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13 things we still want from the 1999 Argos catalogue 👀

Argos is killing off the catalogue after 50 years

Argos
by Lucy Morris |
Updated on

Ar­gos is an in­sti­tu­tion. It’s as British as the Queen and as re­li­able as Deliveroo. It’s iconic, a bea­con of com­merce that’s out­lasted HMV and Woolworths (RIP Woolies).

Like a won­der of the mod­ern world, Argos tan­ta­lises with high-tech elec­tron­ics, state-of-the-art giz­mos and, of course, toys. Look­ing back, the cat­a­logues from years gone by are like un­spoiled time cap­sules that trans­port us back to a sim­pler time.

Flipping through the 1999 Ar­gos tome is like read­ing back through our (still un­ful­filled) child­hood Christ­mas list. Re­mem­ber easy bake 'ovens'? And Baby Borns?

Take a walk down mem­ory lane to see what your younger self yearned for…

Gallery

14 Things We Still Want From The 1999 Argos Catalogue

easy bake oven argos1 of 14

1. Easy Bake Oven

What says a young girl con­strained by the gen­der­ing of their sex more than a des­per­ate de­sire to be the sole pro­pri­etor of a kitchen tool?

discman argos2 of 14

2. Discman

SO high-tech for 1999.

the way things worked argos3 of 14

3. The Way Things Worked

You knew you were a cool kid when you had this se­ries be­fore the school li­brary did.

pocahontus costume argos4 of 14

4. Pocahontas Costume

In the woke light of today, it's a no.

frosty ice cream argos5 of 14

5. Mr Frosty Ice Cream Factory

Never trust a child that makes their own ice.

Baby born argos6 of 14

6. Baby Born

On re­flec­tion, what was pos­si­bly fun about hav­ing a doll that con­stantly needed feed­ing and then weed every­where?

CD Stereo Argos7 of 14

7. CD Stereo

On re­flec­tion, it makes sense why our par­ents would­n't buy us a portable ra­dio, be­cause re­ally what self-re­spect­ing adult can lis­ten to B*Witched blar­ing at top vol­ume all hours of the day?

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8. Themed Bedsheets

Mak­ing sleep­overs bet­ter since 1999.

polly pocket argos9 of 14

9. Polly Pocket Mansion

Fact: Polly Pocket had a nicer house than any­thing avail­able on Help To Buy.

gameboy argos10 of 14

10. GameBoy

More ad­vanced than an elec­tronic Dis­ney game, less hard­core than a PlaySta­tion. Oth­er­wise known as the dream.

cosmetics argos11 of 14

11. Cosmetics Collection

It's su­per creepy for a child to have a big­ger make-up col­lec­tion than me, a 28-year-old beauty ed­i­tor.

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12. Play Till

Who else learnt ba­sic arith­metic on one of these fake tills?

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13. Spinning Sindy

Se­ri­ously, what was more fun than a doll that could also be used as a weapon?

Educational Electronics argos14 of 14

14. Educational Electronics

When we were young enough to be fooled into think­ing that learn­ing could be fun as long as it came with an elec­tronic ac­ces­sory.

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We wonder if the little'ns of tomorrow will be as enamoured with this magic place as we were?

There's certainly been lots of exciting baby news already this year, with Shelby Tribble and Sam Mucklowe, Jamie Jewett and Camilla Thurlow and Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik all announcing pregnancies.

Although, given some of the birthday parties we've seen on social media recently, we think the celebs' kids might be used to the slightly finer things in life.

Seriously, did you see Amy Childs' daughter Polly's third birthday celebrations on Instagram?

And don't even get us started on Kylie Jenner's daughter Stormi, who had her own THEME PARK set up for her first birthday party last year.

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