Polly Pocket Toy
The original tiny sets of Polly Pocket Toys were sold for less than a decade, first licensed by small toy company Bluebird in England. The Bluebird company was founded in 1980 with toy creator Torquil Norman’s genius ideas, the first of which was the plastic lunchbox. The first Polly Pocket was created by Chris Wiggs for his young daughter out of a former makeup compact. His other internationally huge idea was the Polly Pocket Line, which was made by Bluebird Co., from 1989 to 1998 for girls ages 3 and up. Different shapes were done along with different themes, such as for a birthday.
Bluebird even did a boy’s version called “Mighty Max”.
Mattel bought Bluebird Co., in 1998 and the production changed entirely. The tiny dolls were replaced by slightly larger dolls. These larger dolls are not what collectors are clamoring for. The smaller dolls, made by Bluebird, are the hot ticket items. However, vintage Polly Pocket products in their original packaging do still retain value even the Mattel sets.
Mattel’s reply to the larger dolls was ‘Big dreams come in small packages, be on the lookout this July”!
These dolls were popular on both sides of the Atlantic, there had been less fervor in the U.S. In recent times Mattel is producing a variety of these Polly Pocket sets, in different sizes and items for youngsters to play with.
Do you remember these Polly Pocket toys??
Present-day for adults, eyeshadow palettes and purses are now made to look like the Polly Pocket cases. So not just toys anymore.
Photo: Vintage Polly Pocket toy with a birthday theme.
Related FamilyTree.com Blogs:
Christmas Toys of Early 20th Century
< Return To Blog
Leave a Reply