As a child wanting to bake up mini masterpieces of delicious delight, the Easy-Bake Oven was a stepping stone to the real thing. Open up a shiny silver pack of some cake mix or other, add some water, stick it in your fancy toy oven, and in approximately a million hours, you’ll have a technically edible confection. Yes, the enduring Easy-Bake Oven is one of those toys that gets over-hyped and totally under-delivers.
Like Monica Gellar said, it was totally unreasonable to expect a child to wait for a lightbulb to cook brownies. But that was exactly what the Easy-Bake Oven was all about. Introduced in 1963 by toy company Kenner (best known for creating the first 3.75 inch action figures for Star Wars), the Easy-Bake Oven used two 100-watt incandescent light bulbs as its heat source, and supposedly could reach 350°F, the typical temperature most baked goods are cooked at. But the mini oven wasn’t for everyone — it cost a whopping $15.95, which, when adjusted for inflation, amounts to $127. But apparently that was not a deterrent as Kenner sold out of the 500,000 copies from its first production line.
The Easy-Bake Oven has endured for decades — your mom probably had one, you had one, and today, your kids can have one too. It’s true, even though the toy oven feels like something from a bygone era, it’s still alive and well today, though it certainly doesn’t look the same. The oven has gone through quite a few iterations over the years, from the original teal design that looked sort of like your home stove area, to a bright yellow version in the ‘80s that resembled the newly released microwaves, to the ‘90s era white with pink accents, all the way up to today’s version that looks all futuristic with wavy lines.
Today’s model, however, does not feature the incandescent bulbs of the past. When regulations were passed around the world in the mid-2000’s to phase out inefficient light bulbs such as the incandescent bulb, makers of the Easy-Bake Oven had to adapt and create new, more efficient, heating models. Indeed, the toy ovens never did come with a supply of bulbs included in the box, so the Easy-Bake might have gone extinct if they didn’t innovate with the times. Today, the ovens use a heating element that requires no extras, just plug it in and go — though you will have to buy your mixes separately. Gotta get those extra bucks in somehow.
Throughout the years, the toy oven has mostly been marketed toward girls. After all, it was basically just assumed that girls were the ones in the kitchen — you know, gender stereotypes and all that. But in 2011, McKenna Pope, a 13-year-old girl who wanted to get an Easy-Bake Oven for her four-year-old brother who wanted to be a chef, started a Change.org petition to make the oven in gender-neutral colors rather than just in bright pinks and purples. After her petition received more than 400,000 signatures, including support from some celebrity chefs like Bobby Flay, creators responded by creating a black and silver version that was released in 2013. Way to go, girl!
Did you have an Easy-Bake Oven growing up, and were you actually patient enough to wait for it to completely finish baking its mixes? Will you get one for your current or future children and pass down the love? Let us know in the comments!
- Kenner originally wanted to name the oven the “Safety-Bake Oven,” as prior mini ovens using an electric element had a reputation for being dangerous. But, because there was no track record of the oven actually being safe, regulatory bodies said no can do.
- Other companies had created working toy ovens prior to the Easy-Bake, such as the Little Lady, Little Chef, and Suzy Homemaker, but none of them captured the hearts of consumers quite like the Easy-Bake.
- Kenner was acquired by many larger corporations throughout the decades – first by General Mills in 1967, then by Tonka in 1987, and finally by Hasbro in 1991. Hasbro closed Kenner’s offices in Cincinnati in 2000, and merged their products with Hasbro completely.
- In 2006, when a new version of the Easy-Bake Oven was released, reports surfaced that kids were getting their fingers burnt — one girl’s finger was burnt so badly that part of it had to be amputated! Hasbro issued a recall for the model, which already had 985,000 in circulation.
- In the early ‘60s, Kenner created the Gooney Bird as part of its larger marketing efforts, and in 1968 approached Jim Henson about creating a muppet version they could use in commercials for the Easy-Bake Oven. The Gooney Bird became so popular that Henson refurbished the character as Little Bird, Big Bird’s smaller counterpart, in early seasons of Sesame Street.
- Kenner originally wanted to name the oven the “Safety-Bake Oven,” as prior mini ovens using an electric element had a reputation for being dangerous. But, because there was no track record of the oven actually being safe, regulatory bodies said no can do.
- Other companies had created working toy ovens prior to the Easy-Bake, such as the Little Lady, Little Chef, and Suzy Homemaker, but none of them captured the hearts of consumers quite like the Easy-Bake.
- Kenner was acquired by many larger corporations throughout the decades – first by General Mills in 1967, then by Tonka in 1987, and finally by Hasbro in 1991. Hasbro closed Kenner’s offices in Cincinnati in 2000, and merged their products with Hasbro completely.
- In 2006, when a new version of the Easy-Bake Oven was released, reports surfaced that kids were getting their fingers burnt — one girl’s finger was burnt so badly that part of it had to be amputated! Hasbro issued a recall for the model, which already had 985,000 in circulation.
- In the early ‘60s, Kenner created the Gooney Bird as part of its larger marketing efforts, and in 1968 approached Jim Henson about creating a muppet version they could use in commercials for the Easy-Bake Oven. The Gooney Bird became so popular that Henson refurbished the character as Little Bird, Big Bird’s smaller counterpart, in early seasons of Sesame Street.
