Our grandsons love getting their Hess holiday toy trucks every year from their other grandparents. Remember, children remember traditions and rituals more than time spent with them. When the grandchildren grow up, their memories will be full of those traditions and rituals and the guilt we have over our inability to spend as much time as we would like with the grandchildren will be wasted worry. This year, I was concerned that because Hess sold all of its gas stations, the Hess holiday toy trucks would be no more.
Our grandsons’ collection is huge. I had no idea how valuable the collection may be until I started reading that Hess is continuing its tradition of Hess holiday toy trucks and how we must be concerned they sell out. In 2014, just last year, the trucks sold out.
Fortunately, 2015 the holiday toy truck will still available on line at Hess Toy Truck. The toy will be sold online for $31 and at mall kiosks in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. For an extra special gift, prior editions are still available for purchase on the website. A grandma can spend as little or as much as she wants to create a new collection if the grandchildren do not already have one.
This year, the 2015 Hess holiday toy truck is certain to be coveted by girls and boys alike. Hess always adds bells and whistles that keep the grandchildren playing with the truck all year. For 2015, it is a red fire truck and ladder rescue that will go on sale November 1. Calendar this!
From a news release, on the Hess website, I read:
“The Hess Toy Truck has been a holiday tradition since 1964, and is one of the longest running toy brands on the market. This year’s Hess Toy is a red Fire Truck with oversized tires, swiveling chrome-detailed fire hose nozzles, LED lights including a high-powered pivoting LED searchlight, a slide-out ramp and 4 realistic sound effects. The accompanying Ladder Rescue features a rotating extension ladder with a movable nozzle and push-activated friction motor.”
“Hess is adding a new surprise this year: 100 lucky customers will find an individually numbered Silver Edition Fire Truck and Ladder Rescue when they open their 2015 Hess Toy Truck package.”
Go online to learn about the sweepstakes to receive a silver edition 2015 truck. Sign up for an alert on the website.
If it sells out on line or in addition to online ordering, you can also purchase the Fire Truck and Ladder Rescue at 10 select shopping malls starting November 12:
New York: Queens Center, Kings Plaza, Green Acres and Broadway New Jersey: Paramus Park, Woodbridge Center, Willowbrook and Cherry Hill Pennsylvania: Willow Grove Park and Capital City
This Grandma always loves to be able to share information and history with grandchildren . The Hess website gives us so much information to share and pictures of all the trucks throughout the years. With our grandchildren’s fascination about what it was like when we and their parents were young, we can share through pictures of Hess holiday toy trucks as they evolved during the decades. This is another great activity, whether the grandchildren are yet into the trucks or not. This Grandma can make a bet that the grandchildren will soon be into Hess holiday toy trucks.
We are lucky the company is continuing the tradition of the original owner, Leon Hess, who started it all:
How did the Hess tradition begin?
“Not long after opening the first Hess branded gas station in 1960, Leon Hess decided to offer families a fun, high quality and affordable toy for the holidays as a goodwill gesture to customers. With that decision, he created a toy for kids of all ages, the Hess Toy Truck, that has become a hallmark of the holiday season. Leon Hess wanted a toy truck made outstanding craftsmanship and innovative use of electronics. And he wanted to offer it at a price families could afford with batteries included— a concept that endures to this day.”
Where did it begin?
“This vision for a Hess Toy Truck became a reality with the 1964 Hess Tanker Trailer. A replica of the company’s first B61 Mack truck and trailer, the toy’s features were rare for its time: working headlights and taillights controlled by a switch at the back of the cab, and a cargo tank that could be filled and emptied with an accompanying funnel and rubber hose. There were no TV ads or major radio campaigns for the Hess Tanker Trailer—just a few small newspaper ads for a well-made toy, battery included, sold at Hess gas stations. But fifty years of fun had just begun.”
And it has come into the 21st century:
“Since 2009, Hess has been expanding its digital identity – first with a Facebook page, then with a series of free app games based on the toy trucks. Kids and adults alike can play with the Toy Trucks in the virtual world on their smartphones. In 2012, Hess launched an online store where customers could purchase Hess Toy Trucks, here at Hess Toy Truck website.”
The story of the Hess company and the holiday toy truck expands into an activity with the grandchildren of sharing how the trucks have changed over the years, learning the evolution of a company that cares, and playing on their app. We do not have to be the grandparents who buy the trucks to share; and it shows that we honor and respect the grandchildren’s other grandparents by acknowledging how wonderful it is that the other grandparents give them such a wonderful gift each holiday season. Grandchildren can never receive too much
Joy,
Mema
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