Old school My Little Pony: a trip into 1980s nostalgia

I can't tell you how much I love the fact my Mum kept many of my childhood toys. A firm favourite in our household are the My Little Pony figures dating from the early 1980s. I loved them as a child & would save up my pocket money to buy a new pony to add to my collection as often as I could. What is truly amazing is seeing my own daughter play with them & love the ponies just as much as I did.

The ones pictured here are commonly know as 'generation one' ponies. My Little Pony continues to exist in many more forms and has been rebranded more times than I care to think about. My daughter watches the latest version of the MLP cartoon and I find it a bit fast paced for my liking. Must be getting old and I'm probably just being nostalgic about my ponies, but I feel like the G1s were the best. I only have to hear the My Little Pony theme tune from the 1980s & I get misty eyes.

The first pony I ever bought was Cotton Candy. One birthday or Christmas I was given the twin baby ponies, complete with nappies, bottle and necklaces. I used to imagine Cotton Candy was their Mum.


Cotton Candy was soon followed by Apple Jack. I spent many hours coming her golden mane...

Over the next couple of years I added to my collection. The ponies evolved to have glittery logos on their flanks, their heads were positioned to look up more & there were even unicorns towards the mid-1980s. I owned Moonstone & she was secretly one of my favourites. My head was turned by her rainbow mane & the shiny planets on her bum. I thought Cotton Candy looked a bit glum in comparison. Children can be so fickle...

Despite being over thirty years old, Magoo loves playing with the My Little Ponies from the 1980s. She gets completely lost in a world of mane-brushing just like I did when I was her age.

I'm linking up with these lovely linky-hosts:

'The Ordinary Moments' over on www.mummydaddyandmemakesthree.co.uk

Image of the Week over on www.trulymadlykids.co.uk

Happy Days over on www.whatkatysaid.com

Brilliant Blog Posts over on honestmum.com

Magic Moments over on theoliversmadhouse.co.uk

Vintage Love: Fisher Price Hospital

In the run-up to Christmas the toy-industry marketing machine goes into overdrive. Just like any other parent, I've wrapped up lots of new toys for my little girl. But I thought I'd share one of my daughter's favourite toys. Something she plays with nearly everyday. And it's not new...far from it. It was mine when I was a little girl. It dates from the late 70s and was part of a collection created by Fisher Price.




I had quite a few pieces, including this hospital. My Mum has kept all of them and as you can see from the photos, they are still in fantastic condition. Fisher Price made some amazing toys in the 70s and 80s. They really fired-up my imagination up as a child and they are still doing the same today with my daughter. She will quite happily play in her room acting out countless scenarios with this hospital...people get trapped, babies get sick, someone gets stuck on a roof.



What's so lovely about the Fisher Price toys is the attention to detail. I think the X-ray machine is my favourite part. It's a simple concept, press down on the footplate and the "X-ray" sign turns into a rib-cage. I love it, it's got so many humorous little touches. The ambulance is great too and the working lift, operated by a handle on the side, is as popular with my daughter as it was with me!
Obviously, it makes me feel ancient that my childhood toys are now classed as "vintage"...but it also goes to show, good toys never go out of date...

If you'd like to see more retro goodies, head on over to my "Vintage Finds" board over on Pinterest...

Follow Pouch : blogging + craft's board My Vintage Finds on Pinterest.

Vintage love: children's books

I am constantly amazed at the things my mum has kept from our childhood days. She recently asked if my own daughter would 'like to read any of these' - as soon as I saw this collection of children's books I was flooded with memories of reading them as a child. They were my favourites and I must have read them over and over again.

Any child of the 80s will recognise these books! In fact if you are a child of the 80s, you'll love this website

I love a bit of nostalgia, so couldn't resist sharing them with you!

Play School

Babar the Elephant

Munch Bunch

The Wombles

And finally the Berenstain Bears