HISTORY'S BIGGEST TOY CRAZES

THE GIFTS THAT WENT FROM NOVELTY TO SUPERNOVA ON THE SHELVES

- Written by Jonathan Gordon

The manic rush to grab the 'it' toy of the holiday season has been immortalised in film and television over the years. There was a great deal of social cache attached to being able to give your child the gift of the season. What that gift would be, however, was always changing and evolving. Toys have played an important role in the lives of children for millennia, but it was only with the mass production and international shipping of the 20th century that novelties could go from local favourite to international sensation. Here we take a look at some of the most explosive toy crazes from the previous century, how they emerged and the legacy they left behind.

BARBIE RELEASED: 1959 SOLD: 1 BILLION

The brainchild of Mattel cofounder Ruth Handler, Barbie sold 300,000 dolls in the first year despite industry scepticism that children would want to play with a doll of an adult woman. Handler was inspired after seeing her own daughter, Barbara, playing with paper dolls and based her design on a novelty toy from Germany called the Bild Lilli doll. From the start, Barbie was all about being aspirational for children, giving them an opportunity to play with visions of adulthood, and it caught on fast.

Despite courting its fair share of criticism and controversy over the years (in terms of women's body image and promotion of materialism), Barbie also tapped into the growing social changes of the 1960s, with versions of the doll dressed for jobs from aircraft engineer to zoo keeper. Unlike baby dolls, which had dominated the market, Barbie was intended to open up the possibilities for young girls of what life could be. The recent Barbie movie taps into that and also explores a remarkable amount of the history too.

LEGO RELEASED: 1949 SOLD: UNKNOWN