The holiday season is over. Discarded wrapping paper fills every trash can, gift receipts have been exchanged, and the tree is a perfect mix of dry and flammable. And, heartbreaking as it may be, there are no more gifts to open. But, as we reflect on the holiday spirit and feel a serious withdrawal of merriment, it’s time to ask ourselves a question: what was the most popular gift this year? Did the Tickle Me Elmo finally make a comeback? Were fidget spinners under every tree? Did you ever wear that sweater your grandmother knitted for you? You didn’t? You monster!
At least in terms of Amazon sales, the most popular gift this holiday season was the Echo Dot, that little hockey puck that you can tell to play music for you if you don’t want to exert the effort to remove your hands from your pockets. This news comes just a month after Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos hit the $100 billion mark. He was also speculated to have been visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve who told him to change his ways and fix Amazon’s return policy.
It makes sense that a mini home hub would be the most popular gift of 2017, as they are quickly becoming a low-cost addition to a smart home setup. In fact, the bigger companies slashed the prices of their main smart hubs in order to generate demand for holiday shoppers. Between the $30 Google Home Mini and the $30 Amazon Echo Dot, there was definite competition to be the top stocking stuffer this year. While those are all well and good, I’ll stick to my personal favorite gift I reviewed: a robot dinosaur from the Sharper Image. No, seriously.
What I found most interesting while researching the top gifts of 2017 was getting to see some of the most popular gifts of previous years. It was interesting to take a look back at the most popular fads from my time growing up, such as Furbies (1998), Tamagotchi (1997), and Beanie Babies (1995), an interesting view of simpler times and a bold reminder that not much really happened in the 90s.
