Born in 68 and I had a set on my white leather hard-soled shoes.
It was also briefly trendy in middle school to lace small bells onto your sneakers.

I taught a toddler room years ago (early 1990s) and had one child with bells on his shoe laces when he started in the classroom because before he came to us at about 20 months old, he'd been cared for by his grandmother who was blind/low vision. She used the bells to tell where he was in the house.... until he learned to lean over while walking and hold the bells to keep them from making noise!

That was funny to watch, smart kid. Not sure if it was to keep Grandma from knowing where he was or he simply couldn't stand the sound of them - never really sure as he wasn't telling us why.

Born in DC in 1977 I had the bells as did my sister who was born in 1979. But we also had the white toddler shoes. Per a previous poster, I think they went best with those shoes. According to my mother, doctors recommended those hard bottomed shoes back then because they were thought to help kids develop good walking form. I didn't use them for my kids (born within the past 10 years).

Anonymous wrote:No, but in my culture we give our baby's little gold bracelets or anklets that can have a small ball bell on it.

Same.

Grew up in east coast big city and never heard about this or witnessed this in the 1970’s and onward.

Yup!🤣🫶 I just pulled out my daughter's baby shoes. She is one of four children I opened my hope chest where I saved all my children’s infant clothing including theirshoes with bells. it almost bout me to tears.
My 3rd daughter is having her first and they are twins. I didn't get married until I was 30
I was so happy to see these bells I could cry 😂 I remember putting these shoes on every child with their bells on! Not only did I know they were trotting from the hallway but with four children it's a lifesaver. I wish they would come back with these. The babies love them 🤣

Oh my gosh, this just unlocked a very clear memory of my childhood shoe-bells.

Anonymous wrote:Grew up in an east coast big city and everyone did this when I was little. The little plastic case held the shoelaces so a toddler's shoes would not come untied.

My mom gave me a set and I used them with my first child for a while, but they were more trouble than they were worth and very few people were using them by then. Oh, and they only really worked on the white toddler shoes with the thin laces. They didn’t work with any thicker laces like on sneakers.

I was little in the 60s and my kids were born in the early 90s.

Same. I didn’t have them, but I remember seeing them quite a lot in the 70’s in DC and other East Coast cities. I stopped seeing them when babies and toddlers stopped wearing the white high top shoes. I’ve seen them more recently with infants — who get a kick out of hearing the bells when they kick their feet.

It would drive me crazy gearing it. No thanks.

My older sister born in 1967 had them. I was born in '72 and did not. We both had those weird leather booties. I can't imagine people doing that these days.

Wth?

The bells were 1950s/60s technology. They've been replaced with cell phones with location tracking.

Anonymous wrote:With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes
She shall have music wherever she goes

At least bells sound nicer than those annoying squeaking shoes.

This is cute, made me smile.

Anonymous wrote:I was born in 1975 and did not have bells. My two younger siblings were born in 1977 and 1979 and also did not have bells.
I do not recall ever seeing (or hearing) a child with bells on their shoes.

The bells were gone in the 70s but us 50s babies had them.

With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes
She shall have music wherever she goes

At least bells sound nicer than those annoying squeaking shoes.