One mother stops a rival Walmart shopper from snatching a Tickle Me Elmo doll. Another holds a seasonal job long enough to get the Mighty Morphin Power Ranger her son must have. A father hoping for a few Cabbage Patch Kids ends up with dozens.

When we published our article about 2017’s hot toy, the Fingerling, we asked readers to tell us how far they, or their parents, had gone to snag a popular toy. Almost every story we heard was from a time before the internet opened up so many shopping options. Happily, none involved fights or unbearable crowds.

Here are a few tales of parental determination, ingenuity and luck that ended with happy children on Christmas morning. They have been condensed and edited for clarity.

‘A Last-Ditch Effort’

TOY AMBULANCE In 1980, Kim Pittsley’s 4-year-old son put only one thing on his Christmas list: a real “amblance” (his word), which Ms. Pittsley said meant a toy with lights and a siren. “We didn’t have computers. We had paper catalogs. We had Kmart in town, but not a real toy store.”