Top Ten Popular Holiday Toys from the 1960s

1. Army Men, or plastic soldiers of unbreakable plastic commonly molded in olive green. In the early 1950s Louis Marx and Company sold bagged or boxed sets of plastic military figures and accessories called play sets. Dressed in modern military uniforms and armed with WWII weapons, these army men were sold at low prices in discount stores and supermarkets.

2. Die-cast metal toys  High quality collectible, metal toys were produced using the die casting method, i.e.  putting molten lead or zinc alloy in a mold to make a particular shape. Such toys are made of metal, with some parts made of plastic, rubber, or glass.

Dinky Toys was the brand name for a range of diecast, zinc alloy miniature vehicles produced by Meccano Ltd. They were made in England from 1934 to 1979, at a factory in Binns Road in Liverpool.

4. Hamilton’s Invaders by Remco was a 1964 series of plastic toys modeled after giant insect type monsters, toy soldiers and vehicles. The line was marketed on television during the early 1960s.

6. The Easy-Bake Oven is a working toy oven introduced by Kenner Products in 1963, and later marketed by Hasbro. The original toy used a pair of ordinary incandescent light bulbs as a heat source. Kenner sold 500,000 Easy-Bake Ovens in the first year of production. 

8. By 1964, sales of Batman Merchandise had fallen drastically. Editor Julius Schwartz was assigned to the Batman titles. He presided over drastic changes, which was a “New Look”. Schwartz introduced changes designed to make Batman more contemporary. The Batmobile was redesigned, and Batman’s costume was modified to incorporate a yellow ellipse behind the bat-insignia. More slight modifications followed when the Batman television show debuted in 1966.

10.Disneyland Plastic figurines of Mickey Mouse, and Donald Duck were only available at Disneyland theme park until the advent of Disney World and the Disney mall stores in 1987.