8. The Hula Hoop
YouTubeAnother frighteningly simple idea that went viral in a big way. Part workout equipment, part toy, part exotic dancer training kit, these plastic hoops have had girls and boys of all ages gyrating their hips in all kinds of inappropriate ways for decades. Kids tended to get a glazed-over look on their faces as they wiggled around, hypnotized by the rhythmic movements required to keep the hoop spinning around their waists in perpetual motion. For many of us, a birthday party was only worth remembering if at some point the whole thing deteriorated into an impromptu mass hula hooping session in the garden.
7. Sylvanian Families
EpochNot everyone wants their toy characters to come bundled with swords, torture racks and battle tanks. Sometimes what we're looking for is a quaint village setting inhabited by families of anthropomorphic rabbits, sheep and bears dressed up in their Sunday best. And no toy line did that better then the Sylvanian Families. Pricey for their size, they earned their "must-have" status buy being infinitely cute and extremely collectable - you couldn't just have the mom and dad badgers, surely this was Sylvanian Families not Sylvanian Career-Oriented Adults, so you needed the children and the sickeningly adorable babies too. And then you needed the beds, cribs, tables and everything else that a sharply dressed family of fuzzy-faced, shiny-eyed dog family would need for a comfortable life. They didn't see a full worldwide release though, opening the market for copycat brands like the Forest Families in other countries, but none had the same build quality or variety of characters and accessories as the original.