The slap bracelet, an innocuous little wrist wrap turned children's toy, was to early '90s kids what fidget spinners are to children of the 2010s. Incredibly simple and idiotically brilliant, the slap bracelet was both a fashion statement and an endlessly entertaining toy. The bracelet was conceived in 1983 by Stuart Andres, a high school shop teacher from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. The original prototype featured a flexible piece of steel, similar to the material a tape measure is made of, covered in a colorful soft fabric. With the flick of a wrist, Slap-Bracelets could be smacked onto child-sized limbs and would conform to their shape. Repeated over and over, the movement of snapping the bracelet and molding it flat again became reasonably addictive.
Anders sold his concept to Main Street Toys using the name "Slap Wrap." Company's president Eugene Murtha immediately saw the toy's potential: a cheaply manufactured product that customers would buy over and over. In 1990, slap bracelets sold for about $1.30 wholesale and $2.50 retail. Main Street Toys had prior experience dealing with fad toys. The company was led by former executives, including Murtha, from Coleco Industries, which marketed the famous Cabbage Patch dolls in the 1970s.
The overwhelming popularity of slap bracelets encouraged many copycat competitors who created and sold knockoffs of the toy. However, some of these unlicensed products disregarded safety standards and began to cause injuries when the metal bands broke. Headlines such as "Principle Puts a Halt to Slap Bracelet Fad" ran in newspapers like the New York Times. Covering the backlash against the trend, the AP wrote, "Children in this suburb of New York will just have to suffer being unfashionable, at least during school hours, because the slap-bracelet has been banned at two elementary schools."
Remember setting up toy cars and town scenes on your playmat? Well, you can still accessorize your living space and create your own mini town with this city life playmat. Just remember to pick up those legos when you are done – they hurt when you step on them!
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With a sticky hand toy, you can master the art of grabbing things from a slightly longer distance than you can reach! As many '90s kids know, they are also a pretty useful tool for annoying siblings.
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Playing a game of Let’s Go Fishing was a popular way to pass the time at grandma’s house in the ‘90s. It was all fun and games until she whooped your ass for the third time in a row. Now is the time for you to grab your very own copy and show the world how much better you have gotten.
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One of the most recognizable accessories of the middle-to-late 1990s is an oversized, pastel plastered watch that turned time telling into a fashion statement. The Baby G digital sports watch was a slenderer version of the original G-Shock line of...
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For '90s kids, Reptar was somewhere in between Godzilla and Looney Tunes. This made him an incredibly cool character on Rugrats, and a popular choice for clothing/bedding options. Grab this plush and snuggle up to your favorite Rugrats dinosaur pal.
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Do you miss the days of being peed on by a toy doll? Well, miss them no more! Baby Alive is back and ready to provide all of the biological joys that come with caring for a very hungry and thirsty baby.
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Although the design is not the same as that old tube TV shape, Lite-Brites are still available for purchase. Grab one today and express your inner '90s kid through light and tiny little plastic pegs.
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K'NEX allowed budding designers, architects, and engineers the chance to construct replica models of everything from bridges and cars to rollercoasters and Ferris wheels. The construction toy system was invented by American entrepreneur Joel...
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Toymakers in the 1990s really were all about the portable toy. From the Tamagotchi and portable CD players to handheld electronics like the Game Boy Color, if you couldn’t take it with you, what good was it to a nineties kid? Aimed at a somewhat...
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Another example of nineties toymakers going HAM on miniatures. Tech Deck fingerboards are small skateboards that can be manipulated and “ridden” using your fingers. Fingerboards were initially produced as keychains for skate shops but evolved...
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