The Top 5 Toys of Christmas 2013
A hugging Elmo, a rubber-band loom, a tablet for the playroom, a construction kit with a story and the Furby's second act: five toys from the 2013 lists and awards.
November 3, 2026 · ZABI LLC
Christmas 2013 was a year of small plastic hooks and large red puppets. By the autumn the lists were naming a pegboard for rubber bands, a Sesame Street character who could hug, a children's tablet and a start-up with a construction kit and a story. The next year's aisles would belong to a single film, but 2013 had room to be odder.
It is also a good year to look back on if you are a parent, because the toys were about doing things: looping, building, hugging, repeating. Few of them did their work on their own. Here are five that the lists and the awards that season point towards.
The five
Documented on: 2014 Toy of the Year awards (three category wins)
Rainbow Loom
The Rainbow Loom started in a basement near Detroit. Choon Ng, an engineer at Nissan, came up with it in 2010, and Entrepreneur reported that toy shops would not buy at first, so he built a website and had his daughters and niece make instructional videos. By 4 August 2013, that magazine says, the craft chain Michaels was carrying it in 1,100 stores. Wikipedia describes it as a plastic pegboard for weaving rubber bands, and adds that a Pennsylvania class held a loom-a-thon to make bracelets for children with cancer.
At the Toy Industry Association awards in February 2014 it won three categories: Activity Toy, Girl Toy and Specialty Toy of the Year. Wikipedia notes that some schools restricted the bracelets, which tells you how widely they had spread. If you are buying a loom now, the thing to check is the pack contents, since the bands run out first. A kit is only as good as its refills.
Documented on: Toys R Us 2013 hot toy list; 2014 Toy of the Year (Infant/Toddler); Business Insider
Big Hugs Elmo
Big Hugs Elmo is a large Playskool plush with flexible arms that hug back when he is hugged. He also sings and talks. The Associated Press described him in September 2013 as a 22-inch Muppet doll on the Toys R Us list of its fifteen expected holiday hits, and a Washington TV station's report on that list headlined him as expected to be the hottest holiday toy of 2013.
The Toy Industry Association gave him Infant/Toddler Toy of the Year in February 2014, and Business Insider later picked him as its hard-to-find toy of 2013 as evidence of the continued popularity of Sesame Street. Parents of a certain age will recall that Elmo had a previous life, told in our piece on Tickle Me Elmo. Before you buy a big plush like this, check the battery compartment and whether the electronics are sealed from small hands.
Documented on: 2013 DreamToys list; Toys R Us 2013 list; 2014 Toy of the Year (e-Connected)
LeapPad Ultra
The LeapPad Ultra was LeapFrog's children's tablet for 2013. The UK DreamToys panel listed it among the tech toys experts expected to be in high demand, it was on the Toys R Us list of fifteen announced in September 2013, and it won e-Connected Toy of the Year in February 2014. Its predecessor, the LeapPad Explorer, was Business Insider's hard-to-find pick for 2011.
The thing to check with a tablet this old is whether it still does its job. Learning tablets depend on software and downloads, and we could not confirm what is still supported for this model, so treat a second-hand unit with caution and check that the games you want can be loaded before you pay for it.
Documented on: 2014 Toy of the Year awards (Educational Toy; People's Choice)
GoldieBlox and the Spinning Machine
GoldieBlox was founded by Debbie Sterling, an engineer who set out to encourage girls towards engineering, maths and science, and who paired a construction kit with a storybook about a girl inventor. NBC News reported that the company launched through a Kickstarter campaign in 2012.
At the February 2014 Toy Industry Association awards GoldieBlox and the Spinning Machine won Educational Toy of the Year, and GoldieBlox was also named People's Choice, the award chosen only by consumers. NBC News also reported that it won a free Super Bowl commercial slot in a national contest sponsored by Intuit. As a gift it works when you want a build-it-yourself project that comes with a story attached, and it is a good example of how a new idea can arrive from outside the big toy companies.
Documented on: 2013 DreamToys list
Furby Boom
The Furby came back in 2012, fourteen years after the original, and Hasbro followed with Furby Boom in 2013. The UK DreamToys panel listed it in November 2013 as an updated version of the previous year's Furby with new technology. According to Wikipedia, it came in new colours, with new personalities and a new app.
For anyone who remembers the first one, the story of the 1998 Furby is told in its own piece. The 2013 version was a more elaborate cousin, and its companion app has since been removed from the app stores, according to Wikipedia. So if you buy a second-hand Boom today, expect the toy itself to behave but its app features to be gone.
What the year tells us
The pattern of 2013 is that the most memorable toys came with something to do afterwards. A bracelet to make, a story to read, a screen to touch, a plush to hug. For the following year, when one film took over the aisles, see the top toys of 2014.
Sources
Where the facts in this post come from. Rankings and lists belong to the people who published them; the selection and the stories are ours.
- Big Hugs Elmo expected to be hottest holiday toy in 2013, WJLA, 18 September 2013 — Big Hugs Elmo description and place on the Toys R Us list
- Toys R Us Announces the 2013 #TruHotToyList, press release, 18 September 2013 — The alphabetical Fabulous 15 including Big Hugs Elmo, LeapPad Ultra and a rubber-band bracelet loom
- Hugging Elmo, bracelet loom on Toys R Us hot list, Associated Press via KSL, 18 September 2013 — Toys R Us list of fifteen; Elmo as a 22-inch Playskool doll; list contents
- TIA Names 2014 Toy of the Year Winners, Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 16 February 2014 — Toy of the Year winners: Rainbow Loom, Big Hugs Elmo, LeapPad Ultra, GoldieBlox, People's Choice
- Top Toys Revealed For Christmas 2013, International Business Times UK, 7 November 2013 — DreamToys 2013: Furby Boom, LeapPad Ultra
- The hardest-to-find toys each holiday season since 1983, Business Insider (via Yahoo Finance) — Big Hugs Elmo for 2013; LeapPad Explorer for 2011
- Inventor of the wildly popular Rainbow Loom weaves the American dream, Entrepreneur — Choon Ng, 2010, slow sales, website and videos, Michaels 1,100 stores by 4 August 2013
- Rainbow Loom, Wikipedia — Pegboard description, loom-a-thon, school restrictions
- Anti-pink power lifts GoldieBlox onto big stage, NBC News — Founder, mission, 2012 Kickstarter launch, Intuit Super Bowl contest slot
- Furby, Wikipedia — 2012 relaunch, Furby Boom in 2013, withdrawn apps