Adults Confess Which Beloved Things From Childhood They'd Love To Get As A Gift Today

As kids many of us made wishlists of the toys or games we wanted for major holidays or birthdays.
As adults we still make wishlists sometimes, but there's a societal expectation we'll only list practical or mature or responsible things.
But what if we still want that Lego Millennium Falcon or Barbie's Dream House?
Redditor devious_egg asked:
"Adults, what is something you'd love receiving as a gift but no one even considers giving you because you're an adult?"
Dinosaurs
"I'd like some of them pills that turn into dino-sponges when you put them in water."
- mpapillon12333
"Also the mini dinos you put in water and they would grow 100x their size over night."
- goblingirl
"How about the oatmeal with the eggs that hatch into little jelly dinosaurs?"
"I got some for 'my kids' a couple years ago and I—I mean they—enjoyed them very much."
- Fallwalking
The Thrill of the Hunt
"So I'm 34 now and no longer with this girl but for my 32nd birthday my girlfriend at the time did a scavenger hunt around the house with little gifts for each step and a weekend away as the final gift."
"Definitely one of my cooler birthdays as an adult."
- Teejaymac
"I'm doing this for my anniversary coming up!! I'm having so much fun making the clues and the gift is one of those Steven Singer gold dipped roses, which I only just found out my wife always wanted."
- abrokenelevator
"My husband did this for my 30th, but went all out. Security at work gave me a card when I left the office."
"It had a short poem that led me to the day spa we went to before our wedding and I got a massage. After the massage they gave me another card and a small gift."
"I went to a couple of other places where I picked up various small gifts from him. After that, I ended up at a restaurant where my husband and friends were having a couple of drinks and waiting for me."
"We hung out for a bit, then headed off to a second restaurant where we had reservations. I got gifts at each of these places too. (The gifts were all like $10 things, he wasn't going all out spending too much.)"
"To top the night off, we headed to a third location to drink too much. Finally, tipsy me was carted home where I got a final card that directed me to a pair of diamond earrings."
"People, when I say this birthday was epic... I mean, it was crazy amazing. It was beyond thoughtful and so romantic in the way he did it."
- terminator_chic
Arts & Crafts
"12 pack of Play-doh, the ultimate 150 crayola crayon set—the one with the sharpener and some drawing paper. I turn into an eight year old!"
- Forsaken_Republic_98
"Totally just ordered the gigantic Crayola box (I wanna say it was atleast 164 colors) and when my husband asked why I said it's for our daughter....who is 19 months, and just discovered crayons and coloring books a couple weeks ago ....he laughed when I confessed they were for me because I am SO EXCITED that she is starting to color and I cannot cannot cannot wait until we can sit and color next week when they get here 🤣"
- Legitimate-Ad1784
"I'm 37 and in grad school and my mom still gets me a big box of crayons every year at the start of classes. I love it."
- wildlybriefeagle
"My mother gave me a coloring book and fresh crayons every Christmas until one year when I was about 13 she didn't. I mentioned that I was disappointed, though I laughed it off, but she noted it and the next year there they were."
"She continued doing this until she died, when I was 30. I would still like a new coloring book and fresh crayons every Christmas."
"In fact, if I mention this to my son or daughter I know one of them (especially my daughter) will remember it and do it (I'm 49 now and the past two years my kids have had jobs and bought me stuff and I'm always just blown away by their generosity."
"It's the first time in my life since mom died that anyone buys me anything, which has been fine. But not gonna lie, it warms my heart so so much. They give such thoughtful gifts.)"
"But yeah, I love the smell of a fresh box of Crayolas. Such nostalgia."
- NibblesMcGiblet
Reading is Fundamental
"A few Nancy Drew books. My parents didn’t have money for books. The small Catholic school library offered books on saints, US presidents and their wives. The public library wasn’t in walking distance."
"I lied when Susan Sample, a classmate, accused me of befriending her for the “sleuth’s” books."
"55 years later, I’ll fess up; yes, I preferred my time with Nancy more than you."
- gladysk
"This is why I support Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. You sign up and get two free kid’s books a month for your kid to enjoy. It rules."
- PM_ME_KITTEN_TOESIES
"Check out the Nancy Drew PC games on Steam! They're adventure point and clicks with tons of mini games, and the originals only take 4-6 hours and are $3-6 USD. They also inevitably go on sale every major Steam sale."
- IggySorcha
"I’ve downloaded Nancy Drew eaudio books from the library. I was stunned to learn that Laura Linney narrates."
- gladysk
Lego is for Everyone
"At 18 my parents would laugh if I asked for Legos—they never bought them for me unless I asked and stopped buying them for me when I was nine because I was 'too old'."
"When I play with my siblings' Legos I get brutally mocked but I honestly think that Legos are ageless and super great not just as a toy but as a hobby in general."
- Future-Parsnip4597
"The box does say up to age 99. Your parents just don’t get it."
- A_70s_Virgo
"It kind of sucks that you're not allowed to play with them once you turn 100 though."
- No-Garlic-1739
"I got a call from a friend, she said it's a birthday and we should all come over. I got the date/time and event correct, but not whose birthday it was, although I was confident it was for a kid. Why else would she say, bring the whole family?"
"We show up and I'm frankly concerned by by all the craft beer with bows and balloons on it. I set our gift bag down and we join the party. Shortly after, her husband shouts with joy and wants to know who got him the big Lego set."
"Well, that was me, and, uh.... You're welcome."
"So, my answer is Legos. Adults want Legos."
- CanYouBeHelped
Hide!
"Not a gift, but would someone play hide n seek with me please?"
- tbama11
"Let’s do it in Ikea!"
- Low_Loss9934
"I’m in! Pick me, pick me!"
- TwoIdleHands
"Honestly, I wonder if you could book an Ikea for a specialty sleepover—like, food court opened for dinner then ice cream, hide and seek, scavenger hunt? Serious missed opportunity on their marketing department if not."
- Crackinggood
"This has happened before! An IKEA in Denmark got snowed in and 20-30 people had to stay the night. They got to watch movies and eat cinnamon buns and slept in the showroom beds."
"If this happened to me, I’d make a fort with a big pile of stuffed animals in the kid’s section."
- PM_ME_KITTEN_TOESIES
Mini Worlds
"An original Polly Pocket! They were so well made and I just love how perfectly miniature everything was."
- cnfmom
"For Christmas one year, my brother and I got the "boy" version of Polly Pocket: Mighty Max Skull Mountain, it was awesome! My sister got a bunch of Polly Pocket and Littlest Pet Shop toys that I probably played with just as much as Mighty Max."
- tavok_
Glow-Up
"Legit anything that glows in the dark. I think it’s so fun but since I’m grown I get basic non-glowy stuff."
- I-like-bagels15
"Growing up my brother had glow in the dark stars and moons stuck to the ceiling of his room. I was always jealous of them and I think it would be the coolest thing to have my own little galaxy in my room now."
- acecayde
"I'm 39 and have my walls covered in glow in the dark stars. They make me happy and I don't care what anyone else thinks."
- moonbunnychan
"I have a canopy bed because I always wanted one as a kid, but it's a really modern looking steel tube one that looks pretty chic. I have a mesh canopy over the top with plastic glow stars scattered on it. They tend to gather in the middle after a few weeks so I smack the mesh to scatter them randomly again."
"I also put glow stars in the glass dome under my kitchen light. When I shut off the light the stars are all charged up and glow for a while!"
- bondagenurse
"Anything glow in the dark is still super exciting to me. I've got a glow in the dark phone case at the moment (actually helps me find it at night), silly putty, nail polish, a Tshirt and a little glowy tree spirit from Princess Monoke that sits on my nightstand. In the past I've had glow in the dark stars, stickers, tempera paint and a glow in the dark moon calendar."
‐ lightbulbfragment
*pew* *pew*
"A full laser tag set with at least four guns."
- DrByNight
"…and a fog machine!"
- TexBlack
"Plus strobe lights and black lights and a stick stereo system to pump some techno beats to shoot lasers to."
- SobiTheRobot
Lava Fun
"I would love a new Lava Lamp."
"Decades ago I lost mine in a natural disaster which is me doing what I usually do which is drop my lava lamp onto the ground."
"By far the most difficult clean up I’ve ever encountered."
- Billsonite66
Nerf Herders
"Nerf guns. Not gonna lie, I’m probably to old for this stuff, but I love screwing around with my friends and just having a great time flinging foam."
- Save-The-Defaults
"Nerf guns or just some toys in general now that i’m older newer toys have come out and weren’t around when i was a kid they honestly look fun sometimes."
- SelectionQuick9153
Wet and Wild Fun
"A Super Soaker with the LATEST Super Soaker technology!"
"My birthday is in August, northern hemisphere, so I would put it to use straight away."
- hangriest
"I'd much rather have a fight with dope-a** water guns than with Nerf guns because there is no clean up with water guns and finding all the darts after a nerf battle really f'king sucks."
- Jordaneer
Is there a reason we need to stop enjoying certain things when we get older?
There isn't, really, so do the things you love no matter what other people think.
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Dating and the search for love and companionship... What a nightmare.
This journey plays out nothing like in the movies.
Every Prince or Princess (or everything in BTW) seems to have a touch of the psycho.
The things people say during what should be simple dinner conversation can leave a dining partner aghast.
Like... do you hear you?
Redditor detroit_michigldan wanted to discuss all the best ways to crash and burn when trying to make a romantic connection. They asked:
"You're on a date and it's going really great. What can another person say to ruin it completely?"
I once had a guy ask me if I was willing to follow him into the woods, depending on the price of the meal.
Yeah. No steak is worth that.
Plans After...
"Thanks for the ride but I have a date with someone else, I figured you wouldn't drive me if you knew I was going on a date with someone else and I really needed a ride."
"Online dating, talked to her for a while, finally got the courage to ask her out and then she said that as we got there."
iareyours
Mirror Image
“'You look just like my wife!'”
catalinachild
"I did have a guy tell me I reminded him of his son. I don’t believe English has a word to adequately describe my feelings at that time."
UnicornMagicRainbow
"That would definitely do it."
chaotica78
Third Wheel
"'Hope you don't mind if my mother joins us.'"
ofsquire
"Actually had a girl do this on a first date because she had anxiety issues. Honestly wasn’t bad except that 90% of the time she was silent and her mom talked over her."
"I didn’t mind that much and wouldn’t have minded trying again when she was more comfortable except that she was let go at the company we worked at and she deleted her social media profiles and she never responded on her number. Ah well."
Seightx
Liar
"'Hey bro aren't you gay? I made out with you last night.'"
"Random dude I've never seen before in front of my (f) date."
JHXC16
Was he lying though?
Filter Issues
"'You looked better on Tinder.'"
waqasnaseem07
"Isn’t it basic knowledge that everybody looks slightly worse than the worst picture you can find?"
no_user_ID_found
The Past
"'My ex used to do that too.'"
xxIvyOF
"Yep. I’ve definitely had two otherwise-decent-guy date-situations sour because the ex-comparisons just would not stop flowing. No woman wants to be seen as interchangeable—I’m not here to perfectly fill that ex-sized hole in your life. Focusing on the present moment and a future we could build together is a courtesy we need to grant each other in earliest dates of dating."
LarkScarlett
Powerless
"'I'm an alpha, you cant handle my top energy.'"
Midnightgay28
"I actually left a dude in the middle of dinner, in part, for saying this. I ordered an Uber under the table while pretending to listen to him. Went to the bathroom, and never came back. That was when I was young. Now I’d just say, 'How about we enjoy this meal in silence, before we head our separate ways.'”
UnicornMagicRainbow
Mommy...
"'Mother says I should be back by 9.'"
"Saying 'mother says' just feels weird."
bunnyrut
"That gives me Norman Bates vibes."
Werewolf_lover20
"'Mother says alligators are aggressive because they have an overabundance of teeth, but lack a toothbrush.'"
sodaextraiceplease
Obvs...
"'If you were going to be murdered, what method would you prefer. Purely hypothetical. Obvs.'"
Specific_Tap7296
If it looks anything like a Dateline NBC episode... RUN!
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Despite the advancement of technology rendering people left to their own devices–literally–to entertain them, there are some leisurely activities that will never go out of style.
Or so you would think.
Do people still knit to pass the time? Are people actively collecting stamps?
It depends on who's asking.
Curious to hear about hobby trends, Redditor gizehgizeh asked:
"What are once popular hobbies that are slowly dying these days?"

Before we've become conditioned to living on our phones, these activities used to keep people occupied.
Before Texting, There Was This
"Letter writing."
– littlekingMT
Literal And Tangible Joy
"Well the internet killed pen pals for sure. I do remember I had a Japanese girl for a penpal maybe back in 2007 or so. I honestly don't remember how it started, pretty sure some website, but that was a fun experience. But now I can just straight up talk to foreign people real time, lol. But yea getting a physical letter that someone took the time to write and mail still is hard to beat feelings wise."
– skyburnsred
Model Trains
"When I was growing up, every town had a model train store in it. Now I have one in region and everything else has to be bought online."
– Hairy_Effective1172
Pretty Rocks
"Don’t see anyone playing marbles anymore, I had an awesome collection in school."
– sheeple85
"I had some marbles as a kid in the 90s. My grandma got them for me and I had no idea what I was supposed to do with them. I always imagined them as a thing kids in the 40s played with."
– Ryoukugan
People Were Moving Canvases
"Paintball has been dying a slow death since 2006. Sad, really."
– hobo_recycler
Before the general population began hating clutter, collecting was once a "thing."
Precious Coins
"Coin collecting... I'm a silver/gold nut and I'm always hunting for precious metal coins. whenever I go into a shop they get all excited because 'no one under 70 collects coins anymore.'"
– ThatFishySmell99
Post It
"Stamp collecting."
– spooky_scully_mulder
"Collecting in general, really. Of course there are still prominent collectors but it's slipped more into enthusiast and niche territory than being a popular hobby that you might expect anyone to have."
– iuytrefdgh436yujhe2
What A Gem
"Rockhounding was immensely popular back in the 1950's and 1960's. Personally, I think it's a fascinating and fulfilling hobby, but when I go to a meeting at a rock and gem club, I'm usually the youngest one in the room by several decades."
– filthy_lucre
People once enjoyed making things.
Admiring The View
"Stained glass. I learned how to make it from my old man, and my junior high art class teacher also taught it. Very few artisans are still around."
– brobeanzhitler
Metal Vocation
"Black smithing."
– kenworth117
"I bought a forge to try. It’s insanely hard work, and crazy expensive. I still haven’t finished a piece."
– DSentvalue
Scrapbooking
"Yeah. I'm watching the arts and crafts stores around me completely uninstalling their racks for specialty paper. Now the only thing they have is mega packs of repeating colors/images. To boot all the inclusions like papercraft/die-cut things, washi tape, scissors, stickers, etc have gotten so expensive I would rather go buy $5 bags at value village to get an assortment of things versus buying anything new. I really, really miss yard sales for the same reasons."
– Phantasmai
I envy people who have jobs that are basically their hobbies.
Not everyone gets paid doing what they actually enjoy and have a profound level of passion for.
If they do, kudos to them.
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When we first meet someone–whether through mutual friends, at school, or in a new work setting–we generally feel people out to determine if they're worth getting to know.
While the process could take time, some people make our jobs much easier after spotting instant red flags.
Curious to hear about our general radar of people, Redditor xxFluffie asked:
"What is something that makes you immediately dislike someone?"

Some people just think they are absolutely hilarious and never realize they're the only ones laughing.
Next In Line
"They laugh about having screwed someone else over. If you think you're not next, well, you'll learn."
– whiznat
Unfunny
"when you mention you don't like a thing and they immediately do that thing 'as a joke.'"
– wayfinder
Playing Devil's Advocate
"Kneejerk contrarians. People who, no matter what you say you like or believe, just have to dismiss it and say they like or think the opposite."
– BubbhaJebus
People who put others down get slammed here.
Bad Parents
"When they treat their kids sh**ty in public. I don't mean handling tantrums, setting a rule, having to hurry to the train etc. I mean perfectly normal-behaved kids getting in trouble for trailing along peacefully, looking at things, asking questions etc."
"If you don't like tiny humans who learn the world, why have them??"
– raxeira-etterath
Public Humiliation
"Treating people sh**ty in public for laughs. Like being rude to service workers because they think it’s funny. Big red flag."
– Ok_Personality_1080
Simply Uncalled For
"Someone who is a d*ck to other people or animals for no reason."
– xebt1000
Those with ulterior motives rubs people the wrong way.
The Scheme
"If they try to get me to join their MLM scheme."
– spazmcgee1
Hard Sell
"A guy I used to be friends with in high school reached out a couple of years after graduating about a business opportunity he wanted my opinion on because 'you've always been smart', then he set up a Skype call and brought some other dude into the call and they started trying to sell me on what was clearly an MLM scheme. The guy went from friend to 'I'm never talking to you again' in a matter of 10 minutes."
– Mental-Afternoon-164
A Timeline
"Good gawd, this! I've had more than one exposure to this abject bullsh**tery..."
- Back in the late 80's/early 90's I was invited to a meeting of literally the OG "Pyramid" where you're recruited to pay in, and then you go out and recruit others to pay in, and the last in line got f'kall.
- In 1995 I had a coworker try to reel me into Amway, which was a hard no.
- In 2000 it was Pampered Chef, though to be fair they did have useful products.
- In 2009 a coworker tried to get me into some stupid video calling service that was obviously stupid from the description. He even got offended when I called bullsh*t.
– Mystical_Cat
Too much ego is a no-go.
I Can Do Better
"Being a b*tch just to stroke their own ego."
"We get it, you can lift 5lbs more than the 12 year old, you don't have to rub it in their face just because you're slightly better"
– Livia_Pivia
Can't Top This
"Oh, you did <story that's been told>? That's nothing! I did <implausible story>.
"I get the whole empathy through relating common experience, and I'm someone who does that (which drives some people crazy on its own), but there's a big different by empathising through common experience, and one-upmanship."
– Tisarwat
Lacking Conversational Etiquette
"Starting to talk over me when I was already talking."
"Stop it you rude, arrogant jerk."
– R33Gtst
If one or more of these traits sound familiar to you, you're not alone.
We don't have time for braggadocios, pyramid-schemers, and conversation interrupters.
And that's just for starters.
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Children tend to believe just about anything they hear.
That there are monsters under your bed, watching too much TV will make your head explode, and silly faces will be permanent if you make them too often.
The sky is truly the limit when it comes to silly things that children will believe.
Some call it naivitée, other's youthful innocence.
But it's hard not to look back with embarrassment on certain things we believed as a child, that today might simply seem dumb.
Redditor Disastrous_Toe_6548 was curious to learn the multitude of silly things people believed when they were children, leading them to ask:
"What's the dumbest thing you believed as a kid?"
Pleading to deaf ears...
"My dad told me he had hearing loss and couldn't hear me if I whined because my pitch would get too high."
"Would completely ignore me until I asked him questions in a normal voice."
"Trusted him implicitly until I was 12 and he yelled at my younger brother for whining."- Tyrion_Stark.
Get it while you can.
"That they took everything off the shelves when the supermarket closed."- fgyfddg.
Silly superstitions.
"My grandfather used to tell me that if I played with the fire, I'd pee the bed."
"I believed him for a while, until I got older."
"I think he was just trying to protect me from the fire."- teddypa1981.
"Rain, rain go away..."
"That if it was raining where I was, it was raining everywhere in the world."- morningshartz.
Age is just a number.
"My parents used to seem really old to me, so much so I believed they grew up like cave people as children, wearing giant leaves for clothes and what not."- Laleena_.
So that's how they're made!
"That smokestacks from the power plant created clouds."- Scaniarix.
An instant cure.
"The sun gives you sunburns, therefore, moonlight should heal them."- velocipeter.
Better safe than sorry.
"Don't drink and drive meant all drinks."
"My dad was super confused when I told him he wasn't allowed to have any soda until we got home."- hulagirlslovetoparty.
Don't believe everything you see on TV.
"There was an episode of Mickey Mouse where Mickey couldn’t reach something at first, so he tried again and somehow his arm was long enough to reach it."
"As a small kid I believed that if I couldn’t reach something, I should just try reaching for it again and my arm would then somehow be long enough to reach it."- That-Dutch-Person.
The miracle of childbirth.
"That babies are pooped out."
"When I was like 7 I was listening to my aunt as she explained that childbirth was pretty intense and painful for her, and I was all solemnly like, 'yeah, sometimes just my poops are painful, I don’t think I could get a baby out' and she went 'um, WHAT?' and her reaction made me realize real quick that I had f*cked up somewhere and I tried to change the subject while my mind was just reeling lol."- thesoundingfurrows.
Oh to be a child again.
And to believe literally everything you're told.
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