What toy from the 60s did you want but never got?

Although my parents were Depression-era babies, in many ways, they were like hippies.  There was this bohemian quality to the atmosphere in our house.  Mom was a very open-minded liberal, Dad dabbled in metaphysics for as long as I can remember.  I still recall the morning he woke me up to excitedly tell me about his experiment with astral projection the night before.

But I digress.  Let's go back for a sec to the hippie thing.  Dad was Nature Boy.  His credo: no additives, no preservatives (which I'm thinking has worked out well for him, since he'll be 87 next month).  My dad would not allow items in the house for consumption that had artificial color or flavor in them, and called hot dogs "America's most deadly missile."  Once when a friend came over with a bag of Screaming Yellow Zonkers and offered me some, he swept the bag out of my hand and told my friend that , "Sorry, Pam doesn't eat brightly colored foods."  We had granola for snacking (and potato chips and dip, which made me fat, but they were natural, so there ya go) and Mom made wholesome baked goods (the best chocolate chip cookies ever - and kolacky, a Czech specialty), all fresh and natural, so I never felt deprived.

Until I heard about Incredible Edibles.

Some kid down the street got the Incredible Edibles machine for Christmas and brought it over to my next door neighbor's house.  We "ooh"ed and "ahh"ed over how the colorful gel was inserted into the mold (which looked like H.R. Pufnstuf), it set with heat, then voila!   jiggly gel candy emerged, in wacky shapes and colors!

I begged and pleaded and coerced, but my parents would not budge.  There was no way in heck my dad would deign to allow me to make bright red candy, let alone consume it.

So, it is with a heavy sigh that I share the toy I was never allowed to have:  the amazing, squiggly-wiggly Incredible Edibles machine.

(However, I did have an Easy Bake oven, which turned out some tasty cakes, weird cookies and very strange, hard-as-a-rock raspberry candies in a cheery red hue.  Never shared those with Dad, though ...)