Hello! Rife Magazine ceased publishing new work in July 2022.

We've kept the magazine online as an archive and hope you'll still continue to enjoy all of its contributions from the last 8 years.

The Rife Team

Fourteen Years of Christmas Lists

Source: www.flickr.com

Source: www.flickr.com

Molly looks back at all the Christmas presents she has asked for since she was five-years-old to see how things have changed. 

What I wanted for Christmas has changed every year since I was about five. I noticed the majority of presents represent the technology of that particular time, which I why I decided to share this list as Christmas gifts each year have become more advanced.

1. Poo-Chi (2000)

This is provided by An external provider who set their own cookies. To display it you need to accept their cookies.

Accept cookies from An external providerMore about cookies


I was and still am not allowed a real dog so I couldn’t wait to get a Poo-Chi. This little robotic dog really was a child’s best friend, you could play with it and it wouldn’t ever get bored – unless the batteries ran out. I wish I still had my Poo-Chi but I believe it found a better home in a charity shop many years later.

2. Gameboy Advance – specifically purple (2001)

A new design of Gameboy hit the shelves at a good time. I was about six and felt responsible enough to take on my Pokemon trainer adventure on Pokemon Sapphire edition. I remember playing Pokemon out in the sunshine for hours at a time!

3. Badge It! (2002)

What is cooler than walking around with any ol’ badges? Walking around with your own personalised ones of course. Badge It! was a little plastic machine that transformed your scribbles into a wearable bit of metal. But the downfall of badge was obviously when you got too carried away and had endless amounts of badges that could fill a bathtub.

4. Eyetoy (2003)

Ah, the Playstation 2 days were epic. I could still play my favourite PS1 game ‘Hog’s of War’ as well as listen to CD’s and watch DVD’s all on the greatest console ever (at the time). The Playstation instantly got better when the Eyetoy came out.  Window cleaning to ‘Kung Fu Fighting’, the Eyetoy definitely gave me enough exercise.

5. Tamagotchi (2004)

Actually, forget the Poo-Chi, it’s all about Tamagotchis, the virtual little pets that took over your life. I had a lilac Tamagotchi and attached it to my pencil case for school so I’d never forget to feed it. The anger and frustration that came once the Tamagotchi had passed away was enough to put you off restarting the whole life cycle again for a day or two.

6. Guitar Hero

Yet again, another amazing accessory for the Playstation 2 but this time in the form of a guitar. Guitar Hero obviously inspired a generation of guitarists wannabes as the smug feeling after getting 100% on ‘I Love Rock n Roll’ easy mode is enough to get anyone the skills to become a real life rock star.

7. Wii (2006)

This console I never got my hands on due to it being a parent’s worst nightmare when it came to keeping their living room in one piece. Fortunately, I was able to play on other people’s Wiis until they went out of fashion for a little while. The highlight of playing a Wii was that you could do some amazing extreme sports in your living room with the most minimal effort.

8/9/10/11/12/13/14. No more toys

Lets face it, being a teenager can be expensive.

Christmas should also be a time to remind ourselves that not everyone is lucky enough to have money to celebrate Christmas with gifts, so little things like giving old toys to a charity shop rather than to a skip could make someone else happy too.

What was your favourite Christmas present? Did you have any of these? Let us know @rifemag