The one with the lines out the door …
As more people have started shopping online, the sight of packed stores at the holidays has faded away.
But in decades past, malls and stores were packed with shoppers desperate to track down the hottest item. More often than not, the most prized product on the shelves was a children’s toy.
Let’s take a trip back in time to discover the in-demand gifts that sold at record rates and sent parents into a frenzy to snatch them up in time for the holidays.
1976: Stretch Armstrong
Thanks to a gelled corn syrup filling (ew), Stretch Armstrong could be stretched to the extremes and still bounce back to its original shape. This mini muscle man became a smash hit and was soon flying off the shelves, making it tough to find during the holiday season of its debut year.
Fun fact: When Stretch was reissued in the 1990s, Cap Toys released a canine sidekick named Fetch Armstrong.
1980: Rubik’s Cube
Rubik’s Cubes may have a nerdy vibe now, but back in the early ‘80s, they were one of the most popular toys around. No, seriously — almost 200 MILLION of the cubes were sold worldwide from 1980 to 1983! That first year, they were especially hard to track down in time for Christmas gifting.
Fun fact: Xuanyi Geng of China holds the world record time for solving a Rubik’s Cube at just 3.05 seconds.
1983: Cabbage Patch Kids
Who would’ve thought that Cabbage Patch Kids would be the toy with the most manic shoppers? In 1983, there were so many violent incidents involving customers trying to get these dolls that the phenomenon was dubbed the “Cabbage Patch riots.” People were hit, shoved, trampled, and — in one instance — even struck with a baseball bat!
Fun fact: The Cabbage Patch riots inspired the plot of the 1996 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, Jingle All the Way.
1985: Teddy Ruxpin
A talking bear transformed the toy industry in 1985. Teddy Ruxpin was released in September of that year, and by the time the holiday season rolled around, parents were lining up for the chance to nab one of the few available on toy store shelves.
Fun fact: Teddy was voiced by Phil Baron, who was also the voice of Piglet on the Welcome to Pooh Corner TV series. He also wrote many of the Teddy Ruxpin books and songs!
1989: Game Boy
The price of nabbing the year’s hottest toy started to increase in the late ‘80s. In 1989, Game Boy was the must-have gift of the season at a steep price of $89.99 (around $235 today). Sega’s Game Gear wouldn’t be released until the following year, so this Nintendo gadget was a kid’s best bet for gaming on the go.
Fun fact: Game Boy became the first gaming console played in space when Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Serebrov brought it onboard the Mir space station.
1991: SNES
In 1991, Nintendo hit the jackpot on the holiday toy craze once again. This time, it was the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) that made a splash, selling 3.4 million units between its August ‘91 and the end of that year. During the holiday season, many parents spent hours calling around to stores to find one.
Fun fact: Paul Rudd is featured in the original Super Nintendo launch commercial.
1993: Talk Boy
The Talk Boy was invented specifically for Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. The brainchild of screenwriter John Hughes, this gadget was the hottest toy of the 1993 holiday season. Retailers didn’t anticipate how popular it would be, leaving shoppers scrambling to find one.
Fun fact: Home Alone 2 was in theaters during the 1992 holiday season, but the original Talk Boy released that year didn’t catch on because it lacked the voice-modulating features seen in the movie. The 1993 version fixed that issue and became a huge hit.
1995: Buzz Lightyear
“To infinity … and beyond!” That’s how many Buzz Lightyear action figures store owners wished they had stocked up on for 1995’s holiday season. Toy Story had been released just before Thanksgiving, and retailers weren’t prepared for the insanely high demand for merchandise that would follow. Analysts estimated that the industry missed out on hundreds of millions of dollars in potential sales that year.
Fun fact: They cracked a joke about the shortage of Buzz Lightyear toys in the 1999 sequel, Toy Story 2.
1996: Tickle Me Elmo
Without a doubt, the “it” toy of the Christmas season in 1996 was Tickle Me Elmo. Mobs of people seeking out the stuffed Sesame Street character descended on stores — and most came up empty-handed. At a Walmart in New Brunswick, Canada, one store clerk was even trampled as crowds ran to snatch the toy off the shelves.
Fun fact: Originally priced at about $30, Tickle Me Elmo could sell on the black market for over $1,000 that holiday season.
1998: Furby
Certainly one of the weirdest toys to spark a holiday shopping frenzy, the Furby could wiggle its ears, blink its eyes, and speak a unique language known as Furbish. This chatty little creature was in high demand during the Christmas season of 1998. At one store in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, Furby-seeking shoppers got so out of control that the police were called.
Fun fact: Furbies were banned from certain government agency headquarters in 1999 when fears arose that the toy could learn words over time, essentially becoming a recording device for potential espionage.
We all had that one gift we were DYING to receive as a kid. Forward this to someone who would’ve waited in line outside the store with you to get it.
Editorial: Ashley
Illustration: Nick