I should have become the inventor of children's toys...I could've made millions!

I remember when I was a child, I used to play with Smurfs...The man who came up with the concept of a small blue elf like person, who lived in a Toadstool type home, and ate smurf berries, was a genius.....And now it has come full circle, because once the movie was made, The Smurfs were all the rage again.  My mom hung onto all of the Smurfs I had when I was a kid.....Roughly 125 of them to be exact.....So my children have inherited them.....The only problem is, we had to wait until my son got past the stage of putting things in his mouth, because back then there was lead in all of the paint they used on toys....As we know, that's a no-no by today's standards....

We always thought the Smurfs might be worth money someday.  I imagine some of the rare ones might be......

I also have my little Strawberry Shortcake characters from when I was small.  They are the ones that smelled liked strawberries, apples and blueberries, depending on the character.  Strawberry Shortcake has also made a comeback, but she has changed since I was a kid.  She is much more hip now, with cooler clothes, and an up to date hairstyle....

The latest thing I find kicking around our house, is the Littlest Pet Shop toys...Wow, what a concept....Here is another toy, that just about anyone could have come up with....Small animals, with colourful homes, that have swings, and places to play.....and an animal hospital where you can care for them.  The person who invented these is laughing all the way to the bank....

I remember when the Littlest Pet Shop toys first came out years ago...They made them with little magnets in their feet, and their homes had magnets as well, so the animals could stick in place.  But they ran into problems when those little magnets starting falling out and children were accidentally swallowing them..So there was a major recall on the toys...Now they just make them with a little hole in the bottom of their feet and it attaches to a little notch that holds the animals in place...

Who knows how long this one will last?

I've seen a lot of toys come full circle in the past year..The Smurfs, as I mentioned before, Alvin and the Chipmunks are back, and my daughter wanted an Etch a Sketch for Christmas this past year...I still haven`t figured that one out...I don`t remember the Etch a Sketch doing much else but drawing straight lines....According to the Cashier at Toys R Us though, they were making a comeback...I remember when the Slinky started showing up in stores again years ago....and I can't remember what it was called....something like the lemon skip or something?.....Ladies, remember that one?  You put it around your ankle, and you moved your leg so it went in circles and you skipped over it as it went around?  It had a lemon on the end....

Music is another one....A lot of the newer are redoing 80's tunes...and it's funny because us parents know all the words, and our kids can't figure out why...They think it's not possible, that parents could possibly be hip enough to know the words to the songs on the radio.....If only they knew, we were listening to those songs long before they were even around...

I know there are many more toys that are making the comeback, but I just can't think of them off hand...I guess it just proves..what was good for us, can be good for our kids as well....They often just need a bit of a makeover, so they adapt to the current trends and styles.....

Look at how long Barbie has been around!  She has certainly come a long way from when she was first invented...Back then, she was just a beautiful skinny blonde who dated Ken....Now she's a mom, a Veterinarian, a Doctor, Teacher, Lifeguard, Architect, Chef....etc!  You name it, she has probably taken it on!