Toy Trends Through the Years
by Julia Bruce, Designed by Daniel Lippman
Tis the season when children write out their holiday wish lists. What was once a humble token – perhaps a small doll or an orange – holiday toys have evolved into big business. Every year, there seems to be one coveted item and the pressure to secure this high-in-demand gift can be one more thing to stress over during the season. drive the toy trend each year? What have been the big toys of years past, and what will be on every kid’s list this year?
The evolution of influencing consumer buying trends can be linked to the launch of the Sears Catalog. What began as a watch mailer in 1888 eventually evolved into a major distributor and promoter of everything from clothes and tools to prefabricated houses.
The Sears Catalog was the Amazon of its day. Ordering through the mail allowed retailers to market their goods to rural areas that were previously unmined. The first christmas catalog in 1933 established Sears as the go-to for holiday gifts. Later renamed the Christmas Wishbook in 1968, it boasted 605 pages of items to choose from! Generations of children – including yours truly – would pour over the pages, circling or dog-earing items that caught their eye.Toy trends often mirrored the times and the cultural feeling of society. During the Great Depression, simple toys like the sock monkey and the yo-yo were popular. By the 1930s and 40s, popular toys like Shirley Temple dolls and Slinky reflected a country looking for distraction. And who could forget the Red Ryder BB gun, the coveted gift for Ralphie from movie The Christmas Story?
Turn on the TV
While the Christmas Wishbook remained influential for many years, the prominence of televisions in most homes shifted the market. The postwar consumer boom combined with tv ads drove sales, an influence that eventually reached the toy industry. In 1952, Hasbro made history with the first toy to be advertised on TV – none other than Mr. Potato Head, which went on to sell over 1 million units in a few short months.
The explosive growth of Saturday morning cartoons in the 1960s and 70s gave toy manufacturers a dedicated, captive window to broadcast holiday wishlist ideas directly to kids. The Star Wars franchise launched its line of toys that quickly became collectibles. GI Joe action figures, marketed solely at boys, and Easy Bake Oven, for girls, were two toys that were specifically gender targeted.
Perhaps one of the first truly viral toys was Cabbage Patch Kids. Each cherubic-faced doll was unique and came with its own adoption papers – this exclusivity drove the appeal. By 1983, Cabbage Patch Kids had officially taken off. Production levels couldn’t keep up with demand, leading to crazy resale prices and even violent altercations in stores.
In the early 1990s, there was a similar frenzy surrounding Tickle Me Elmo, thanks to the help of PBS Kids, which put Elmo in nearly every toddler’s living room.
Tech Talk
By the late 1990s and early 2000s, toys were leaning toward technology. Even though the Atari 2600 debuted in the late 70s, desire for gaming systems really took off with Nintendo Entertainment and PlayStation in the 90s and then later, the Gameboy.
The Sears Catalog had already started to see diminished sales when Amazon stepped in. Now, toys could not only be purchased from the comfort of your couch, but would arrive the next day, gift-wrapped, if requested.
The last few years have seen the rise of collectible toys - things like Hatchimals and Labubus, where there are multiple varieties, making it enticing to amass a collection, with rare ones becoming even more desirable.
TOYS THROUGH THE DECADES
1910s Teddy Bear
Honorable mentions: Erector sets, Lionel trains
1920s Yo-Yo
Honorable mentions: Tinker Toys, Raggedy Ann
1930s Shirley Temple doll
Honorable mentions: Monopoly, Red Ryder BB gun
1940s Slinky
Honorable mentions: LEGOs, Silly Putty
1950s Mr. Potato Head
Honorable mentions: Hula Hoop, Barbie, Play-Doh, Tonka Trunks
1960s G.I. Joe
Honorable mentions: Etch-a-Sketch, Easy Bake Oven, Playmobil
1970s Star Wars action figures
Honorable mentions: NERF ball, Speak and Spell
1980s Cabbage Patch Kids
Honorable mentions: Rubik’s Cube, Care Bears
1990s Beanie Babies and Tickle Me Elmo
Honorable mentions: Furby, Nintendo Game Boy
2000s Wii
Honorable mentions: Razor Scooter, Bratz dolls, Webkinz, Zhu Zhu Pets