Search Results for: years

Every year, millions of people brave the crowds (especially on Black Friday) in search of the perfect Christmas presents for their loved ones. While we all have different ideas of what the ideal gift is, if we're going by what people vote for with their wallets, there are a number of products that really hit the nail on the head when it comes to the Yuletide season. Get ready to take a walk down memory lane and relive your childhood as we take a look at 20 of the most popular Christmas gifts of all time. 1. 1936: Monopoly, the real-estate board game centered around buying and trading properties, with players aiming to force their opponents into bankruptcy. Don't lie, you've thrown the board across the room at least once during a fit of mid-game rage. Etsy 2. 1943: The Slinky, a spring toy invented by Richard James that can do all kinds of tricks, one of the most notable being "walking" itself down a set of stairs. A Geek Daddy 3. 1952: Mr. Potato Head, the first toy to be advertised on television. Invented and developed by George Lerner, over one million kits for the customizable toy were sold in its first year. Click Americana 4. 1959: The one and only Barbara Millicent Roberts, created by Ruth Handler. Becoming Mattel's largest and most profitable line, over a billion Barbie dolls have been sold. Flickr / Konrad Summers 5. 1975: The Pet Rock. These came packaged in cardboard boxes with straw and breathing holes as if they were live pets. The appeal was that, well, you didn't really need to do anything for them, making them the "perfect" pets. Mises Canada 6. 1978: Hungry Hungry Hippos, the game produced by Hasbro that pitted players against each other in a race to see whose hippo could eat the most marbles. Nothing But Nostalgia 7. 1980: Rubik's Cube, the 3-D combination puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. It's considered to be the world's best-selling toy, puzzling (pun intended) millions of people in the years since its release. Flipkart 8. 1983: Cabbage Patch Kids, the soft-bodied dolls created by Xavier Roberts and originally called "Little People". They became so popular that they inspired the "Cabbage Patch Riots," a series of violent customer outbursts at several U.S. retail stores that year. Toys"R"Us.com 9. 1989: the Game Boy, Nintendo's first handheld game console that provided hours of portable entertainment. Chances are you have fond memories of playing on one of these as a kid. Wikipedia 10. 1991: POGs, or cardboard bottle caps from the Passion fruit-Orange-Guava brand. These were used to play a popular game among children, in which they were put into stacks and slammed with metal bottle caps. Complex 11. 1995: Beanie Babies, the little animals stuffed with plastic pellets and made by Ty Warner Inc. Loved by collectors and kids alike, they flew off the shelves of toy stores just before the end of the 20th century. Jack Malcolm 12. 1996: Tickle Me Elmo, the wildly popular (if not somewhat creepy) plush toy from Tyco Toys that shakes and busts a gut when squeezed. The doll was in such high demand that there are documented cases of people getting arrested for fighting over it. Wikipedia 13. 1997: Tamagotchis, the must-have handheld digital pets released by Bandai in 1996. They became one of the biggest toy fads of the 1990s and early 2000s, with over 76 million being sold worldwide as of 2010. TrustedReviews 14. 1998: Furby, the electronic, animal-like robot that can blink and even learn English words. After launching the toy during the holiday season, Tiger Electronics sold 1.8 million Furbies in that year alone. Instructables 15. 1999: Pokemon. Whether it was the Japanese cartoon, the card game, or the Nintendo Game Boy game, children (and adults) went and still go crazy over anything to do with the overwhelmingly popular franchise. Walmart 16. 2000: Razor scooters. If you're drowning in nostalgia at the sight of this baby, you definitely aren't alone. All the "cool" kids had to get their hands on a Razor scooter back then. In fact, over five million of these were sold in just the first six months after they were launched. Wikimedia Commons 17. 2001: Bratz. The MGA Entertainment fashion dolls rivaling Barbie -- named Yasmin, Cloe, Jade, and Sasha -- actually didn't sell very well until Christmas that year. Just a few years later, global sales reached two billion dollars. Flickr / Saffy Credits: viralnova.com Share this story on Facebook with your friends.