This sweepstakes is now closed. Random winner is… 53.
Also known as a “wobbly bike” in my house, a good balance bike teaches balance and bicycle coordination without the hassle of pedals. Skip the training wheels forever. The YBIKE has motorcycle-styling (but in candy colors) and can stand independently lending to the feeling of greater stability.
Ready to move on from the trike? YBIKE makes a great BIG gift for toddlers this holiday season. Recommended for ages 2 to 4. Retail price is approximately $80. Learn more about the cool features and sassy styling on ybikeusa.com.
Win one!
Leave a comment below sharing your best childhood memory of receiving the big box under the tree – or – share the memory of the toy that got away (Did you always want a pony, an Easy Bake Oven or backyard trampoline but your parents were too lame? Tell us everything. We’re here for you). Comment from Dec. 7 to Dec. 15. so we have a shot of being the big box under your little one’s tree. U.S. Residents only.
Related post: the many many bikes before a real bike
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We were invited to receive a wobbly Ybike and give one to our readers this Christmas and we gleefully accepted. Scarlett will be receiving hers under the Christmas tree. Shhh, don’t tell her.
After my Mom died, the next Hanukkah my Dad gave me a cabbage patch kid. I had already gotten 4 others after my Mom … but this was the most special one
I was supposed to get a bike one year but never got it! There was a written gift certificate for a bike and…I have no idea what happened. It just never came to be. (I’m not bitter or anything…this was over 20 years ago!)
I don’t know if this counts as a Christmas gift, but the one thing I always wanted and never got was ballet lessons. I wanted to be one of those pretty girls with their hair pulled up and the cute pink leotard. I was the chubby one with crazy hair!
I remember getting a big box under the tree – it was full of another box, and then another box, and then another box, and then another box, and then another box, and then….well, you get the pictures. I think it finally ended up being a pocket knife or something like that. But let’s face it, I was the coolest girl in school for getting a pocket knife for Christmas. And even if the gift was small, mine was the biggest box under the tree.
Worst gift every as a kid, luggage. What were my grandparents thinking? I want upstairs and cried. My brother got a bike!
My husband and I both have very fond memories of our first big wheels bikes- mine was Care Bears, I think his was transformers. We can’t wait until our little guy makes his own memories!
i was little and selfish, and i had picked out a very special cabbage patch doll at the toy store – and opened up a very different one on christmas day. i tried to so hard to be happy and excited, after all it was a great gift! but… i was little and selfish! and cried. i still feel bad about it.
I received a life sized doll. She was sitting on the couch in her ballet leotard. It was love at first sight!
Cindy
I always wanted an easy bake oven. My parents probably figured I would be disappointed with one because I regularly cooked in a real oven. But I wanted one anyway … and never got it.
We celebrated Chanukah, not Christmas, so I never got a big box under the tree. Instead, it was 8 nights of long underwear, nightgowns and bath beads. But one year (1984, I believe), my dad spent 3 weeks on a work trip to Finland. He came back in January or February with reindeer jerky and Cabbage Patch Dolls for me and my sister. I was over the moon with Johanna, even if I couldn’t read the Finnish adoption certificate.
Still not sure why it’s so memorable, but I’ll never forget getting a pogo stick for Christmas! I didn’t ask for it and I never got very good at it, but it was loads of fun and I’ll never forget it – makes me want to get one for our kids!!!
I’ll never forget the Christmas my parents had a motorcycle for us under the tree. It was fun growing up with parents who allowed their 5-year-old to ride a REAL motorcycle.
My parents still talk about the Christmas I wanted a Flower Makin’ Basket. They searched high and low, but couldn’t find one. Christmas morning, as I was opening every gift, I said, “maybe THIS is my Flower Makin’ Basket.”
When I was in 7th grade, our family got our first home computer. That was pretty great!!
The toy that got away: cabbage patch doll.
A cherry red scooter, back when scooters were huge! (or was I just small?) My mom made a treasure hunt with clues that led around the house and finally outside to the scooter.
I must have been 4 years old… I had the largest present under the Christmas tree and it thoroughly fascinated me to no end. Christmas Eve- I got to open up that alluring big box… I tore open the wrapping paper and found a life-sized doll staring back at me from behind the cellophane… The vibration of my unwrapping caused the doll’s eyes to flick open just as I peered down past the torn paper. I screamed- a blood curdling scream, then, threw the box down and ran to my bed— headlong— and cried hysterically. My father sat on the bed with me and tried to console me.
I never like dolls from that day forward… Stuffed animals all the way!
When my father passed away when I was 22 years old— my brother found the doll, still in the original box… stuffed away on the top shelf of a closet.
Hmmm… I got a doll named Debbie one year. She was supposed to match my hair and eye color to actually look like my baby. Somehow I ended up with a red haired child even though my hair is dark brown. not sure how that happened, but I loved her nonetheless! I am sure that my little boy would prefer this bike to a red headed doll! Thanks for hosting!
Not the “big” gift, but one of the most memorable were the purple suede boots from my big brother–I loved those.
[...] YBIKE toddler balance bike. Comment on your favorite ever “big box” present from childhood. Open between and Dec. 7 and 15. U.S. residents only. [...]
When I was about 10 years old I desperately wanted a pogo stick. Instead, I got a tether ball set. I occasionally played tether ball at school but wasn’t a big fan of it. And, my brother sat on the ball shortly after it was installed which permanently bent the pole. To make matters worse, my mom said she went to the store to buy me a pogo stick but saw the tether ball sets and thought I would like that more. I was too kind to tell her the truth.
The best gift I ever got was a Barbie motor home. I was 6 years old. I hadn’t even asked for it because it seemed too extravagant, but I was elated to see it sitting in front of the tree on Christmas morning. I played with it for years. ‘Santa’ definitely got his money’s worth with that gift.
My mom asked me what I wanted. My list was: Ross Perot, Elvis Presley, and a Nintendo Gameboy. Odd list, I know. I got a book about Ross Perot, another about Elvis and….. my gameboy
One year, when I was probably about 4, I really wanted a dollhouse. Under the tree, there was no box in sight big enough to be a dollhouse. I was disappointed, of course. But as the pile of presents under the tree was distributed to my parents, brothers and aunts, a roof emerged….then walls…then the whole dollhouse! And I was delighted!
The year I got a train set I was so excited and happy. My boy cousins had theirs and I loved them but it took about 2 years to convince my mom to buy me a “boy” gift.
I HAD to have and got one of those dolls that crawled. But when you put her down, she made the crawling motions, but went nowhere. I was crushed. Isnt everything just like they show it on TV?? My two year old is CRAZY for bikes.
One year my grandparents bought me this huge pink battery powered car. It had this huge bow & i remember being completely in love. My brother only got a drawing set from them, so while i was eating lunch & taking a break from driving, he Thelma & Louise’d it right into the pool. He said it was an accident but i was devastated…. still a little pissed.
I might have to buy this bike if I don’t win one! My favorite present was an Apple IIE computer. This kid named Ryan Currier had one (smile), and we were just dying to have one, too. You could play exciting games on it like Pong.
When I was in high school, I was a really good flute player. I was starting private lessons, and the teacher suggested I upgrade from my basic student model flute. My mom and I found one I LOVED, but it was about $1800, so I figured I’d never get it. At Christmas, my “big” present was a clothing box from JC Penney. When I opened it, the flute case was inside! I could hardly believe it! I kept saying, “Really?! For real?!” I couldn’t believe it! I still have the flute and still play very occasionally, but it was the best Christmas EVER!!
Every year I hoped to get a puppy under the tree. I never did. But, I never lost hope each year.
She-Ra castle!!
Totally cool and unexpected gift: A bright red, antique-style stand-up gumball machine when I was 9.
Most memorable big item – the Barbie Dream House… Most memorable because I didn’t want it. I somehow knew it was expensive and didn’t think it was that cool. I think I faked it and my parents never knew that it wasn’t my dream come true. I always had more fun crafting Barbie ‘houses’ out of shoe boxes!
I always always always wanted an American Girl doll– specifically Samantha. Now that I have a daughter, I’d thought about getting one “for her”…but I think Samantha is discontinued! Nooooo!
I remember my mom had vacuumed into a wrapped box in the closet. My brother and I found it and got so exited it was an Atari that we made her open it early.
When I was five I asked for a bike. My mom and dad kept telling me not to be disappointed if I didn’t get it, they were expensive, yada, yada, yada. anyway, fast forward to Christmas morning, no bike, but then we went outside for my brother to try out his new skates and my bike was right outside the door. I was SO excited!
My dad gave me a card at Christmas when I was nine, with a note saying I was to visit him where he lived, in London, the following summer. Wowzers.
I remembering LOVE cabbage patch dolls and I wanted one so badly. But that was the year that there were no more in the stores, women lined up at 5 am to get one, mother were stampeded for them. Let just say, my mom was NOT one of those moms. I got the fake doll with the bad nose. Hated that present.
I was about 8 years old and I had the biggest present under the tree – bigger than my 3 siblings had received and I was SO excited to open it. It was the one present I had my eye on and I could care less about the ‘smaller’ gifts. I had huge visions of what it could be! Imagine my disapointment when it turned out to be a sleeping bag!! At 8, who wants something practical!? LOL. Especially when the doll house or play kitchen day dreams went up in smoke (as an adult a sleeping bags a great gift, as a kid – not so great. haha). This Ybike would be a much more suitable ‘kid’ gift than a sleeping bag!
Sometimes the box is the gift! I have exceptionally fond memories of my
mom sewing lots of pillows for a huge cardboard box I love to si and read in. Sometimes the best presents are the oddest!
we don’t celebrate christmas, but i always wanted a dog or a cat and my parents wouldn’t get one for us. so in order to prove that i could handle the responsibility, i had my younger brother get on his hands and knees and walk around like my pet and we showed my parents we could do it. as you can imagine, they weren’t convinced!!!
My favorite Christmas gift was a ping pong table that was for both my brother and I. We would play ping pong for hours on end, and had such a blast doing so!
The gift I wanted most was an Easy Bake Oven and I of course was disappointed that I did not get one under the tree, but my birthday is four days after christmas. So I later found out that my parents had had a talk with Santa so that he would know that they got me the oven for my birthday and instead he gave me a doll of Christmas.
My favorite big box gift was a computer. And you know it was big because this was before the days of skinny computers and flat screens. My siblings and I spent hours playing games and not so much on homework.