By: Lucy Buxton
Since the Christmas season is approaching and children are making their Christmas lists for Santa, it only seems fitting to discuss the most popular Christmas gifts all over the world over the years. I will be discussing the “hottest” Christmas gift by each decade from nineteen-fifty to the two-thousands.
Starting off with the year, nineteen- fifty, or as some would describe it, “The year of Barbie”. Barbie first hit the selves in nineteen-fifty and as you can probably imagine, Barbies were at the top of every little girl’s Christmas list. This is interesting because as I have looked at the shift of interest in toys over the decades, Barbie has continued to make her mark almost every year. This might also be connected with the movie released last summer.
Interestingly enough, in nineteen- sixty the most popular toy under Christmas trees was the G.I Joe action toy. In ten years the most popular toy went from a very girly doll to an action packed “rough around the edges” G.I Joe action toy.
Following the crave of G.I Joe in the nineteen- sixties, the next popular toy in the nineteen- seventies was Weebles. These items were popular more than thirty years before I was born but I still remember finding these toys fascinating when I visited my Grandmas. I guess my uncles were even a fan of Weebles.
Another iconic toy that is still around today that was highly popular in nineteen-eighty is the Rubix Cube. Although this frustrating yet iconic toy didn’t gain much popularity til nineteen- eighty, it was invented in the nineteen-seventies. I’m not quite sure if children actually craved this item or if they raved the attention they got if they were able to solve it.
Moving on to nineteen-ninety, the Tamagotchi. I feel like I have heard of every toy so far but I can’t say this is something I have heard of. The Tamagotchi was a digital pet that required constant attention. Owners of this toy had to feed it and clean it to make sure the beloved pet did not die. This does not seem like a toy that could carry on its legacy into future years and it didn’t.
The two thousands, a whole new century. Of course the most popular gift had to do with electronics. The Nintendo Wii captivated children of all different ages and although the Wii is not around still, many different variations of the Nintendo are still being purchased to this day.
It is important to remember no matter how badly you or your child feels like they “need” a gift under the tree, the real gift is the birth of Jesus and spending time with the people you love most.
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