The 7th Day of Patmas

On the 7th Day of Patmas, I give to you…7 Past Christmas Craze Gifts.

Every year, there are some “hot gifts” or “hot toys” that everyone seemingly has to get their kids. And then, every so often, there’s that super popular trending gift that people are willing to kill someone over to get. And you have to search 25 stores to find it. And it’s impossible to get. Well, here is a list of 7 that I remember. Let the madness ensue!

1. Nintendo Wii – When the Wii came out, it was super popular. Everyone wanted one. Hell, I wanted one. And they’d sell out constantly. You’d have to talk to the store manager, find out when the next shipment of Wiis were coming in, and then wait in line to get one (I believe this is what my mother did to get me my Wii…and I love her for it!). This is the most recent Christmas Craze item I can remember.

2. Tickle Me Elmo – You remember these dolls…it was an Elmo stuffed animal, basically. But you could tickle it and hug it and it would talk at you and look all cute and whatnot. I never understood it, but kids went fucking nuts for this stuff! And they sold like hotcakes. In the days leading up to Christmas, you couldn’t find one anywhere. People would buy them up and then sell them on eBay for huge profit, and they were still going like mad. Insanity.

3. Beanie Babies – These are still around, although not nearly as popular. They are considered collectibles, I guess. People would go nuts trying to collect all the different beanie baby animals. Oh, yeah, I guess beanie babies were basically tiny stuffed animals, although instead of being stuffed with fluff, they are stuffed with little beans. And they got super popular for a while, because both kids and adults wanted them. I’m sure you know someone who probably still had a giant beanie baby collection somewhere for some reason.

4. Razor Scooters – These were super popular back in the early decade. Its basically just a scooter, except its sleek, shiny, and built for doing tricks. And the marketing for it was genius…all the kids wanted them. So they sold quickly, and you still see them around today.

5. Tamagotchi – OK, this is one I remember well. It’s a virtual pet. A little handheld electronic video game that all it does is have a pet on it. And you can give it water, and food, and take it for walks. If you’re thinking this sounds a lot like a real pet, but without the emotional payoff, well, bingo! You got it! I’m pretty sure everyone had these things. They would take them to school, and take care of them, and worry about if they left the stupid keychain somewhere and their pixilated animal somewhere needed to go to the virtual bathroom. Yikes. This one died quickly.

6. POGS – This is one I got into, briefly. POGS are small, cardboard disks. That’s it. They’d have pictured on them and whatnot. Then there were slammers, which were usually hard plastic, or metal. And they’d have pictures on them. And it became a game…where you would slam the slammer down on the POGS on the ground (which were stacked face down), and whichever ones flipped over (landed face up), you got to keep. Then it was the next person’s turn. That’s pretty simple. Tournaments actually sprung up around this thing, though. And it got pretty big. But by the end of the 90s, it had pretty much died.

7. Pokemon – Our final fad of the day is Pokemon. This got super popular among kids in the early decade. Pokemon was a game based around cards…much like Magic the Gathering (something else I never got into). You would build decks of cards with various Pokemons (translated to Pocket Monster) on it, then get together with your friends and have them do battle. The game itself, though, was but a sideshow to the real popularity of Pokemon…which was simply to collect as many cards as you could. Packs of Pokemon cards were the best selling items at baseball card shops across America for a few years. Rare, valuable cards were created that were supposedly powerful in the game, not that anyone cared about that. TV Shows and video games popped up around it. It was a worldwide phenomenon. I think it’s still around today, but not nearly as popular.

So, yeah, that’s it. 7 Christmas Crazes that led to people waiting in line for hours just to make their children happy on Christmas Morning! Of those mentioned above, I believe I was only really involved with the Wii and the POGS. What can I say…I’m not much for fads.