Your favorite childhood toys may still be on store shelves today — but the price may shock you.
While a number of popular toys from decades past are still being sold, the sky-high prices of some beloved items may be keeping buyers away this holiday season thanks to rising costs due to inflation.
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Silly Putty, an expandable material that debuted in 1955, cost just $1 when it first arrived on the scene in an ounce container.
Now, shoppers can get the blobs for $21.24, which represents a 2,000% price jump.
Today's inflation-adjusted price would be $11.73, meaning it is $9 more than its original cost, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index inflation calculator.
Silly Putty isn't the only nostalgic toy affected by “toy inflation,” according to ABC affiliate WMTW.
Movie-themed games
Star Wars characters became a huge hit after the first film came out in 1977.
At the time, the games retailed for an average of $2.28 per game, which would come out to $10.68 in today's adjusted prices.
Individual items are now about $16 each on Amazon, while sets of three cost about $30.
Transformers toys ranged between $3 and $5 in 1984, which equates to about $12 adjusted for today's prices.
Now, each toy costs about $25 on Amazon.
Celebbands
Even Sillybandz, a more modern game first released in 2009, has fallen prey to gaming inflation.
Rubber bands cost $2.50, about $3.65 in today's prices, per 12-pack at the height of their popularity when children collected various shapes of bracelets and traded them on playgrounds.
A six-pack of Sillybandz now costs $3.95 each.
While toy inflation has pushed up the cost of Sillybandz and Transformers, other toys have become cheaper over the years.
Rubik's cube
The famous and confusing Rubik's Cube was invented in 1974 by Hungarian puzzler Erno Rubik, and immediately gained worldwide popularity among children and adults alike.
Items hit by inflation game
Beloved toys have become more expensive over the years thanks to rising costs.
Some of the nostalgia elements hit by Inflation include:
- Silly putty
- Star Wars characters
- transformers
- Celebbands
- Lego sets
Source: Hearst Television
The original price of the puzzle in 1980 was $7.49, which would be $27.65 today.
However, shoppers can find it for $9.36 on Amazon.
Lite Brite
Lite-Brite, which allowed children to create glowing works of art using light up stakes, was introduced in 1966.
The popular toy was marketed by Hasbro as a “magic light box” and sold for $7.98 in 1967, which would be a whopping $74.53 today.
Shoppers can get the Lite-Brite kit for $15.49 on Amazon.
Potato head
When Mr. Potato Head first appeared in 1952, his plastic body parts had a real potato as a head.
After parents complained that their children's toys were rotting, toy makers switched to plastic in 1964.
The famous toy has continued to be popular over the years as it has appeared in the Toy Story films, which were first released in 1995 starring Tom Hanks.
The cost of the toy, including real potatoes, was less than a dollar when it debuted in 1952. The adjusted price today would be about $11.59.
Potato Head, which renamed “Mr” and dropped it. In 2021, available now on Amazon for $7.99 each.
The entire family set is available for $19.99.
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