I’m wrapping up this series of posts with a little essay about my love of vintage Fisher-Price. At the top of the page there is s a menu bar with links to all sorts of lovely pages here on the blog. I am currently working on making posts to fit in a lot of those links. I will post them both on the front page and in their menu headings. I hope you check them out! The menu is organized like the rooms of an old house.
How much do I enjoy vintage Fisher-Price toys? Well in college I painted them all the time. I actively thrifted for them, then turned my paintings in as my assignments in art school. Later I had them framed and hung them in my children’s nurseries and bedrooms.
They were not only painted for my watercolor and illustration classes, they showed up in printmaking and oil classes too!
Did I feel awkward about collecting toys? Yes. Yes I did. I kept it a sort of secret for years and years. I knew my boyfriend at the time (now he’s my hubby) was a keeper when he was totally unfazed about me buying toys. He enjoyed my happiness when my first E-Bay packages came to the university post office in 1998. I still remember walking back to my dorm room with the house and barn and setting them up in my room that summer.
My family did not understand at all, and I faced a lot of criticism and worry about my mental condition. I look back on that today and I see how ridiculous this is. I wasn’t doing drugs or sleeping around, or acting out in any way, yet there was worry about my “maturity levels!” Please, for the love of Pete. I just liked toys.
So finally, when I got married to my wonderful boyfriend (who still supports my toy collecting to this day!) and we started having kids, I had a real excuse to buy toys! Lol Thankfully E-Bay was going strong at this point and the pickings were (and still are) great!
There was a wonderful antique mall about 45 minutes from us on historic Route 66. There was an entire ROOM full of vintage Fisher-Price toys for sale there. This was when E-Bay was still quite new and toys were very hard to find. I loved going to that place. I was a poor college student at the time, if I’d had money I would have spent it all there! It’s been gone now, sadly, for many years.
When I was in my last semester in college I had to write my senior thesis/seminar paper. You would think as an art major I would have written about an artist, but no. Of course I wrote my paper on the history of Fisher-Price toys! At that time (2002) there were actually collector’s books coming onto the market which gave me the idea!
Lastly, I very much enjoy the films of Wes Anderson and part of the reason is that a lot of the things from my Gen-X childhood show up on the big screen in his work. One of my newer aquisitions is this lovely light-up globe for my son’s room, also featured in The Royal Tenebaums. The Adventure People also show up in The Life Aquatic!
Well, that about does it. That is pretty much my/our whole collection. I feel so thankful and blessed every day to have a loving supportive husband and kids who don’t mind their Mom having as many toys as they do! If people make fun of you or disdain you for collecting toys don’t listen to them! “Those that matter don’t mind and those that mind DON’T MATTER!” I have learned to be my true self over the years and to really enjoy my collections without guilt!
Life on Kansas Street 