Hot toys of 2024: Comeback of the classics - Chicken Dance Elmo, Hatchimals & Furby
Plus, the retro tech revival seeps into toys and tiny collectibles are still captivating kids and "kidults."
If you haven’t yet scored a Chicken Dance Elmo or the newest hatching Hatchimals (it involves mist and glowing lights, eeekkk!)or the latest iteration of Furby, then good luck, seriously.
This is it. With just a handful of days to go before Christmas, shoppers who’ve procrastinated this long shouldn’t complain if they don’t land 2024’s “gotta have” toy for their kids.
But it’s still not too late to try to bag at least a few other toys and games from this year’s buzziest trends.
Bagable.com spoke with toy industry experts about their picks.
A classics revival:
Hatchimals, Elmo & Furby: The most popular toy of 2016 is back and promises to captivate kids — and a few adults — again, this time with newly-added special effects.
Hatchimals, the furry interactive creature from toymaker Spin Master, became a global phenomenon when it first debuted because of its ability to self-hatch out of an egg as it comes alive. The latest version of Hatchimals is called “Hatchimals Alive Mystery.”
New to the hatching process are lights, mist and over 100 sounds (you can even listen for a heartbeat) and reactions from the creature within the egg.
“Electronic stuffed animals are really popular,” Laurie Leahey, senior editor with TTPM.com, a website that reviews toys, baby and pet products, told Bagable.com. “The new Hatchimals is sort of the relaunch of that brand.”
“This year’s Elmo that dances to the chicken song is such a simple toy but it definitely gets little kids active. They think it’s silly because it’s a favorite character they’re watching on TV. Now he’s coming to life in their playroom and the kids can dance along with him.”
Furby, another past hit from Hasbro, is on several hot toys lists this year. The new glow-in-the-dark “Furby Galaxy” still talks a lot, with more than 600 phrases, jokes and songs built in. It also responds to hugs, pats on the head and pretend feeding.
“With Furby and Hatchimals coming back, the people who played with them when they first came out have grown up. They’re adults and now they either want their own kids to experience these classic toys, or maybe they didn't even get one the first time years ago. So this is their chance to get them now,” said Leahey.
Retro tech-inspired toys
Older kids and “kidults,” basically young and adult GenZers, have fired up a love of old-school “legacy gadgets” from the ‘80s, ‘90s and Y2K, such as Polaroid cameras, Walkman, Discman, Game Boy, flip phones and iPods.
Toymakers are skewing this trend even younger with toy versions of iconic retro gadgets.
Some examples: Fisher-Price’s “Rockin’ Record Player” for preschoolers and Lego’s build-your-own Polaroid camera.
Fisher-Price’s toy record player comes with five albums. The record starts to spin once you move the arm of the player over the turntable. Each record has two songs on each side, spanning from pop, country music to hip-hop. The songs play once the arm is put into the groove on the record, just like a real record player.
The Lego Polaroid buildable non-functioning camera (priced at about $80) epitomizes nostalgic tech.
It’s built using Lego bricks and includes life-like details, such as the viewfinder and click function. It also features play photos that can be loaded into the camera. Press the shutter button and the pretend photos pop out, just like the original Polaroid camera. The best part is that if you drop it and it breaks apart, simply rebuild it again.
“There's a charm and an innocence about old-school technology that kids really respond to and it’s fueling a lot of comebacks lately in gadgets and in toys,” Chris Byrne, aka The Toy Guy, an independent toy industry analyst, researcher and consultant, said in an interview with Bagable.com.
Fun things come in really tiny packages
The popularity of the “miniature trend” that’s taken hold across all kinds of consumer products is most prevalent in toys.
Toy brands such as Miniverse and Mini Brands are at the forefront of this miniature trend in a fun and playful way.
Mini Brands (from Zuru Toys), makes collectible tiny replicas of everyday brands such as a jar of Skippy peanut butter, a can of SPAM or a container of Mentos gum. One of Mini Brands’ buzziest collaborations is with beauty products retailer Ulta, where it launched mini toy replicas of best-selling cosmetics products from E.L.F. Beauty, Tarte Cosmetic and Redken.
Miniverse is a popular brand from toymaker MGA Entertainment that’s created an entire universe of do-it-yourself mini toy food items that come in a surprise kit with all the toy ingredients to make a mock dish. This year’s Miniverse “Harry Potter Make It Mini Potions” includes realistic mini "ingredients" and accessories to make mini replicas of potions from the Harry Potter series.
“These mini toys are very popular because they’re fun and very affordable,” said Byrne.
Bracelet kits going strong
Thank you, Taylor Swift, for keeping today’s gadget-obsessed kids interested in do-it-yourself crafting, too.
Swift’s record-breaking “The Eras Tour,” which just wrapped up and became the highest-grossing concert tour of all time, catapulted “friendship bracelets” to new heights.
Swifties of all ages attended the concerts armed with bundles of handmade colorful stretchy beaded bracelets and rubber band bracelets to exchange with other Swifties, almost as a must-do bonding ritual among fans.
Leahey said bracelet making kits, such as Rainbow Loom’s craft kits that teach kids how to make bracelets using small colorful rubber bands, are definitely popular sellers.
“Rainbow loom has been around for a long time and for this year, they’ve created a kit that offers a different way to make friendship bracelets and other kits that incorporate fun charms and themes like Care Bears,” she said
She also singled out “Sticki Rolls,” a cool new innovation in the friendship bracelet space. Each bracelet comes with rolls of stickers attached to it that are meant to be pulled, torn and shared with friends.