Christmas 1996: a holiday toy season that will live in infamy. The N64 video game system and Tickle Me Elmo were the two hottest toys to hit the market and nineties parents were freaking out. The crazed rush to buy up all of the Tickle Me Elmo’s and the wildly inflated prices that were charged for the toy in secondary markets made this loveable Sesame Street doll one of the most notorious fads of the nineties.
Tickle Me Elmo was produced by Tyco Preschool and released in the summer of 1996. It was moderately popular until it received a huge plug on the Rosie O’Donnell Show, after which the doll became nearly impossible to track down in stores. Inspired by the way children tickle each other into hysterical laughter on the playground, Tickle Me Elmo was invented by Ron Dubren. In order to activate, Elmo requires hugs from kids that make him shake and giggle. It was very popular among preschool-aged children who loved Elmo’s silly laughter as well as his rumbling frame.
While the doll retailed on shelves for about $30, it commanded much higher rates on the resale market from parents desperate to give their child the season’s most popular gift. “Elmo-mania” swept the country, it even allegedly inspired a few big-box store breakdowns as adults brawled in the aisles over the few remaining Elmo’s. Elmo’s popularity and the craze associated with acquiring the toy was mirrored in other nineties toys like Beanie Babies and later the Furby electronic robotic toy. By the end of December 1996, the entire Tyco stock of one million Elmo’s had been sold. The toy continued to remain popular among consumers, and other tickle-able characters were spun off including Tickle Me Cookie Monster, Tickle Me Ernie, and Tickle Me Big Bird.
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.
Item Categories:
Before Furbies or Nano Kitties came the electronic pet that kicked off one of the biggest trends of the late 1990s. Tamagotchi was the first pocket-sized digital companion: a computerized alien pet that you could raise and care for through birth,...
Read More About: Tamagotchi Item Categories:
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.
Item Categories:
A pin relief board was a common site in 1990’s households. Often times, they contained the impression of a smushed face or a hand giving an interesting gesture. Grab one today and feed your creativity through artistic pin expression.
Item Categories:
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...
Read More About: Polly Pocket Item Categories:
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...
Read More About: Slap Bracelets Item Categories:
With our galaxy under threat from the Evil Emperor Zerg, we must rely on the greatest Space Ranger to ever patrol our toy boxes: Buzz Lightyear! Relive those epic childhood Toy Story moments with your very own Buzz Lightyear doll. To infinity... and beyond!
Item Categories:
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.
Item Categories:
Sleeping, walking the dog, and rocking the cradle may sound like a boring list of chores. Still, if you were raised in the nineties, you’d immediately recognize these as tricks you could perform with your Yomega Brain yo-yo. While yo-yo toys have...
Read More About: Yomega Brain Yo-Yo Item Categories:
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...
Read More About: Tech Deck Fingerboards Item Categories:
