The Top 5 Toys of Christmas 2015
A rolling droid, a very wet game, tiny groceries, a Star Wars set and a gift that ended in a recall: five toys from the 2015 lists and headlines.
November 3, 2026 · ZABI LLC
Christmas 2015 is remembered, if at all, for being the year the toy aisle went to a galaxy far away. A new Star Wars film was on the way, and every maker with a licence had something to put on a shelf. But the Associated Press, rounding up the season at the end of November, noted that there was no single hot toy emerging. What it saw instead was a spread: Star Wars, robotic pets and remote-controlled gadgets.
That makes 2015 a pleasant year to look back on, because the presents were so varied. One child got a rolling robot, another a tray of miniature groceries, another a board game designed to end with someone wearing cream. And one gift, the one with the most column inches, turned out to be a lesson in checking before you buy. Here are five we think tell the story of that December.
The five
Documented on: Associated Press 2015 hot toys round-up; Business Insider hard-to-find list
BB-8, the rolling Star Wars droid
BB-8 was the new droid in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Sphero, a company known for app-controlled rolling robots, made the toy version. Associated Press described it as a remote-controlled robot that links to an app and responds to voice commands. In other words, a small round character that behaves a little like the one on screen.
Business Insider, in a later look at the hardest-to-find toy of each holiday season, picked it for 2015 and reported that a rolling BB-8 sold out on its first day of availability. The same piece cites the NPD Group as saying the toy spurred growth across the whole toy industry that year. If you were the grown-up hunting for one that December, you will remember that this was not a gentle shopping experience.
Documented on: 2015 DreamToys list; 2016 Toy of the Year, Girl Toy
Shopkins
Shopkins are tiny collectible plastic figures modelled on everyday things such as items from the grocery store or the mall, each with a face and a name. Moose Toys makes them. Fortune, reporting NPD Group figures in January 2016, said the Shopkins line topped 2015 toy sales, with its 12-pack of figures ranking first.
The Shopkins Food Fair Scoops Ice Cream Truck was on the 2015 DreamToys list of twelve, and the Shopkins Scoops Ice Cream Truck took Girl Toy of the Year at the Toy Industry Association awards in February 2016. For parents, the lasting memory is probably the collecting: small figures and a bottomless appetite for the next one.
Documented on: 2015 DreamToys list; 2016 Toy of the Year, Game
Pie Face
Pie Face is a Hasbro family game with one idea and no pretensions. Players take turns turning a handle, and somewhere in the sequence, according to the Associated Press description, whipped cream or a wet sponge may land on a player. The point is the anticipation, which the game builds in the most reliable way possible: nobody knows when.
It made the 2015 DreamToys list of twelve and then won Game of the Year at the Toy Industry Association awards in February 2016. Associated Press listed it in its holiday round-up as well. It is the kind of game that gets played once at a family gathering and talked about at the next three, which is exactly the kind of toy a December needs.
Documented on: 2016 Toy of the Year, Boy Toy; Star Wars named Property of the Year
LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon
Star Wars was the property of the season. At the February 2016 Toy Industry Association awards, Star Wars took Property of the Year, and the Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens Millennium Falcon won what the awards then called Boy Toy of the Year. A second Lego set, Kylo Ren's Command Shuttle, sat on the 2015 DreamToys list, as did a Hasbro Millennium Falcon.
Why does a brick set belong among the great toys of a year? Because it is the present that lasts through the afternoon. A box opens on Christmas morning and a spaceship stays on the floor until someone has to vacuum. For a certain kind of adult, building it alongside the person who received it was half the point.
Documented on: Good Morning America, December 2015; CBS News on the 2016 recall
Hoverboards
Hoverboards are not quite toys, but no honest account of December 2015 can leave them out. Good Morning America, on 14 December, called them one of the most requested gifts of the season, in the same report that carried warnings: some had reportedly caught fire, and several fires happened while charging. The advice from a spokesman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission was to avoid charging them unattended or overnight and to buy from reputable shops.
The story ended in a recall. In July 2016, CBS News reported that the commission had announced the recall of more than 500,000 hoverboards from ten companies, citing 99 reports of battery packs catching fire or exploding. Back in December, Good Morning America had already noted that Delta, American and United banned them from checked and carry-on luggage. It is a useful reminder that a hot gift deserves the same scrutiny as any other, and that the most requested item is not always the best one.
What the year tells us
The pattern of 2015 is a film, a few gadgets, and the old reliable pleasure of a game that ends with cream on someone's face. If you want to see how the previous year compared, the top toys of 2014 leaned on Frozen and a film about bricks.
And for the toys that outlasted all of these crazes, see classic toys that outlived every craze. Most of 2015 will be forgotten; a few of the bricks will not.
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.
- DreamToys Top Twelve for 2015 announced, Toy Retailers Association (Bastion UK, Mynewsdesk) — The twelve DreamToys, announced 4 November 2015, including Shopkins, Pie Face, Kylo Ren's Command Shuttle and the Hasbro Millennium Falcon
- 2016 Toy of the Year winners, Gifts & Decorative Accessories — Toy Industry Association awards, 12 February 2016: Pie Face, Shopkins Scoops Ice Cream Truck, Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon, Star Wars Property of the Year
- Holiday gift guide for kids: a look at the top toys of 2015, Global News (Associated Press), 27 November 2015 — No single hot toy; BB-8 and Pie Face descriptions
- The hardest-to-find toys each holiday season since 1983, Business Insider (via Yahoo Finance) — BB-8 sold out on its first day; NPD Group comment
- Hoverboards: buying for the holidays, Good Morning America, 14 December 2015 — One of the most requested gifts; CPSC advice; airline bans
- More than 500,000 hoverboards recalled after fires, CBS News — July 2016 recall of more than 500,000 hoverboards, 99 reports of battery fires
- Toy industry top-selling toys of 2015, Fortune (NPD Group), 20 January 2016 — Shopkins topped 2015 toy sales; the 12-pack ranked first