Top 10 Y2K Products We All Used to Collect

#10: McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys

The Happy Meal has been around since 1979, building a legacy not just as a tasty kids’ meal, but also as a major contributor to toy collections. That was certainly true for kids who grew up in the ‘90s into the aughts. Around the turn of the century, Mickey D’s gave out era-defining toys—whether it was Furbies, Beanie Babies, Toy Story 2 toys, Teletubbies, or Disney World Millennium Collectables. And that’s just to name a few. From 1999 to 2000, the fast food giant gave out over 25 different types of toys in their Happy Meals. Talk about a toy collector’s dream!

#9: Pogs

These small, round pieces of cardboard saw a lot of action at recess and school lunches during the ‘90s. You’d stack ‘em and slam ‘em, hoping to flip them over—in which case, they’d be yours! Well, that’s if you were playing for keeps. Higher stakes, more fun, right? Besides the actual game, what really made Pogs such hot collectibles were their designs—cartoon characters, logos, and all kinds of custom art. 8-Ball Pogs and Skull Pogs were some legit playground treasures. Oh yeah, and let’s not forget those rare holographic ones!

#8: Bratz Dolls

Yasmin, Cloe, Jade, and Sasha first appeared on shelves in 2001—and went on to become fashion doll royalty. You could get the original fab four in various different outfits, with different accessories, providing ample opportunities to expand your collection. Betty Spaghetty dolls also had a firm place in many kids’ doll collections at that time. But Bratz dolls were much more popular and culturally impactful, which is why they get the spot on this list. These dolls were deeply ingrained in collectible culture in the 2000s. Surely something that contributed to that was the fact that Bratz became a whole franchise, spanning films, TV series, video games, and more.

#7: Crazy Bones

There was nothing quite like ripping open a Crazy Bones pack to see which little plastic figurines you’d get. Whether it was a telephone, french fries, a rocket, or one of the many other tons of shapes, there was something cool about the faces on these typically-faceless objects. The alien series took things to another level. And those classic Crazy Bone bags really did us collectors a lot of good—making sure our collections were secure, and that none of our precious figurines would escape. While some ‘90s and 2000s kids just collected Crazy Bones, many played games with them as well—and there was no shortage of those. Man, was it satisfying to execute a precise Crazy Bone flick.

#6: “Goosebumps” Books

R.L. Stine’s iconic children’s horror novel series had become a cultural phenomenon by the time the 21st century rolled around. From 1992 to 1997, 62 books came out as part of the original series. That provided plenty of opportunities for oohs and aahs, and even hahas—but “Goosebumps” didn’t stop there. There were several spinoff series, including the scarier-than-the-original “Goosebumps Series 2000,” which fittingly wrapped up in the year 2000. Countless bookshelves were taken up by Stine’s masterpieces in the ‘90s and into the 2000s. In fact, at one point, “Goosebumps” was the best-selling book series of all-time. Now, it's the second. We’d say that’s still pretty darn good.

#5: Game Boy Color Games

Released in 1998, the Game Boy Color was a game-changer—faster and more visually appealing than its predecessor. After launching with Nintendo-exclusive games like “Tetris DX,” “Wario Land II,” and “Pocket Bomberman,” things only grew from there, with the library eventually offering hundreds of games to choose from. And there were some bangers for sure, including “The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX,” as well as “Pokémon Gold” and “Silver.” But by 2003, the five-year run of Game Boy Color game releases came to an end. Of course, gaming has only gotten more technologically advanced since then. But even today, how can we forget the days of the Game Boy Color? We can’t.

#4: Tamagotchis

These virtual pets used to garner a significant amount of attention in tons of households. Let’s be real: raising your alien species pet, and watching it grow up right before your eyes—how cool is that?! You had to make sure you took really good care of it, though! The Japanese company Bandai released the first Tamagotchi model in November of 1996. It then became available in the United States several months later. The late ‘90s craze carried over to the 2000s, with various colors available and new model releases—such as the Connection series, which launched in 2004. That only gave us more opportunities to give our virtual pets some siblings.

#3: Furbies

Ah, everyone’s favorite robotic toy—well, at least at one point in time. In 1998, we were introduced to those mesmerizing large eyes, big ears, roundish beak, and fuzzy texture of the Furby. It turned out there's another language out there we previously didn’t know about: Furbish! If you were a Furby collector, or even just witnessed two of these cute little fellas locking eyes, you might remember them communicating with each other. It was pretty cool stuff at the time! Beyond all of that, part of the Furby craze was their language development, as you could watch them progressively improve in your native tongue. And let’s not forget—they came in all sorts of different colors, too!

#2: Beanie Babies

Some consider Beanie Babies the first Internet sensation. We were charmed by the different designs and colors, and of course those patented tags with poems and birthdays. These iconic stuffed toys started to decline just before the turn of the century, but make no mistake about it: they have Y2K nostalgia written all over them. When Ty announced that their product would be retired in December 1999, the company’s decision was met with strong disapproval—enough to make them reverse their decision and restart Beanie Baby production in 2000. That’s right, not so fast, Ty. We have more Beanie Baby collecting to do—thank you very much.

#1: Pokémon Cards

What else? Pokémon cards became the talk of the town shortly after their 1996 launch. It was a blast to rip open a pack, hoping to score a Charizard, Pikachu, one of those rare holographic cards—or really anything you didn’t already have in your collection. While Pokémon cards have a competitive gaming element, a lot of us were just in it for the fun of collecting. The card designs were awesome, the characters memorable, and the names? Super cool. That was all we needed for an addictive collectible. Plus, there were so many different cards to collect—and trade with your buddies. Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, which came a few years later, were also huge. But the Pokémon trading card mania is the epitome of Y2K collectibles culture.

Did you save any of these throwback products? Let us know in the comments below!