Sylvanian Families: The everlasting appeal

Since its launch in 1988 (1985 in Japan) Sylvanian Families enduring appeal has continued to delight children and nostalgic grown-ups who can't get enough of those cute animals that live in the idyllic world of Sylvania.

Forgot electronics, computer games and such who doesn't want to get lost in an imaginary world where nothing bad happens? And, where life is well, rosy. The traditional format of Sylvanian Families hasn't changed over the years and its only real nod to technology is a battery operated TV set and lighting in the Beechwood Hall house.

With constant toy trends, hot must-haves and that frantic search for the toy of the moment its enduring to see a toy brand that has stood the test of time. In fact its appeal just continues to grow as millennial parents are the driving growth of nostalgic toys. Sylvanian Families global sales have risen over 150% in the last 3 years as fans who grew up collecting the toy in the 1980's are now buying it for their own kids.

It's this cross-generation appeal that has seen us searching for hard-to-find and rare Sylvanian Families pieces on Ebay and such.

So, why not follow us on a trip down memory lane as we take a look at some of the most iconic, rare and discontinued pieces and throw in a few Sylvanian Families facts for fans...whatever your age.

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Have you got any of these still?

The earliest version of the Sylvanian Families Country Cottage from 1985

Sylvanian Families Trivia

Sylvanian Families launched in Japan in 1985 with just 1 house, 11 pieces of furniture, and 9 families. It launched in the Uk in 1987.
‘Sylvan’ means ‘of the forest' - the three concepts at the core of the brand are: Nature, Family and Love
Sylvanian characters all have names, birthdays, and basic character profiles. Today (2017) the range has a total of 19 families.
When the brand debuted, all of the furniture was green, and the bath tub and tea sets were made from real china
Sylvanian Families is currently available in 50 countries worldwide
Sylvanian Families is the only brand to have won ‘Toy of the Year’ over three consecutive years (1987, 1988 and 1989) making them the only toy brand to have achieve this in the history of the awards.
The total number of Sylvanian Families figures sold worldwide since 1985 is approx. 120,000,000, which is equal to approx. 7 characters per minute!