The holiday season is filled with joy and magic, but unfortunately, it’s also often filled with more plastic toys.
While many parents are constantly searching for more experience-based gifts, despite their best efforts the junk still flows in and toy bins are bursting. Legos, LOL Dolls, Hot Wheels, and now something called Mini Brands…
Some may say things like “rich people problems” noting there are real problems to address outside of spoiled rich kids with too many toys. But, according to a recent chart published by businessinsider.com, some data points to economic trends that may be to blame for this overabundance.
Data points to the fact that toys are way cheaper than they were three decades ago according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks the Consumer Price Index, which is the inflation rate for a variety of goods and services such as medical care, childcare, housing, groceries, etc. While we all know many of these areas have increased in price, toys have seen a significant deflation. Essentially, according to businessinsider.com, a toy that would have cost $20 in 1993 would only cost $4.68 today. Some point to the increased reliance on cheap overseas production as being a contributing factor to this decrease.
Unfortunately, we continue to see categories that are even more impactful to families going in the other direction. For example, the cost of daycare and preschool is up more than 200% since 1993. In other words, a family who invested $500 in daycare per month back in 1993 is equivalent to roughly $1,600 per month in 2023. Depending on your area, according to Care.com babysitters cost anywhere from $17 to $20 per hour.