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?"
It's the simple things...
"All I want for Christmas is a small stocking full of chocolate coins and a superhero comic."
"Long gone are those days..."
Art Supplies
"Really REALLY nice colored pencils."
- Nervous-Error-6728
"I want a giant box of crayons and a Mickey Mouse coloring book."
- Purple-Yak8572
Kid's Story Books
"Kid’s story books. Especially the hardcovers, the vintage ones and the fancy interactive ones."
"I’m an adult who enjoys non-fiction the most but these books tend to give me the escapism I have a hard time getting from normal novels."
"Most times when I go into a comic book store, I’d leave with at least a copy of a kid’s superhero story book. And last Christmas when my friend bought me a Peppa Pig book (with a built-in music box) as a joke, I ended up actually loving it so much."
"And even now, I’ve kept all the children's books I read even when I started reading and just go through them when I’m bored."
"This is probably why I make free illustrations in my free time for school textbooks and storybooks in local libraries in every town I used to live in. Going back to see the kids reading them is also a really wholesome feeling."
GiphySurprise
"I always wanted a surprise birthday party."
- BeachBookBeer
Piece of Cake
"Honestly?"
"Someone get me a LEGIT Carvel Cookie Puss Ice cream cake."
"No, I'm not lying."
"Mom bought me one for my birthday every year until we moved to Pennsylvania and they didn't have a Carvel store in sight."
"This is going to be my 20th birthday without Mom. I think I would 'ugly cry' if someone bought me Cookie Puss!"
- BeckyAnn6879
Toys...
"A kite."
"I would love a well made, really colourful kite."
- No-Shelter-4208
"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
Giphy"Lego, that’s all I ever wanted, Lego."
- jsloan8
We all deserve to be kids on Christmas...
"I always buy toys for the adults at Christmas and mark them from Santa. A tradition my mother carried on for us kids until her passing saying, 'We all deserve to be kids on Christmas'."
"My girlfriend thought it was silly when I first did it for her family at their Christmas Eve gathering. I picked up nerf guns for all the guys and polly pockets for the gals."
"It was hilarious to see confused looks on their faces when they opened them, some thinking they were mistakes, actually meant for the children."
"But before long there were men from 18-70 running around the house shooting nerf bullets at each other like little kids while grandmothers and granddaughters played with tiny dollhouses."
"The most confused in the place were the actual children. I always manage to find a theme toy that involves everyone from tiny RC cars or hot wheels to Barbie Dolls and brings out the kid in all."
"I highly recommend this tradition to anyone who wants to liven up family get togethers that can too often be stressful."
- socket_error
Growing older is inevitable.
But growing up is voluntary.
So what childish gift would you want? Let us know in the comments below.
But not every kid had that privilege of getting whatever their hearts desired.
Sometimes, they got what they needed – like clothes. Lots and lots of clothes.
I remember frowning upon a knitted sweater I got for Christmas and a pair of olive-colored corduroy pants when all I really wanted was an Atari gaming console.
Curious to know what strangers missed out on getting as kids, Redditor Notworththinknabout asked:
"What's that one present you wanted to get as a kid but never actually got?"
ASIMO Is Not For Sale
"I really wanted a Honda robot. I found out Honda had built a robot and I asked for one for Christmas because I assumed they were mass produced."
The Day The Music Died
"An electric guitar and one day I found one hidden in the back of my fathers wardrobe. I was so excited and then Xmas day comes around and I got, well I can't even remember what I got but it wasn't an electric guitar. Turns out it was a present for our neighbours kid and my parents were hiding it away so the kid didn't find it prior to Xmas day. I can feel the sadness again writing this."
A Worthy Substitute
"A doodle bear."
"So I just used my brother instead- took ages for mum to get the sharpie off him."
Scanning Thingy
"I really, really wanted something called a Barcode Battler. You could scan the barcode on any item and it would give it a sort of 'top trumps' style score which I presume you could then battle with your friends over?"
"I was obsessed with getting one. I would never shut up about it. Whenever an amount of money was discussed I would chip in with stuff like 'that's the same as 3 Barcode battlers'."
"None of my friends had one, so I don't even know what I intended to do with it, looking back. I'd just seen an advert on Saturday morning TV and decided I must have it."
"My mum never got me one, I think I ended up with a SuperSoaker. My friends DID have those, and we had great fun with them. If I'd had my way, I'd have been sitting in the corner scanning random items with my Barcode Battler while they partook in giant SuperSoaker wars."
"Cheers mum, for saving me from myself."
Egon Spengler Action Figure
"Egon from Ghostbusters. The Ghostbusters toys were the only toys I had as a kid that weren't hand-me-downs or cheap knock-offs, so they were always special to me. I had Peter, Ray and Winston, I had the Fright Features figures, I had the Ghostbusters tower, I had the Ecto 2 helicopter, and the kid who lived next door had Ecto 1 and the proton pack which I could play with all the time, but I never had Egon. Even when I specifically asked my mum to buy Egon for me, she came back with another Winston. I had two Winstons."
"Years later (we're talking late 2000s here), my sister was in some charity shop and she found an Egon figure in a bucket of random action figures. She remebered that I never had him as a kid and bought it for me. It was such a silly thing, but it meant so much to me."
GIF by Ghostbusters GiphyWhen Daddy Forgot
"When I was really young I wanted this mermaid Barbi my father even promised to buy it but forgot which one it was and he brought me a fairy doll instead when he went to buy the mermaid doll they said they were out of stock and I never saw it again after that."
The Toy That Taught You Responsibility
"A Tamagotchi. I've put it on every Christmas and birthday presents lists for years, never got any. My parents didn't even discuss it with me or asked what it was."
commercial 90s GIFGiphyNever Too Old To Doodle
"The 64 Crayola crayon pack."
"And yes, I bought it for myself at age 34."
The Legendary Defender
"Voltron. Always got Voltron related stuff but never the actual robot."
Christmas Wish Unfulfilled
"I was 15 all I wanted was a Macklemore hoodie. I told my parents if that's all I got for Christmas I would be happy. Never happened."
– Fia__
This One Didn't Workout
"There used to be this Superman muscle blow up shirt that you could press a button and inflate fake muscles on yourself. Always wanted that, had to settle for a regular superman costume."
"I remember being pretty upset it didn't blow up, but in retrospect my parents were really struggling as immigrants. And i'm eternally grateful for what they did for me as a kid to the best that they could have. Love you Mom and Dad <3"
It's A Liability
"I've always wanted roller skates since I was little. They never bought them because I could break a bone or something."
Revved Up And Nowhere To Go
"A motorcycle, my dad promised me one for my 16th birthday. We'll in my thirties now, still waiting..."
– U_cabrao
The Problem With Foam Balls
"NERF made something called the Ballzooka. It was a multi chambered gun that shot foam balls. I wanted one so bad but when my birthday and then Christmas rolled around, my parents claimed they could never find one and that they were out of stock. When I was in my 20s, my dad revealed that they didn't want to spend the money because they figured I'd lose the foam balls in a few days and stop playing with it. Honestly, they're probably right."
A good weapon can determine the winner and loser in a fight. But not everyone carries a weapon, and for those who aren't so good with their fists, the nearest object will have to do. Some people get a little creative...
Redditor u/ThatLocalPessimist learned some new ways to defend themselves when they asked, "What was the most innocent thing you've seen being used as a weapon?"
10. Trick or... beat down?
"My friends and I were walking around trick or treating and two of them got into a little bit of a argument so he swung his bag of candy and gave him a nose bleed"
9. Sounds like one heck of a row.
"A knitting needle got stabbed through my sisters hand by me"
"So its safe to say that up until then you didn't have a tight-knit relationship."
8. The sweetest prison shank.
"I'm a Correction Officer of several years... So to answer your question the most innocent thing I've ever seen used as a weapon was cake and toothpaste. A inmate in one of our SHU cells stocked up several pieces of cake and several tubes of toothpaste. He dried out the cake and rolled it into a spike which he then took the toothpaste and applied several layers over the course of a couple days thus hardening it enough to use as a weapon."
6. Laundry can save lives.
"Ironing board. The sound was glorious, but then I ran for my life."
5. I thought this only worked in movies?
Giphy"A magnifying glass was used by a kid to "burn" bugs in the sunlight.
He'd hold it above the bug, with the magnified sun rays scorching the victim."
4. Toys are dangerous.
"My brother threw a toy Mator (as in, the tow truck from Cars) at me and it knocked out a tooth"
3. Milk Duds are too hard to chew anyway...
"We put Milk Duds in a paintball gun when I was a kid and shot at our friends. Left some massive welts, but they're incredibly inaccurate."
1. Words are the greatest weapon of all.
"While my aunt is getting changed into a bathing suit years ago.
5 year old cousin: "mom I want to be like you when I grow up I just don't want your body."
