The Christmas gifting season is behind us, but the demand for toys is still strong on bidorbuy. Here is an overview of some of the firm favourites on the site:
Lego interlocking toy bricks were first manufactured in 1949. As of 2013, about 560 billion Lego parts have been produced.
Barbie also boasts enviable longevity. Born in the 1950s, this toy is still a favourite with girls around the world.
Play Doh is another toy from the 1950s that’s popular today, used by children to model an infinite variety of objects.
Troll Doll was invented in 1959 by a Danish woodworker. Plastic imitations soon became popular in North America. The inventor managed to assert his copyright only in 2003.
My Little Pony is a plastic toy dating from 1983. The ponies are colourful and have a unique symbol on one or both sides of their flanks (the so-called cutie marks).
Rubik’s Cube is a colour-coded puzzle cube created in the mid-1970s that still baffles millions of kids and adults.
Cabbage Patch Kids were the must-have toy in the mid-1980s. Parents in the USA camped outside toy stores during the Christmas season of 1983 in order to buy a Cabbage Patch Kid for their own little one.
Beanie Babies became the hottest toy in America and a valuable collectors’ item in the 1990s. They are small-scale stuffed animals filled with tiny plastic beads to give them a sturdy but flexible feel. The rare special editions can still fetch large sums.
Furby is an electronic plaything that hit the market in 1998. It is a furry creature that speaks about 200 words of Furbish and English (the English ones are terms of endearment, like I love you).
Bratz, dubbed the anti-Barbies, were released in 2001 with the ambition to usher dolls into the 21st century. The new kids on the block did become hugely popular, though they never eclipsed Barbie (their two respective manufacturers are still embroiled in a legal battle over some copyright issues).
Zhu Zhus are inexpensive robotic hamsters that became the hottest toy of the 2009 holiday season. Besides the nine different Zhu Zhu characters, the line now includes Zhu Zhu babies, puppies and even ninja-like space fighters.
LeapPad is a range of learning tablet computers for children launched in 1999. LeapPad was the toast of the 2011 holiday shopping period. Today, LeapPad lost some of its share of the pie as the market became flooded with affordable kid-friendly tablets manufactured by some of consumer tech’s biggest names.
Tablets, computers, consoles, video games – they are so popular with the kids of the 21st century that many are wondering whether there is any future for “real” toys.
After taking a peek at the toys section of bidorbuy’s Recent Buys, the answer has to be – an unequivocal “yes”. After all, as experts say, playing and interacting with a physical toy will always be more creative and imaginative than digital play.
The popular toys of the past, like dolls, teddy bears, trucks… are still popular today, even though they may look a bit different. All in, it is estimated that over 30 billion physical toys are sold each year worldwide.
