Dangerous toys from Christmases past

[Kitty 34]

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I have a picture of me in the harness. I'm probably 2ish.

 

[ronandannette]

I have a picture of me in the harness. I'm probably 2ish.

So glad you survived it and are still here to tell the tale!

 

[disneychrista]

We weren't allowed to have the guns, we only ever got the cap gun. But a hammer was so much better & faster.

 

[Babs Johnson]

I had the wood burning set and microscope. Plus original Jarts. I wanted Creepy Crawlers or Incredible Edibles but never got them. My sister had an Easy Bake oven.

 

[soccerdad72]

Shrinky Dinks - melting plastic in the oven, what could possibly go wrong there?

 

[disneyseniors]

We had the guns that shot the rolls of fire cracker type ammo , called firing caps, can't think of what it was called?
My brother had a bb gun and the wood burning set. Those were so dangerous and HOT. It's lucky we didn't get major burns from the wood burning set! We rode bikes without helmets and barefoot (I know not a toy).
We had the OLD roller skates that were metal with straps and never fit right. They were pretty dangerous to try to skate with. They had a skate key with them.

 

[NotUrsula]

I think that the reason so many of us played with those toys and never seriously hurt ourselves with them was that we had a lot more healthy fear in those days -- of our parents!

I actually didn't have all that many of the outdoor toys; I used to spend most of my outdoor time either running around the neighborhood with my dog (the highly trained 140 lb. GSD bodyguard my parents trusted to keep me out of trouble), or working with my dad; mostly using power tools and welding equipment, or repairing commercial fishing gear. There was an unlocked closet in my parents' bedroom that contained a pistol and 4 long guns, with the ammunition on shelf right above it. I hid in there frequently while playing hide & seek, but I *never* touched those guns.

The difference was that I *truly* believed that my parents would kill me if I mis-used any tool or toy I had been taught the proper use of, and they always took the time to teach me whenever anything new came into the house that might hurt me. It was pretty clear that violating the rules would bring down much greater pain than whatever accident might befall me would cause.

There were only 2 times that I got badly hurt while playing: the first one involved aluminum ductwork that had been stacked behind the house while my dad installed air-conditioning. He thought it would be enough to just warn me away from it, but of course, I climbed it (I was 3), and when I fell I sliced my leg open on an exposed flange. The second time was riding a friend's brother's bike several years later; it had a fashionable banana seat, something my Dad always told me was a dangerous design, but had never explained why. I wasn't supposed to ride banana bikes, but I decided to try it out when invited to. Sure enough, the front seat post wasn't secured properly, and when I hit a bump hard, the seat cranked backward on the rear supports, dumping me hard on the asphalt; knocked me cold and cracked my jaw. After the lovely experience of a wired jaw, I learned my lesson about following the 'rents rules.

 

[bcla]

 

[nw6675]

Pogo stick
Watusi fireworks (little red sticks you would scratch like a match)
More votes for lite brite and shrinky dinks

 

[barkley]

i still have my old lite brite AND i'm surprising the family for christmas with a couple of cool retro fao schwartz 'peg light art boxes' (they look like old school tv's with antennas-and the bodies are made of good quality metal). stranger things has some of the younger set more interested in these now.

 

[Mysterian]

They weren’t all that dangerous other than possible hearing damage. Roll caps never worked all that well for me since the advance was rarely perfect. I always preferred ring caps. I actually bought some ring caps, but it was for a cap bomb that could take roll caps or a single cap mounted on the tip. Those were hard to find, so I got 8 shot ring caps (made in Italy no less) and cut them into singles.

I had a cap bomb!
also had various paper and plastic cap guns, as well as a Kenner Robocop figure that used paper cap rolls looped through his back. It was a lame gimmick.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

My daughters had those sky dancers that were later discontinued. When you work them right they were pretty cool for a self launching toy. The problem was you had to pull on them pretty hard to get them to spin fast enough to take off. So for girls it would be tough. On top of that there was a good deal of tension when you pulled so being that you would pull with your stronger arm,= you're weaker arm would give a little and thus direct the sky dancer to launch right into your face. Took them away from the girls pretty quick as the first time i pulled I shot the spinning wing right into my eye.

 

[Mysterian]

Teddy Ruxbin is not considered dangerous, physically, but you could inflict fear and confusion by inserting your own scary recording for him to lip sync to.

 

[BrianL]

I had a cap bomb!
also had various paper and plastic cap guns, as well as a Kenner Robocop figure that used paper cap rolls looped through his back. It was a lame gimmick.

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I had some of the Robocop guys - they were alright, but some rolls of line-caps didn't fit. They worked better than the C.O.P.S. cap-firing weapons, though the C.O.P.S. toys were generally cooler. Ring caps were so much easier.

 

[BayouQueen]

The Creepy Crawlers were soooo much fun to make. We traded them at school. They also had a follow-up product called Fright Factory that made skeletons and stuff like that, instead of bugs. I liked that set even better.

 

[Communicore1991]

How about a bag of glass?

 

[KayMichigan]

One year when I was around ten I got a cotton candy making machine. It was just a table top version but it did make a limited amount of cotton candy. It got VERY hot and I'm still amazed I didn't seriously burn myself. Plus of course cotton candy is terrible for your teeth! You might as well just eat a bag of sugar, because that's what you're literally doing. It was dangerous on two levels!!

 

[AppleDumpling]

The Creepy Crawlers were soooo much fun to make. We traded them at school. They also had a follow-up product called Fright Factory that made skeletons and stuff like that, instead of bugs. I liked that set even better.

Now that you mention it, I remember another extra set of molds we had for the Thingmaker called Creeple Peeple. You made rubber heads, arms, and feet and stuck them on pencils to make troll-like people.

 

[barkley]

The Creepy Crawlers were soooo much fun to make. We traded them at school. They also had a follow-up product called Fright Factory that made skeletons and stuff like that, instead of bugs. I liked that set even better.

i remember that for the couple of years it was on the market you could use the gobble degoop from the incredible edibles toy in your creepy crawler machine to make edible bugs! it was SO COOL to take edible bugs to school in your lunch this was long before there was any kind of gummy type candies other than sweedish fish so it was pretty exclusive to be able to do.

 

[Her Dotness]

Heck, I used to put a clear plastic bag over my head and tape it a couple places to snug up the bottom some around my neck. Then, I'd run around pretending I was an astronaut wearing a helmet.

Consequently, I'm amused when I see danger warnings on plastic bags and inflated packing bags so small a newborn's head wouldn't fit in one.

Odd what we Boomers who did such dumb stuff find amusing, huh?