some courses to study.

Glass toys were a luxury at that time, especially here in the far north. The housemates came to admire them! When grandmother's children were little, Christmas tree decorations took their place on the tree. But for the last fifty years they have been quietly lying in a suitcase on the highest shelf. And now we hung them on our Christmas tree! (c)sabirova

6. In our apartment there are 2 things that were passed down to us from our grandmother: a toy and a mirror. For me, both of these things are extremely beautiful and valuable. Next door to my grandmother's house was the house of her older friend, whom she helped with housework. And being already in a weakened state, for her kindness and support, during her lifetime, my friend gave my grandmother several things dear to her heart.

The New Year's toy looks bulky, but inside it is hollow, fragile and consists of 2 glued parts. Before me, it was preserved in a disintegrated form with a frayed ribbon. I once replaced the string and connected both parts together. On the front of the toy there is a place for some kind of image, the presence of which the parents no longer remember. (c)telef.

7. For me and my family, beads have become the main decoration of the New Year tree for many years. These beads were my inheritance from my grandparents, who died when I was about 7 years old.

They were bought by my grandmother when my father was not yet 10 years old, and he is now 53 years old, so it is also the oldest thing in our house. I am sure that my children will keep these beads as carefully as I do. (c) Oksi10.

8. My grandparents live in Ukraine. I visit them rarely... maybe once every 3 years and usually in the summer. But one day I decided to make a New Year’s gift and come to them for the holiday. When I saw this toy on the Christmas tree, I simply could not contain my emotions. I didn’t even think that our leaders were once captured on toys!

On one ball there were 3 personalities at once: Vladimir Ilyich, Joseph Vissarionovich and Leonid Ilyich. Because I teach history at school, so I immediately started begging for this toy from old people, emphasizing that the Christmas tree in a history class must be filled with history..

But I was told that this was a long-standing gift from friends and gifts are not re-gifted. I exchanged this toy for a promise to come in the summer. The exchange took place and I kept my word. (c) joki.

9. New Year's bunny. (c)ERICA-BMW.

10. Cheerful clown. Real retro 50s. (c) cat2008.

11. When I was in the 2nd grade (now I’m 49 years old), at our school at the “New Year’s tree” there was a competition for the best New Year’s costume, I was in a snowflake costume, sewn by my mother from gauze and New Year’s beads.

I thought that my costume was the most beautiful, but after summing up the results of the competition, my outfit went unnoticed. I was very upset. My teacher noticed this. She took two New Year's toys from the school tree: a small yellow teapot and a girl in a flower costume and gave them to me, saying that my costume was very beautiful. I was delighted and very happy and satisfied, my mood immediately lifted.

This was in 1967, I still remember my kind teacher, whose name was Zoya Stepanovna, and throughout all these years I have taken great care of these New Year’s toys, they are the most precious to me! (c) Nattali.

12. The story of our toys is funny and a little touching. They were purchased by my grandfather, or rather exchanged for a couple of packs of cigarettes and a “bubble”))). These are our family's first toys.

This story is also funny because my grandfather gave my mother and grandmother not flowers and jewelry, but a Christmas tree and New Year’s toys! Because mom was born on New Year's Eve. So these “family jewels” have been “protected” for three generations. (c)ira2007.

13. I had a lot of Christmas tree decorations! Boxes with glass snow maidens, sets of cones, balls, garlands... And every New Year they bought me more and more. But I wanted exactly the ones in the photo! But we didn’t have them in our stores! But my girlfriend had exactly these!

Her mother raised her alone and did not particularly spoil her, and therefore she had few toys. Of course, I shared my toys with her, gave them away for good, changed them. But these: 2 flashlights, a nesting doll and a chicken on clothespins, she didn’t give it to me and didn’t even want to change! How I wanted them!

Every New Year, Sveta hung them on her tree, and I came and looked at them with admiration. They were shiny, over time the toys darkened and faded, but then, in childhood, they were very beautiful! A few years later, when we were already in high school, a friend brought them to me for New Year and gave them to me.

It was the best gift! Now I always hang them on my Christmas tree, and my girlfriend comes to celebrate the New Year with me. (c) Ulala.

14. I got these toys from my grandmother. Unfortunately, half were broken. But there are still 20 pieces left. I decorate my favorite little Christmas tree with them. When my parents’ friends come to visit, they always say that some special “energy” emanates from my Christmas tree))))) (c)Ardy.

15. We got this old Christmas tree toy from our grandmother; she was dismantling the mezzanine about 20 years ago and decided to give us this ball. (c)Kelly.

16. We try to celebrate the New Year as often as possible with our grandmother in the village. The paint on many toys has already worn off and they have a special “vintage” smell from the past..

Surprisingly, none of the many relatives buy modern toys for grandma’s Christmas tree; everyone wants to see these: unusual, shabby ones that have gone through various events together with grandma’s large family. This Snow Maiden is now left without Santa Claus, but surrounded by toys similar to her. (c) Lol.

17. These three balls seem to me to be the oldest of those Christmas tree decorations that have been preserved in our family. Although, to be honest, I don't know how old they are. The balls are made of papier-mâché and consist of two halves.

The halves can be separated and a small object can be placed inside. I remember these balls all my life, they always hung on my grandmother’s tree, and my brother and I raced to look for them on the tree in order to quickly open them and find something interesting inside (usually it was candy).

Alas, my grandmother is no longer in the world and I did not think in time to ask where these balls came from. I only remember that they are German. Now the balls are a little cracked, they had to be glued several times, but they still decorate the tree, and now my daughter is looking for something interesting inside. (c) davele.

18. Once upon a time, this was a set of gingerbread cookies with deer. Deer glow in the dark, 35 years have passed, only one remains. Let's take care of him! (c)13tata777.

19. I am very proud that I have such toys in my collection, I take great care of them, but, nevertheless, I use them - I hang them on my Christmas tree every year, because it’s a sin to hide such beauty in a velvet box!

And what makes me especially happy is that the wonderful cardboard decorations, embossed on mother-of-pearl paper, have been very well preserved. I liked them the most because I could look at them for a long time, trace them on paper with a pencil, and also (most importantly) - they could not be broken!

I have a special funny story associated with these cardboard toys - once, when I was little, my parents decided to give me a surprise - they set up and decorated the Christmas tree to their taste with elegant inflated balls and glass fairy-tale characters while I was sleeping. But in the morning I burst into tears when I didn’t see my favorite cardboard fish, chickens, and especially my favorite sailboat on the tree!

The parents were confused and could not understand what they had done and how they had brought their child to tears! Then, of course, together we hung my favorite figures on the tree - and after that everything immediately fell into place! Childhood memories are what these cardboard, simple, but very dear to my heart decorations store. (c) Liubashka.

20. This is always my favorite toy on the New Year's tree since childhood, when I really wanted to have a dog. She is probably even older than my grandmother. Unfortunately, I don’t know how she came to us, and my grandmother no longer remembers. It is stored very carefully and is always hung in the most visible place. (c) anka-bk.

21. This toy hangs on our Christmas tree every year, since my early childhood! And every year, with pleasant nostalgia and even that same childish feeling of a fairy tale, I hang it on the Christmas tree, sit next to it and looking at it, I remember the amazing fairy tales that my parents told me on behalf of this funny old forest man! (c) Prelest2008.

22. This toy is incredibly dear to me and my whole family! The fact is that my grandfather gave this toy to my mother. Then my mom and dad were just dating and they decided to celebrate the New Year together!

While decorating the Christmas tree, dad dropped this luxurious toy and it broke into pieces... Dad spent the next day looking for the same decoration and found it!

Mom was very happy, but they didn’t say anything to grandfather! Since then, this toy has been hanging on every one of our Christmas trees! Mom says that this crystal flower blossomed with her and dad’s love! (c) Liniq.

23. These skates were passed down from generation to generation to every woman in my family. My great-great and many times “great” grandfather brought them from Finland, tied a wedding ring to them and proposed to my great-great and several times “great” grandmother! This is such a small and instructive story! (c) HelloKitty.

24. I got this toy from my great-grandmother. She made it from scrap materials. Because there was nothing before. This was after the war. Of course we restored it a little. Because this is a great memory. And even though there are thousands of modern toys in stores now, for me there is nothing more valuable than this! The toy is almost a century old! (c) aleksawest.

25. Some time ago, balls with bows came into fashion and mom decided to throw out all the old toys. I barely saved it, but there are only a few of these left at home, I’m posting them for your consideration.

As a child, my sister and I had a favorite pastime for the New Year: one would make a wish for some toy, and the second would ask leading questions about it and try to guess what kind of toy she had in mind...

Now, of course, it seems like a funny game, but then it was very interesting, because the Christmas trees were always placed large, under the ceiling, and you really had to look for toys on it (c) Pass.

26. “Call me lady, kiss my fingers” - the words of Veronica Dolina come to mind when I listen to my grandmother’s story about her short and tender romance with a Polish man with the funny name Leszek.

It was somewhere in a small town, I think it was Biala Podlaska. Granny, with a hazy smile on her face, recalls how before the celebration of Catholic Christmas, he, blushing with embarrassment, told her for the first time in private “Dobzhe day, lady,” kissed her hand and handed her a small bouquet made in the form of a Christmas tree decoration.

“What a wonderful Polish tradition it is to kiss women’s hands! What a pity that our men have forgotten how to do this!” - she sighs. I know that my grandmother keeps the memories of this novel in the most secret corners of her heart and does not tell anyone about them except me.

But every time, on New Year’s Day, she takes this bouquet out of a large box and hangs it on the tree. She looks at me and we smile at each other. (c)ladyspeed.

27. My godmother gave me this sweet New Year’s toy 11 years ago! It was terribly cold outside and my godmother and I were returning from the park, where we rode on ice slides and made snowmen!

It’s very strange, but in 20 degree frost I really wanted ice cream! I begged my godmother for a long time to buy me “Ice”, but she won’t do anything! I started crying! And then my godmother gave me this toy, which she bought in a subway passage! I was very happy! (c) Ina-S.

29. Grandmother's inheritance. (c) rina-1983.

The task of the hollow plastic grandfather is to stand under the tree in a layer of cotton wool strewn with fallen needles. The paint on the nose and cheeks peeled off quickly, so the grandfathers sported bold makeup from their mother’s nail polish. The only one, pink. His older brother, the cotton Santa Claus, looked more monumental and felt nicer to the touch, but lost its padding over the years.

Snowflakes and stars from glass tubes

These airy toys still look quite futuristic, but back then children’s hands were eager to take them apart for spare parts, so that later they could assemble something more interesting from fragile tubes. Well, or just test it for strength. Crunch!

Cucumber and eggplant

Glass vegetables appeared on sale in the 60s and looked very fashionable - bright, beautiful. It’s a pity, decorating a Christmas tree in a themed style was not yet customary.

Balloons

They fought about the same, but they were all beautiful in different ways. There were simply smooth ones, or with snow powder, or in the form of a hemisphere and with a star-shaped depression. Enterprising and creative parents used shards of balloons to decorate the outfits of Snowflakes and Snow Maidens.

Cones

Second in popularity after balls. It was especially valuable to have a pink cone with white “sprinkles,” but most often you came across ordinary, silver ones.

Boy on clothespin

These colored glass figurines were very beautiful - you just wanted to snatch them away and play with them. But it was almost impossible to secure them firmly to the Christmas tree paw - they lurched and fell.

Cardboard fish

It’s good because it doesn’t break, which means it will survive many trees.

Apple and pear made of cotton papier-mâché

As a child, these toys seemed completely unattractive - somewhat dull, on a wire, no luxury. But now they look very nostalgic.

Christmas tree topper

The most beautiful and most fragile consisted of two or three balls with shiny indentations (but the top of the Christmas tree still had to be filed under it).

Garland of light bulbs

To make the tree blink beautifully and mysteriously, a garland of small corrugated light bulbs, similar to lampshades, was taken out of the box. In some places it is covered with blue electrical tape; half the light bulbs do not light. There was also a fashionable “Blizzard” garland - light bulbs sat in plastic sockets in the shape of snowflakes.

Red Spasskaya Tower

Strictly speaking, gifts were given out in this plastic box at the Kremlin Christmas tree (and other, slightly less important, Christmas trees). But for years the tower took its place of honor next to Santa Claus in the New Year’s installation.

Paper lantern

Homemade lanterns made of colored paper are a must-have attribute of any Christmas tree. We roll up one tube, fold and fringe another, connect, straighten - beauty!

We remember and feel nostalgic.

If somewhere in the depths of the mezzanine you have boxes of old Christmas tree decorations stored, then it’s time to get them out. First of all, these toys are sure to make you nostalgic and lift your spirits. Well, secondly, designers recommend such Christmas tree decorations as some of the most fashionable this year. Increased demand for them arose about 4 years ago and since then such toys have risen in price 10 times.

Cardboard decorations

Thin and almost weightless are the very first Christmas tree decorations that were produced in the post-war period. Toys in the shapes of animals and children were especially popular. Despite their advanced age, many people still keep such jewelry. And although these toys are among the simplest, they still look great.

Wire and bead jewelry

Became popular in the late 40s. They were toys of various shapes, consisting of glass rods and beads strung on wire. Glass beads that were hung on the Christmas tree also became fashionable. In those days there was no rain and tinsel, but such beads certainly looked no worse.

Series "Cipollino" on a clothespin

If you have a toy from this series, you can safely consider yourself the owner of a valuable item. For a standard set of 16 items, collectors are willing to pay 40 thousand rubles or more, so under no circumstances throw them away. Individual copies are also sold, the most expensive of the series is “Signor Tomato”, for which fans are willing to pay 19 thousand. But the best option, perhaps, would be to keep these rare things with you, because no amount of money can buy the memory of childhood.

Squirrel

Another old Soviet toy on a clothespin. Refers to the earliest Christmas tree decorations in the USSR - such toys in the shape of animals began to be produced back in the 50s. In those days, Christmas tree decorations were blown and painted by hand, and therefore they were very highly valued.

Clock "five minutes to twelve"

A toy of this shape appeared after Eldar Ryazanov’s cult Soviet film “Carnival Night” and instantly won the hearts of Soviet citizens. And no wonder - such decoration is very symbolic, and looks cute and sincere.

Cone

Such toys in the shape of cones dusted with snow appeared back in the 60s and for a very long time were one of the most popular decorations for New Year trees. It was these cones that became the ancestors of many Christmas tree decorations from the times of the USSR.

Icicles

These Christmas tree decorations are strongly associated with winter, and their graceful elongated shape will perfectly decorate any furry beauty. Icicles appeared in the mid-60s and have since settled in every home. Various shapes and colors, dusted with snow and shiny, they, without a doubt, can delight you for many years to come.

Balls

The most popular form for Christmas tree decorations. Having appeared on the shelves, the balls quickly became top sellers, and remain so to this day. But, you must admit, Soviet balls are significantly different from modern ones. Family, cozy and simpler than modern elegant, but at the same time absolutely impersonal decorations.

Christmas tree tops

An indispensable attribute of the New Year tree in every Soviet apartment. Could you imagine a Christmas tree without this finishing touch? Such tops were produced in a wide variety of shapes and colors, but most often they were silver in color. Later, such tops were replaced by a twinkling red star.

Houses

Another very popular Christmas tree toy in the Soviet Union. Multi-colored houses appeared in the 80s and were produced in huge quantities. These toys are not rare, but, without a doubt, they are one of the most recognizable and cozy Soviet Christmas tree toys.

"They're in our box.
magic toys:
Silver stars,
garlands and firecrackers."

A. Usachev

And today I remember my childhood and all the impressions of the pre-holiday mood of the coming New Year. The magic of Christmas tree decorations... The triumph of the moment when a stepladder was set up and one of the parents slowly climbed the stairs to get from the mezzanine the treasured box in which the magical paraphernalia of the January holidays was kept. And we, holding our breath, continually looked up. The house was filled with the smell of a breathing, revived Christmas tree, which traditionally stood in the corner of the room.

We children had our favorite toys and decorations. I really liked the cardboard ones... They were cockerels, bunnies, butterflies, birds, sailboats... Maybe because they were warm to the touch, I wanted to hold them longer, look at them, and there was no fear of accidentally breaking them. They did not shimmer like mirror balls, in which you could see your funny reflection, and were not attached to the branch with a clothespin. The fastening was in the form of an ordinary loop of twisted thread.
And what would a spruce be without beads! Without streamers, without cotton wool, without snow, without tinsel, garlands with multi-colored light bulbs... The top of the coniferous beauty was traditionally crowned with a star or a lance.. After that, bows, angels and even hats appeared... And it is absolutely impossible to imagine the New Year without candles!

A reverent and tender attitude came very early and remained forever towards snowmen... Outside the window made of snow, in toys, on postcards. She was completely calm about the cotton-wool Santa Claus in a traditional red fur coat and the Snow Maiden with a rosy-cheeked face, who had the honor of guarding an elegant forest guest, decorated with jewelry.

Next to purchased and homemade toys, tangerines, apples, sweets, gingerbread cookies swaying on strings peacefully coexisted... And this was also magic. Because all this was then eaten and seemed unusually tasty, with the aroma of resin and forest. But the most unforgettable moment was the morning of the New Year, when we found gifts under the tree... And unconsciously believed that Santa Claus himself, who had flown in from Veliky Ustyug, had put them there for us... And every time I wanted to see the mystery of his arrival in the house and each time we did not succeed, since the winters were frosty and snowy, and the dreams after our walks were strong and fabulous. But it always seemed to me that one of the Snowmen, who had been vigilantly guarding our yard almost all winter, wanted to tell us the time of arrival in his snowman language, however, he was careful not to anger the main figure of the holiday... He only smiled slyly with his mouth drawn or in the form of a curved twig and glistened coal eyes...

Once and forever, “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint Exupéry entered my life and heart - the best New Year’s gift of childhood, found under the tree. And in December of this year, director Mark Osborne pleased us with an animated film about the Little Prince, who said such simple, but such iconic words for all times: “We are responsible for those we have tamed”...

Happy New Year! Happiness, joy, peace, smiles, kindness and love!

Reviews

Dear Natochka, magical New Year Holidays
many memories awaken about the past.
Thanks for the wonderful story! Very touching and
in tune with my soul! I am sending you, my dear Natasha,
Warmest congratulations on the Winter Holidays
Happy New Year 2017!
Happy Merry Christmas!
Happy miraculous Christmastide!
I wish you happiness, joy, prosperity!
Love and kindness! With affection, Tanya

Tanya, thank you very much for your warmth and kindness! Always nice to see and hear!

May the coming year be bright and joyful for you in love, health and grace!

I hug you, my dear!

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