Toys of Christmas Past - Part 22 - Easy Bake Oven

Easy Bake Oven - Kenner/Hasbro - 1963 - present

In 1963 one of Kenner's toy inventor was inspired when he saw street vendors keeping food warm with heat lamps.  From this observation, came the concept for the Easy Bake Oven.

Original Easy Bake Oven in Turquoise

The product was elegant in it's simplicity.  Miniature cake mixes were combined with water and placed in a small tray.  The tray was slid into the oven's heating chamber.  There a 100 Watt Electric Light bulb which produced enough heat to "cook" the mixture into a cake or other desert like food.  The original price for the set was $15.95 which would be around $120 today.

Here is a commercial from the 1963/64 era.

The toy proved very popular selling over one half a million sets in the first year alone.  The popularity inspired Kenner to try and cash in on other "baking" toys such as a pop corn maker, bubble gum maker, etc.  However the Easy Bake Oven was still King (Queen) of the hill as far as popularity.

In 1968 Kenner was acquired by General Mills (owner of Betty Crocker Brand).  The oven was given a slightly different look and included miniature versions of Betty Crocker cake and other products.

In 1968 Kenner kicked off a new advertising campaign for the Easy Bake Oven which featured one of Jim Henson's puppets (pre-muppets).  Here is a picture of Henson on the set for the shoot of the commercial

Here is the actual commercial from 1968 featuring Jim Henson's Kenner Gooney Bird Mascot.

The look of the Oven was redesigned again in 1969 and 1970 with the introduction of the Avocado Green color and then the very 1970's color of Harvest Gold.

In 1973 The oven was again changed and was now officially the Betty Crocker Easy Bake Oven.

Another "high tech" redesign happened in 1978 when the oven became a "microwave"

Easy Bake Ovens are still being sold today, with more than 23 million sold in it's 50 year history