From Nerf Guns to Game Boys and Scalextric, this is the definitive list of the ultimate gifts you wanted as a kid! This article comes with a serious nostalgia warning...
No matter what you get for Christmas this year, it will never quite compare to the sheer excitement you had as a kid ripping open your presents. You'd spend Christmas morning eyeing them up, giving them a shake and guessing what every present might be. Obviously, the biggest one was going to be the best!
Now we're students, we're just hoping for money so we can afford to eat again! It's still a few weeks until the next Student Loan Day (which is almost as good as Christmas) and we've been out of money since early November.
Someone needs to tell all gift buyers out there that we already have enough rank Lynx giftsets to stock a small shop and still haven't quite mastered the art of masking our disappointment when Nan buys us SOCKS! Why would anyone buy socks when they could have bought the MASSIVE NERF GUN above? We don't stop having fun because we get older, we get older because we stop having fun - write that down...
So, we've taken a trip down memory lane and hunted out all the awesome present you wanted as a wee nipper. And let's be honest, still secretly want this Christmas!
MARIO KART ON NINTENDO 64
Possibly the best video game ever made! It was great when we were kids and it's even better now we're at uni! As long as you have Mario Kart, you don't really need to leave the house. 'I'ma Mario, I'ma gonna wina!'
SUPER SOAKER
The Super Soaker was the king of the waterguns. Parents everywhere reluctantly bought them for their kids in the knowledge that they were likely to be on the receiving end of a practical joke!
SCALEXTRIC
When you saw the advert for the new Scalextric track you knew Christmas couldn't be far off! Most tracks took up a whole room, but it was well worth it. There were few things more exciting than when the cars collided at high speeds!
TEENAGE MUNTANT NINJA TURTLES
Don't even front, you know that Michaelangelo is the man...or erm.. the turtle! These action figures were an absolute must-have and one of the reasons why you ate so much pizza in the hope it'd turn you green! HEROES IN A HALF SHELL...
Game Boy Colour
The first games console that many of us owned. If you didn't have Pokemon Blue, Red or Yellow, you were seriously missing out! Plus, my Tetris record scores are still on my CV.
Nerf Vortex
This thing travelled for miles and 'HOWLED' when you threw it. Looking back, this howl was a genius marketing ploy that led to everyone wanting one!
Stick-on Tattoos
Some of us have now 'graduated' to actual tattoos, but when you were 8 and it was the summer holidays, there were few things cooler than having stick-on tattoos on your arm.
Slinky
The slinky is a timeless classic which was fun for about 5 minutes. Not because you got bored of it but because it got tangled! Even today, the great scientists still don't know how to untangle a slinky.
Photo from: http://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/
Pokemon Cards
You got to catch 'em all! When it came to Pokemon cards, no one played the over complicated game the instructions suggested, but traded them instead. In a big trade, the negotiation was ruthless. Many Frubes changed hands in those deals.
Beanie Babies
There were two types of Beanie Baby collectors. Those that had the one which shared their birthday and maybe a few others they liked. And then there were kids who literally had 100s of them (i.e. the crazy cat ladies of tomorrow...).
Hot Wheels Cars and Track
Hot Wheels put other racing car tracks to shame. They were high speed, looping and pretty easy to build. The perfect combination!
Kerplunk
Kerplunk was basically a more complicated but more awesome version of Jenga! It had the ability to keep us entertained for hours.
Hammer Beads
After spending hours creating the perfect picture out of tiny beads, you just had to pray that the ironing worked and they all stuck together. A few years ago, pretty much every fridge door was full of hammer bead designs.
Uno
You could play exactly the same game with a standard pack of cards, but Uno cards were different colours and therefore much more interesting. You could even get an 'Extreme' device which fired cards at you!
Furby
It's a wonder how an odd looking furry creature that spoke/sung rubbish was so popular. But millions were bought worldwide and it was a must have toy!
Pringles Holder
You knew it was going to be a good lunch if you saw one of these in your lunchbox!
Lego
No Christmas would be complete without getting some form of Lego! If you kept yours, you've done well. It's not only worht a fair bit second hand, but it's never been more popular after the Lego Movie was released.
Wrestling Belt
When you were going through your major WWF phase, a replica belt was a must have accessory. Can you smell what the Rock is cooking?!
Football sticker book
In my mind, this is all primary school consisted of. Waiting until breaktime so I could swap stickers to complete the sticker book I got for Christmas. The gift that kept on giving... to Merlin and Panini anyway - 98% of my pocket money went on stickers after getting this gift!
A Bike
There is no greater joy as a kid to see a bike-shaped present next to the tree at Christmas. Your first bike is likely to be the coolest thing you'll ever get for Christmas! Well, it would have felt that way at the time!
HUNGRY HIPPOS
You couldn't play hungry hippos without carnage ensuing! We all remember having heated games of Hungry Hippos in our younger years. Today, with enough cardboard and a graphics GCSE you could even create a human sized version.
Ahhhh, to be a kid again, when life was easy and we didn't have to worry about coursework and exams!
Have we missed anything from our list? Let us know in the comments!
