Guys, it’s finally time to reveal the truth about Santa Claus – his beard is not real. Think I’m just toying with your mind? Next time you see Santa at the shopping mall, try this experiment: give his beard a tug, see what happens, and send us an email with the results. No, don’t. We at Brainberries prefer it if our readers maintain a clean criminal record. In any event, if my revelation has somehow made Christmas a bit less magical for you, perhaps a walk down memory lane will cheer you up again. Enjoy our list of the most popular Christmas gifts every year since 2000.
1. 2018: Fingerlings
Does this make Christmas Holly and Jolly? Sure, why not. Fingerlings are these little plastic animal toys that attach themselves to your finger and respond to touch and sound. They burp, they blink. All that good stuff. You’ve got your pandas, dragons, unicorns, and even dinosaurs (!) that roar at you because they’re super dangerous.
2. 2017: Cozmo
Did this make Christmas Holly and Jolly? You better believe it! This guy is basically Wall-E’s custom and he’s customizable, programmable, and can learn on his own and is compatible with both iOS and Android devices. Be careful though! Chances are, even if you buy it for your kids, you’ll be the one who’s always hogging it.
3. 2016: NES Classic
Did this make Christmas Holly and Jolly? More than you could possibly imagine. Back in mid-December 1987, a snow storm cancelled the school day and my mom allowed my brother and me to open our NES two weeks ahead of Christmas. Playing Super Mario Bros. without having to go to the arcade was a mind-blowing experience, let me tell you. Consumers clearly shared my nostalgia since this guy sold out like hotcakes when it was reintroduced in 2016.
4. 2015: Remote-Controlled BB-8
Did this make Christmas Holly and Jolly? Definitely. If you’ve ever seen The Force Awakens then there’s a pretty good chance that you thought to yourself, “I wouldn’t mind hanging out with that dude.” He isn’t your standard remote controlled toy though. He responds to commands and has a mind of his own. The original price of $150 did nothing to dissuade people from snatching BB-8 up. Subsequently, the price has dropped to $80. So why not get two of them?
5. 2014: Disney Frozen Snow Glow Elsa Doll
Did this make Christmas Holly and Jolly? I suppose so. I’ve never seen Frozen, and have no clue about the plot another than that it involved two princess sisters and some dopey looking snowman guy. But hey, the kids were crazy for Elsa, that’s for sure. The doll version of her even lights up and sings “Let it Go,” so there you have it.
6. 2013: Tekno The Robotic Puppy
Did this make Christmas Holly and Jolly? If so, that’s kind of sad. The original Tekno model came out in 2000, but remember that those were the days when we were all technologically stupid, so who cared? Fast forward to 2013, and that year’s version allowed people to use their smartphones to interact with the robot puppy. Tekno barks, eats (insofar as robots can), fetches, whines, learned tricks and basically does everything that puppies do. But let’s be honest, guys. You can’t replace a real life puppy!!!
7. 2012: Nintendo Wii U
Did this make Christmas Holly and Jolly? Of course! The 8th generation console was Nintendo’s first to support HD graphics and included a lot of memorable games, including its flagship franchises such as Super Mario, Legend of Zelda and Donkey Kong. With the release of Nintendo Switch in March 2017, Wii U was discontinued a few months later in December.
8. 2011: Let’s Rock Elmo
Did this make Christmas Holly and Jolly? Nope.
9. 2010: iPad
Did this make Christmas Holly and Jolly? It feels as though the iPad has been around forever, but it’s not even a decade old. The original was launched in 2010 and it allowed everybody to seamlessly swipe from movies to games to music. Oh, and the LED display was pretty flossin’. But for a long time, literally the only reason people used their iPad was to play Angry Birds.
10. 2009: Zhu Zhu Pets
Did this make Christmas Holly and Jolly? Sure. With more than 10 million sold in 2009, this robotic hamster was definitely a hot item. One of the things that makes it stick out from the rest is how inexpensive they were – just $10 a pop.
11. 2008: Elmo Live
Did this make Christmas Holly and Jolly? For everybody but James, anyway. Back in 2008, a mother in Florida changed the battery in her son James’ Elmo doll, only to discover something shocking: Elmo seemed to be saying, “Kill James?” That’s some straight-up Chucky shit right there. Truth be told, Elmo was most likely saying, “Tell James?”
12. 2007: iPod Touch
Did this make Christmas Holly and Jolly? Perhaps, but it sure became obsolete pretty damn quick. Back in the old days (2007), smartphones were still a couple of years away from catching on. In the meantime, for around $300 (which is less than a good smartphone these days!) you could get what amounted to a smartphone (it had a music playing app, Safari, etc) but without the actual ability to call anybody.
13. 2006: PlayStation 3
Did this make Christmas Holly and Jolly? To some degree. Anticipation was so great that PS3 consoles were being pre-sold for as much as $3000, and people were camping out in front of retail stores for days so that they could get ahold of one. During its run, the PS3 went on to sell 84 million units, but considering that the PS2 had sold 155 million, that’s practically peanuts.
14. 2005: XBOX 360
Did this make Christmas Holly and Jolly? It was definitely a game changer. Accompanying the XBOX 360 was the launch of XBOX Live, which made it easy for anybody – whether they are Halo-playing dorks in Davenport, Iowa or Call Of Duty-playing nerds in Novosibirsk, Russia – to compete in tournaments. Today the XBOX 360 remains Microsoft’s top-selling console, with its 86 million units more than twice than its successor XBOX One.
15. 2004: RoboSapiens
Did this make Christmas Holly and Jolly? Meh. While this 14-inch robot friend knew 67 difference dance moves and could do things like burp (wow, we guess?), it was considered pretty difficult to program. Plus, when you turned him off, he would forget the program altogether. They made an updated version of him the following year.
16. 2003: Beyblades
Did this make Christmas Holly and Jolly? Yeah, but only because this world is full of weirdos. These are literally just spin-top thingies that were introduced in order to promote a Japanese cartoon. The first Beyblade tournament drew 18,000 people (!!!!!). They still do them. In fact, the current world champion is a kid from Latvia who calls himself Balanced Defender. Is that something he’ll end up putting on his resume?
17. 2002: Hokey Pokey Elmo
Did this make Christmas Holly and Jolly? Um… a better question is probably, “Did Elmo dolls almost trigger the apocalypse?” Yes. Yes they did. Elmo is proof that parents are completely insane. There are stories of Elmo dolls selling for $7,000. And people trampling over each other. Punching each other in the face. Attempting to chase after delivery trucks so that they could get their hands on Elmo before it even reached the stores.
18. 2001: Bratz Dolls
Did this make Christmas Holly and Jolly? Holly, Jolly and even a bit scandalous. The Bratz dolls caused many to question whether they were appropriate for little girls. But in any event, they posed the first legitimate threat to the reign of Barbie, to the degree that MGA Entertainment (the fine folks who brought us these dolls) was sued by Mattel and was forced to pay a cool $100 million.
19. 2000: Razor Scooter
Did this make Christmas Holly and Jolly? In the short-term, yes. But at some point your daredevil riding ways were likely to send you to the hospital. According to a report in Clinical Pediatrics, the number of children who needed treatment for injuries related ride-on toys skyrocketed from 25,000 in 1999 to 110,000 in 2001. But still, if you were a kid in 2000 and you didn’t have one of those, you were kind of a sucker. That probably explains why 5 million were sold in the first 6 months of release.
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