CRYING OVER THE ‘LOL’ TOY
Unattainable must-have
The It gift of the holiday season is already sold out, and moms and dads are panicking. The LOL Big Surprise — a larger version of the fad LOL dolls — is a purse-like glittery ball, filled with 50 individually wrapped gifts: dolls, doll accessories, fizzy bath bombs and temporary tattoos, among other goodies. Originally priced at $70, the Big Surprise is already out of stock at stores including Toys “R” Us and Target. But the market has spoken: The same product is now retailing at a whopping $180 on Walmart’s Web site and for similar prices on eBay. Is it worth the money? Not according to Amazon users. Reviewer Jessica Koppon wrote, “The pieces are so small and get lost so easily. Wish I never bought it :( i thought the dolls were bigger than they were.” Still, little girls are going crazy for the gift. So- called “unboxing” videos of the item are racking up as many as 7.6 million views.
One frustrated woman writes on a New York mommy Facebook group, “Of course my daughter wants it for Christmas and I can’t find it anywhere. It’s like [Hatchimals] all over again.”
The Big Surprise follows the ghost of Christmas fads past, which includes:
1983: Cabbage Patch Kids — The ultimate “parents fighting in the aisles to get the last one” must-have toy. Almost 3 million were “adopted” that year, the biggest doll debut in history.
1989: Nintendo’s Game Boy — While video-game systems often dominate holiday lists, there has been nothing quite like the frenzy for this handheld wonder.
1996: Tickle Me Elmo — Try getting that voice out of your head.
2003: Robosapians. There were more than 1.5 million of these remote-controlled robot toys sold that holiday season.
2016: Hatchimals — Like the dreaded digital pet Tamagotchi before it, this toy needed constant attention to “hatch.”