What do you think?
Rate this book
Under the Tree: The Toys and Treats That Made Christmas Special, 1930-1970
Filled with more than 100 illustrations nostalgic art, vintage photographs, and evocative advertisements
When? Can t I open just one? Please? The minutes, the hours, the eons of waiting and wondering. What s underneath the shiny silver paper? Behind the enormous red bow? Under the tree?
Who doesn t remember what it was like to be a kid at Christmas? And who hasn t yearned to go back in time to recapture that special feeling? Well, we can t turn back the clock, but we can do the next best thing. We can bring a bit of the past into the present. In Under the Tree, Susan Waggoner, author of Stewart, Tabori and Chang s It s a Wonderful Christmas, takes a loving, nostalgic look at the toys and gifts that made the postwar American Christmas the big deal it was.
Under the Tree revisits gifts both large and small, from Mr. Machine and the Kenner Easy-Bake Oven to Moon Rocks, Silly Putty, Sea Monkeys, and other delights that stuffed our stockings. In addition to the fascinating stories behind each toy, the book is bursting with cultural history, quotes, and lore all wrapped up with more than 100 full-color vintage illustrations. For anyone who s ever been a kid at Christmas, Under the Tree will be as irresistible as a kiss under the mistletoe.
When? Can t I open just one? Please? The minutes, the hours, the eons of waiting and wondering. What s underneath the shiny silver paper? Behind the enormous red bow? Under the tree?
Who doesn t remember what it was like to be a kid at Christmas? And who hasn t yearned to go back in time to recapture that special feeling? Well, we can t turn back the clock, but we can do the next best thing. We can bring a bit of the past into the present. In Under the Tree, Susan Waggoner, author of Stewart, Tabori and Chang s It s a Wonderful Christmas, takes a loving, nostalgic look at the toys and gifts that made the postwar American Christmas the big deal it was.
Under the Tree revisits gifts both large and small, from Mr. Machine and the Kenner Easy-Bake Oven to Moon Rocks, Silly Putty, Sea Monkeys, and other delights that stuffed our stockings. In addition to the fascinating stories behind each toy, the book is bursting with cultural history, quotes, and lore all wrapped up with more than 100 full-color vintage illustrations. For anyone who s ever been a kid at Christmas, Under the Tree will be as irresistible as a kiss under the mistletoe.
112 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2007
2 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 27, 2022
A nostalgic look at the toys that delighted children from 1930-1970 - a heyday of mass production and general wealth where more kids in North America and parts of Europe got to play with the coolest toys. I remember most of the offerings - Betsy Wetsy, Matchbox cars, the Lionel trains, the board games, Spirograph, Lite Brite, I could go on. The book missed a few of my favourites - Melody train, where you make a track of of musical notes, and the train rides over it and plays a song, to name one- but it was a good selection of toys, reminding me once again that we, the boomers had the best of the best for childhood fun.
A short read, full of good memories.
A short read, full of good memories.
March 22, 2011
This book reminded me of many of my own Christmases: The anticipation often exceeded the actual event. That being said, I have enjoyed all my Christmases, and I enjoyed reading this book, too. And, yes, I found toys I had when I was a child, some of which were still around when I started buying toys for my own children. No doubt, my kids will some day buy some of these same toys for their kids. This book covers toys and treats from 1930 to 1970 in 112 pages, and therein lies the problem: Not enough detail. If you are looking for your favorite toy, you'll have to flip through the book, because there is no index. You will discover a lot about toys, but you will search in vain for your favorite teddy bear or stuffed animal. You find out when that first Easy Bake Oven hit the shelves and what it cost. (Note: If you still have it, you better stock up on incandescent light bulbs while they are still available!) If you don't already know it, you'll find out how Silly Putty came to be. You will enjoy looking at the numerous and colorful illustrations, even though the captioning could be better. This is a book you can toss on your coffee table and enjoy looking at from time to time, but remember, this book just skims the surface of the toy world.
December 28, 2025
4.75🌟 Amazingly fun and full of vintage Christmas goodness! What a treat to be able to see, explore and learn about the wonderful vintage toys from the past. The 1930s-1950s is my favorite time period to read about, so this made Under the Tree even more enjoyable during the holiday months! I'm really happy that it included the 60s and 70s toys because they're also items I collect now (even though I didn't grow up playing with some of them.)
Tons of full color photos, chock full of history and so many festive facts! The only reason why it's not a 5 star read for me is that it's not quite the type of book you can read straight through. It's great for picking up, looking at one section and browsing the information a little at a time.
I'll definitely be checking out more of Susan Waggoner's books, though! Highly recommended if you love vintage toys, old toy catalogs and Christmas themes!
Tons of full color photos, chock full of history and so many festive facts! The only reason why it's not a 5 star read for me is that it's not quite the type of book you can read straight through. It's great for picking up, looking at one section and browsing the information a little at a time.
I'll definitely be checking out more of Susan Waggoner's books, though! Highly recommended if you love vintage toys, old toy catalogs and Christmas themes!
December 7, 2024
What a delightful gem for traveling down "Memory Lane" so to speak! So many toys that I had forgotten about as well as learning about the backgrounds and origins of manufacturing....I hadn't realized Matchbox dinkies came from Great Britain and were before How Wheels. The Chatty Cathy doll was one of the ones I had growing up as well....There is a bit of history in a sense about how some came to be with each changing of the times and other influences :)
June 29, 2021
Excellent book about our childhood toys. I really enjoyed it as it brought back many memories.
December 15, 2023
ANOTHER EXCELLENT AND WELL-ILLUSTRATED OVERVIEW OF CULTURAL TRADITIONS
Author Susan Waggoner begins this 2007 book, “the Christmas we know today, complete with presents piled beneath a tree, comes to us across centuries of evolution… the toy extravaganza we know today didn’t really get its start until the nineteenth century. The change began in 1823 with Clement Moore’s poem, ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’… This poem replaced the image of the thin, somewhat forbidding European Santa Claus with a cheerful, robust American Santa… did we mention his sleigh full of toys? The European St. Nick dispensed charity to the poor, but the American version gave toys to good children everywhere. Spending---especially on children---was not a display of sinful excess but a demonstration of the Christmas spirit itself. Germany became the toy-making capital of the world… Marvelous as the German toys were, importation costs kept them relatively expensive---until retailer Frank Woolworth taught the German toy-makers to mass-produce goods and ship them to his warehouses for packaging and distribution. His method would become a huge success, and countless children had merry Christmases because Woolworth’s stores featured products that almost every family could afford…
“[W]ith World War I… from that time on, an ever-growing variety of toys were produced in America… World War II was ultimately a catalyst, as couples who had been separated for four long, dangerous years wanted nothing more than to settle down, have children, and do Christmas on a bigger scale than ever before. The last ingredient in the toy extravaganza was television. No longer did manufacturers have to persuade Mom and Dad of a toy’s potential; through TV, they could go directly to the consumer… It’s become fashionable, over the years, to insist that Christmas is cluttered with too many toys, that our children are spoiled and should learn to live with less. But who among us doesn’t harbor the memory of a magical Christmas and a special toy? Ask yourself, can this be a BAD thing? We don’t think so.”
This wonderfully-illustrated book will be of great interest to those who enjoy the cultural history of Christmas.
Author Susan Waggoner begins this 2007 book, “the Christmas we know today, complete with presents piled beneath a tree, comes to us across centuries of evolution… the toy extravaganza we know today didn’t really get its start until the nineteenth century. The change began in 1823 with Clement Moore’s poem, ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’… This poem replaced the image of the thin, somewhat forbidding European Santa Claus with a cheerful, robust American Santa… did we mention his sleigh full of toys? The European St. Nick dispensed charity to the poor, but the American version gave toys to good children everywhere. Spending---especially on children---was not a display of sinful excess but a demonstration of the Christmas spirit itself. Germany became the toy-making capital of the world… Marvelous as the German toys were, importation costs kept them relatively expensive---until retailer Frank Woolworth taught the German toy-makers to mass-produce goods and ship them to his warehouses for packaging and distribution. His method would become a huge success, and countless children had merry Christmases because Woolworth’s stores featured products that almost every family could afford…
“[W]ith World War I… from that time on, an ever-growing variety of toys were produced in America… World War II was ultimately a catalyst, as couples who had been separated for four long, dangerous years wanted nothing more than to settle down, have children, and do Christmas on a bigger scale than ever before. The last ingredient in the toy extravaganza was television. No longer did manufacturers have to persuade Mom and Dad of a toy’s potential; through TV, they could go directly to the consumer… It’s become fashionable, over the years, to insist that Christmas is cluttered with too many toys, that our children are spoiled and should learn to live with less. But who among us doesn’t harbor the memory of a magical Christmas and a special toy? Ask yourself, can this be a BAD thing? We don’t think so.”
This wonderfully-illustrated book will be of great interest to those who enjoy the cultural history of Christmas.
July 2, 2024
This book is pure nostalgia...like the title says, "the toys and treats that made Christmas special, 1930-1970".
I loved it! It made me remember all the Christmas gifts that me, and my brothers, received as we were growing up. It was full of toys I remember having like Betsy Wetsy, Tiny Tears, Chatty Cathy, Betsy McCall, and, of coarse, Barbie. Paper dolls were a big thing for me, and my brothers had trains, trucks, Matchbox cars, and Hot Wheels......I played with them too. Board games were great on rainy days...The game of Life, Monopoly, and Twister were fun. I had forgotten how I had the game Cootie, and Mr. Potato Head, using REAL potatoes! How about Tiddly Winks? Easy Bake Ovens? I had a beautiful doll house, and a farm set too. Lincoln Logs and Tinker Toys. The Etch A Sketch. The View-Master. Silly Putty. The Slinky and Troll dolls. I could go on and on. So many memories.
I loved it! It made me remember all the Christmas gifts that me, and my brothers, received as we were growing up. It was full of toys I remember having like Betsy Wetsy, Tiny Tears, Chatty Cathy, Betsy McCall, and, of coarse, Barbie. Paper dolls were a big thing for me, and my brothers had trains, trucks, Matchbox cars, and Hot Wheels......I played with them too. Board games were great on rainy days...The game of Life, Monopoly, and Twister were fun. I had forgotten how I had the game Cootie, and Mr. Potato Head, using REAL potatoes! How about Tiddly Winks? Easy Bake Ovens? I had a beautiful doll house, and a farm set too. Lincoln Logs and Tinker Toys. The Etch A Sketch. The View-Master. Silly Putty. The Slinky and Troll dolls. I could go on and on. So many memories.
February 18, 2020
Fun trip down memory lane!
December 6, 2024
Heavily skewed towards boomers
If you were a kid in the 50’s you might enjoy the book, but though the title says it goes into the 70’s it is mostly 40’s and 50’s.
If you were a kid in the 50’s you might enjoy the book, but though the title says it goes into the 70’s it is mostly 40’s and 50’s.
January 11, 2023
I wasn’t alive during the period covered in this book, but a few of these toys made a comeback during my childhood. Regardless, this is a light, easy read for the holiday reminding you about those special gifts and memories that stick with you to adulthood.
October 9, 2015
Susan Waggoner has done a superb job of compiling most of the toys you can imagine from 1930-1970. She describes several of my most coveted toys: a tea set, the Easy Bake Oven, and a dollhouse. Despite that she covers a lot of Shirley Temple items, she fails to mention the most awesome toy ever - the Shirley Temple Magnetic T V Theater. I never had one of my own, but I loved playing with my sister's. She devotes a lot of space to games, the ultimate game for beginners being Candyland. I loved the curiously not-mentioned Hi Hi Cherry-O. If you're feeling nostalgic for the toys of your youth, this is the book for you.
January 19, 2016
A fun look at holiday trends from the 1930 through 1970. Discovering what toys were popular shows some cultural changes, historical events going on at the time and financial issues in the life of your average American family through five decades. It was also neat to see how some toys have changed very little from their beginnings as far back as ancient Egypt.
March 23, 2008
Oh, the nostalgia!
While I'm rather glad that I never had 'The Beverly Hillbillies' game, I do fondly remember the Woolworth's doll house that I once played with.
A book of the toys and games from my childhood, most of which didn't survive my childhood.
While I'm rather glad that I never had 'The Beverly Hillbillies' game, I do fondly remember the Woolworth's doll house that I once played with.
A book of the toys and games from my childhood, most of which didn't survive my childhood.
December 27, 2011
Lot's of fun strolling down memory lane. Even though many of the toys and games were before my time, I still enjoyed reading about them. The ads and their price lists were very interesting. Wow!
December 13, 2009
Read it for the pictures; they were awesome.
December 31, 2010
A bit of a let down after "It's A Wonderful Christmas". Less a Christmas nostalgia book than a toy nostalgia book. Not at all a bad book, just not as festive as I was hoping for.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews