Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Coin Bank

This plastic Rudolph bank's red nose lights up when coins are dropped in his slot.

Zzzoom-it!

I was watching some vintage toy commercials on Youtube a couple weeks ago (I know it's weird, but I do that on occasion) and came across a commercial that brought back a memory.  One I think I had hidden in the recesses of my mind, blocked even, so scarred was I by it.  In my memory, I'm 7 years old and I'm in the basement of a friend's house and he's shooting metal jar lids at me.  You know, those thin ones that come on olive and pickle jars.  He's shooting them from some evil instrument that seems designed for just such a purpose, so efficiently and accurately it lobs them.  One after another they come out like mini death frisbees, and when they connect, man they sting.  I beg him to stop, but he won't.  He keeps shooting them at me, laughing maniacally...OH GOD MAKE IT STOP!

Sorry.  Deep breaths.  I'm okay.  So back the commercial.  After watching this, I finally know what that lid-flinging hell-machine was.  And apparently, it was supposed to be used in fun, not in torture.

Magic Slate

I bought this for $1 at an estate sale a couple weekends ago.  I told my kids this was our generation's iPad.  It required no electricity or wifi and cost only 36 cents.  The only thing powering it was imagination.

A close cousin to the Etch-a-Sketch, this simple device required no knobs to turn, just a red plastic stylus (unfortunately lost on mine).  For those of you too young to remember these, it was simply a piece of gray plastic over a black waxy backing.  When drawn on with the provided magic pencil, a picture could be drawn.  To erase it, you simple lifted the paper and it was ready for another drawing.

Retro toy maker Schylling still sells their version of the Magic Slate and does oldtimecandy.