Those '70s Gifts: Remembering Popular Old-School Presents
By John Dodge
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A gift of the Golden Arches, an electric NFL football game that never worked, and a story book full of candy.
These were just some of the popular gifts that kids found under the tree or in their stockings on Christmas Day in the 1970s.
The lure of some of these presents seems laughable today.
However, around the holidays, people have a slight tendency to get a bit nostalgic.
Nostalgia tends to treat things more fondly.
McDonald's Gift Certificates
The plastic gift card didn't exist in the 1970s.
One could expect to find a book of 10 McDonald's Gift Certificates worth $5 stuffed in the stocking.
The book looked like a checkbook and each certificate was worth 50 cents.
Those certificates went a long way, considering a Big Mac, small fry and a shake cost around $1.25.
Mood Rings
Not only did these things not work, they were stupid ugly--even by 1970s standards.
The ring purportedly changed colors to reflect a person's mood, based on changes in body temperature.
Blue=Happy
Black=Tense
An array of colors measured other emotions, like alertness or calmness.
In reality, they didn't measure anything, despite the catch phrase: "Unlock Your True Emotions!"
Tudor NFL Football
This game was so popular that parents were known to use it as leverage to get their kids to behave during Christmas break.
A few days before Christmas in 1973, a boy was playing hide and seek and slid under his parent's bed, only to discover the Tudor NFL Football game was hiding there, too.
Once his parents learned of the boy's discovery, they vowed to "send it back to Santa" unless the child acted like a perfect gentleman.
It was the longest week of his life.
The sad thing, the game never worked properly.
It took forever to set up the little plastic players for each play.
Then, once the switch was flipped, the vibrating metal playing surface sent the players to unpredictable spasms.
What's more, the "football" was a small piece of molded fabric, what became deformed after a few uses.
Mattel Electronics Football Game
Madden NFL 2015 it was not, but this little electronic game was so popular, that parents had to buy mountains extra batteries just to keep it operating.
It was one of the first portable video games, and kids couldn't get enough.
Parents, on the other hand, had enough.
The constant beeping and buzzing (and clicking and shouting) drove them crazy, especially on long family car rides.
The game lives in the form of an app for your mobile device.
Lifesaver Story Book
These have such a long tradition, that some middle-aged men have been known to get one from their mothers for Christmas.
The book is actually a folded cardboard box, with assorted rolls of Lifesavers inside.
It was (and still is) a great stocking stuffer because it took of a decent amount of space to make it seem as if the stocking was jammed with goodies.
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