Pandemic Deal Toys

We discovered that the pandemic has brought some interesting trends. Why not create some deal toys out of the fads and have some fun with it?!

You’ve heard of all the pandemic trends, maybe even partook in some of these latest fads. We know we certainly have, and so have our designers. At Altrum we thought it would be fun to create a few deal toys for those who have really championed all the pandemic has brought to us. Everything from Tiger King to banana bread, we’ve got you covered. 

Check out some of the trends that we hope are a thing of the past, along with COVID.  

1. You may or may not have heard of this application before mid-March. Not only do you use this for work, but now it’s also used for catching up with friends and is the new alternative to after-work happy hour drinks with your coworkers. You guessed it:  

Zoom came around in 2012 but didn’t get its claim to fame until this year (thanks, Corona!). According to this article from TechPP, at the end of 2019, the app’s highest daily count of meeting participants was 10 million. By March of 2020, this had grown to a staggering 200 million. The stock has soared during the pandemic, more than doubling since February 21 when the market started to crash. 

2. It seems as if everyone in America jumped on this bandwagon rather quickly. Whether you loved it or hated it, you probably watched it. Here are a few hints: coming in at number two was a craze thanks to Netflix. Its main character, believe it or not, ran for president in the 2016 election. Last hint: his archnemesis is Carole.  

The one and only, Joe Exotic, or as the Netflix series names him, the Tiger King. Ever heard of him? We certainly have! And so has the rest of the world. This pop culture reference has taken the world by storm. Although Joe Exotic is in jail, we’re sure the pandemic has gained him many followers. 

3. On a more serious note: we’ve all been watching and anxiously waiting for the news of this specific item. The entire world is holding its breath for this very complicated and complex item that might cure the world. Seems Russia might be onto something here. 

If you guessed a vaccine, you are absolutely correct! We are certainly no doctors, but this design makes us a little squirmy, to say the least.  

4. This is one trend we thought for sure had died in the ’60s. But it has come back stronger than ever. Not only have retailers banked on this trend, but now consumers are taking matters into their own hands to create this in their own bathtubs.  

Extra points if you’re wearing a shirt you tie-dyed yourself! The tie-dye trend took to new levels throughout this quarantine. While people were bored at home with nothing to do, they decided to ruin their black articles of clothing with bleach to create a trendy loungewear set.  

5. You can probably smell this one coming from a mile away. Seems that everyone took to their kitchens to create this magical item. While we argue it was a great treat pre-pandemic and deserves praise all year round, can you guess what this moist item is? 

Banana bread! Pictures of homemade banana bread took over our social media feeds for at least a month. Although we are so grateful for banana bread, we can do without Aunt Susan’s Facebook statuses about how hers trumps the rest.  

6. Most cities across the world weren’t worried about much else other than this item. You were lucky if you could find one of these at your local store. Social media captured fights and arguments over these. At one point, people were even hoarding this item. If you were one of those people, don’t worry, we won’t tell... but we might quietly judge.  

Toilet paper. We truly hope those days are in our rearview mirror. We never thought we would live in a world where we were afraid there would be no toilet paper within a 2-mile radius, but we made it. 

7. While living in these “uncertain times,” not a lot of people were ready to step outside and get the essentials. This service had been up and coming pre-pandemic but truly hit its stride during the pandemic. Most of us certainly took advantage of this one. We all needed to get our snack on. 

If you guessed this, we’re sure you had a few flashbacks. It was impossible for some time there to get a slot for your groceries to get delivered to your doorstep. How else were you supposed to get those bananas for your banana bread recipe?! 

8. With mostly everyone working from home, our wardrobes have gone from business casual to just rolled out of bed. So, the question that most of the world was frazzled with was: “how do I get dressed while NOT getting dressed?” 

The answer: athleisure. Everyone became sweatpants fanatics overnight. Still acceptable for your Zoom meetings, yet comfortable to eat your lunch lounging on your couch.  

9. No explanation needed for this one. Did we all just suddenly become bartenders overnight?  

10. You might have heard of the quarantine fifteen, or the COVID nineteen. If you’re anything like us, you did everything you could to avoid it. Which is why you tried to create our next deal toy design.  

A home gym. Peloton, specifically, went from 1.4 million users to 3.1. Sadly, most of us just purchased these items and HOPED we would get ripped during the lockdown. We can admit that we were proud of our purchases but are currently using our machines as extra storage now. Did anyone else wait 9 weeks for their peloton just to use it as a coat rack? No. Okay, neither did we…

And there you have it

These past few months have been all sorts of craziness. From fighting with your neighbors for that lost roll of toilet paper to deciding you want to use your oven for the first time, maybe ever. All we can do is roll (see what we did there) with the punches at this point and wait until we come back out on top! 

We hope you enjoyed these pandemic deal toys as much as we loved putting them together. Additionally, we hope this provided some comedic relief in your day. And who knows, maybe you’ll need to create a deal toy inspired by COVID? Hope this helped.