From a yellow bear glove puppet to crime-fighting turtles and the infamous furry friend that demands to be fed – these must-have toys of Christmas past are sure to reignite nostalgic childhood memories.
The toys weighing heavily in letters to Santa nowadays are technologically far more advanced in comparison but that doesn’t make some of these classic toys any less memorable.
Were any of these old favourites top of your Christmas list as a kid?
Hornby’s first electric train
Yes, even in post-war times a filled stocking was a child’s delight. Two oranges, an apple, a pencil, perhaps a small toy; then the race downstairs to discover a doll or a Meccano set beneath the starry-lit Christmas tree.
The first electronic Hornby train appeared in 1925 and the licensed toy was born when the first stuffed Mickey Mouse toy was commissioned by Walt Disney.
Alfred Butts, an unemployed architect, invented Scrabble in 1931 and the Parker Brothers first published Monopoly in 1935, which became a Christmas Day staple.
In 1949 Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen invented a set of interlocking Lego bricks and just six bricks would fit together in 102,981,500 ways!
Toy crazes seem to have started in the 1950s, possibly as a result of the economy getting back on its feet after the Second World War Two.
When Sooty hit television screens in 1954, it was revealed that he was a Chad Valley glove puppet and sales soared.
When the hula-hoop arrived in 1958, more than 20 million were sold in a year.
Barbie was created by Ruth Handler in 1959, who named her after her daughter Barbara, with the first doll mimicking the glamour of Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe.
Barbie was Toy of the Year winner for girls between 1965 and 1970.
When she was relaunched with a sophisticated new look in 1990 she grossed more money worldwide than Madonna or Michael Jackson.
At the peak of Action Man‘s popularity, between 1966 and 1971, there were 1.3 Action Men for every British boy.
James Bond’s famous Aston Martin from Corgi was the show stopper in shops in 1965, alongside Doctor Who and the Daleks toys, which arrived just in time for Christmas.
Space hoppers, Sindy dolls, Womble toys and the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle were among the hits of the 1970s, along with kites and Playmobil action figures and playsets.
The Star Wars toys from 1978 became one of the most successful licensed properties of all time, dominating toy shops until the mid-1980s when their popularity waned.
In that time, the company released a roster of more than 100 different action figures based on the film series, which now go for big money on the collector’s market.
Electronic games and radio-controlled cars were most sought after in stockings by the end of the 1970s, before the Rubik’s Cube launched in 1980.
More than 100 million of the puzzles were sold between 1980 and 1982.
Children of the ’80s were interested in electronic gadgetry, fashion and music, although the top-selling toys were usually linked to crazes that enjoyed a meteoric rise.
In 1984 the arrival of a group of squashy, 15-inch-tall cotton dolls caused chaos in toy shops across the land.
The Cabbage Patch Kids had gone on sale in the US the year before and parents had camped outside malls and toy shops to make sure they could take one home.
The Toymaster store in Dundee received orders for their stock before Christmas 1984 from customers in America, where supplies were still to catch up!
Each doll had its own name and birth certificate and, by the end of 1984, 23 million Cabbage Patch Kids had been sold across the globe.
There were similar scenes when the Transformers were launched.
Leader Optimus Prime was the toy of 1985 with demand leading to huge shortages.
The following year kids everywhere wanted a Ghostbusters replica proton pack to capture spooks.
Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael – the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles – hit our shores in 1990 and again caused pre-Christmas chaos.
Action figures for the crime-fighting foursome reached 30 million worldwide.
In 1991 Nintendo launched its Game Boy in the UK and medical experts expressed concern about the risks of children becoming addicted to them.
Toy companies were encouraged to publish warnings.
Demand for the hand-held console outstripped supply at Christmas 1991, although Santa might have provided a Sega Game Gear as a consolation prize.
And, in 1992, the £35 Thunderbirds’ Tracy Island playset became the year’s hottest toy with people queuing up all night to try to get one before shops ran out.
Blue Peter showed despairing parents how to recreate one using pipe cleaners and crepe paper, a cereal carton and a cardboard box.
The programme was then deluged with 100,000 letters from people asking for the instruction sheet.
Britain went Power Ranger crazy in December 1994.
Toys R Us rationed each customer to one model of the karate-kicking toys and the Japanese manufacturer had to hire cargo planes to bring in extra supplies.
You needed superpowers to find a Pink Power Ranger!
To Lochee and beyond!
Pixar’s Toy Story, which was released in 1996, was a huge hit in the cinemas and, after seeing it, children were desperate to get their hands on a Buzz Lightyear doll.
Buzz was the £24.99 chisel-jawed spaceman star of the Disney film and 1996 was the same year Arnold Schwarzenegger’s film Jingle All The Way came out.
Remember the plot of the holiday classic?
Jingle All The Way was the story of a man who promised his wife he would buy a Turbo Man action figure for their son, but left it so late that every shop had sold out.
The only way he could buy his way back into his family’s affections was to find the toy.
Far-fetched?
Not if you lived in Inverkeithing!
A woman set off on a 900-mile trip to Torquay to buy one.
After the long haul home, she was stunned to find them on sale in a local shop!
Everyone wanted a friend in Buzz.
Which is why no one could find one in 1996.
With stocks of the toy sold out all over the country, and new deliveries not due until after Christmas, Dundee’s Lochee was going Buzz Lightyear bonkers!
A Buzz Lightyear raffle took place at Lochee’s Tesco store on Christmas Eve.
Tesco general manager Keith Cowell found the Buzz Lightyear toy in a back room beside others which were taken off the shelves because they were faulty.
However, after checking the toy, Mr Cowell discovered it was in full working order and only required some batteries so he decided to organise a raffle to raise money for charity and make some child’s wish come true.
Tickets were 50p and £600 was raised for a muscular dystrophy charity.
I’m proud of you, cowboy!
In 1997 there was a mad dash for Teletubbies and Ty Beanie Babies, which ruled among pre-schoolers, while Tamagotchi pets kicked real dogs and cats down the pecking order.
Montrose became more popular than the Tubbytronic Superdome!
Desperate parents from as far away as Dundee and Aberdeen discovered the Woolworths shop was getting more stock than some of the city stores.
Woolworths was getting a steady supply because of the speed it was selling the figures, with staff serving coffee to the customers who were queuing round the block.
One particular Saturday a delivery of 30 figures sold out in five minutes!
But all of that was as nothing compared to the most memorable shopping dash of all time – the great Furby frenzy of 1998.
The animatronic critter sparked an outbreak of near-madness across the UK, although it might be surprising that the humble yo-yo returned as the toy of the year.
More recent crazes have included Bob the Builder toys, Bratz Dolls, Micropets, Nintendo Wii, Iggle Piggle from In The Night Garden and Go Go Pet Hamsters.
Of course, every year it’s the same.
There’s always a toy no kid can do without.
So what is the biggie this year?
Nostalgic gifts are on the rise and classic franchises prove popular in the top toy lists of 2022, including Transformers, Playmobil, Star Wars, Barbie and Lego.
Evidence that timeless toys can transcend generations!
