These $100 Lunchables at FAO Schwarz Are 'The Toy You Can Eat'

Just days after department store Macy’s and on-again, off-again toy retailer Toys "R" Us announced they are teaming up for a new toy experience, there’s a new contender in the experiential toy space: Lunchables and venerable toy retailer FAO Schwarz. The Oscar Mayer brand, which was released nationwide in 1989, is leaning hard into its reputation as what it calls “America’s most buildable snack” with “an immersive, creativity-fueling experience" at FAO Schwarz’s New York outpost in Rockefeller Plaza. (The store’s iconic Fifth Avenue location, made famous in the 1988 movie Big, was vacated in 2015 when then-parent company Toys "R" Us shuttered FAO Schwarz. The space, which Adweek reported was one of the world’s most expensive retail locations as of 2015, was later filled by athletic brand Under Armour.) The new store takeover, which Lunchables says is the largest to date at FAO Schwarz, includes “larger-than-life Lunchables creations,” such as a 6-foot-tall Cracker Stacker rocket ship, a Kabobble Trojan horse and a Pepperoni Pizza UFO. Limited-edition building sets called Lunchabuilds will also be available online for $100. There are three themes: an architect kit to build an Eiffel Tower out of pretzels, chicken nuggets and cheese; a biologist kit to build a penguin out of cheese, crackers and ham; and an astronaut kit to build a rocket out of cheese, crackers, turkey and cookies. Based on creations kids can make with traditional Lunchables, the Lunchabuilds include a blueprint, camera, 3D puzzle and “an out-of-this-world experience,” such as a trip to the zoo. The brand said the kits “[fuel] kids’ imaginations with experiences built for future explorers, architects and biologists.” The in-store experience will run through the month of September to coincide with the back-to-school season. According to the announcement, the activation is tied to Lunchables’ new brand platform, “Built to be Eaten.” The idea is to appeal to parents looking for ways to “jumpstart kids’ creativity and empower them to use their imagination.” This platform also includes videos like Pretzel Horse, which shows a child building the Trojan horse out of her Lunchables. “For years, kids have been dreaming, building and creating with Lunchables,” said Rachel Drof, marketing director at Kraft Heinz, in a statement. “Now, we’re taking it one step further by giving kids the tools to build anything they can imagine out of Lunchables.” According to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal, the activation comes following “record demand” for Lunchables, with sales “growing double digits for the first time in five years.” Lunchables worked with advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners on the effort. Meanwhile, FAO Schwarz, which was scooped up by product development company ThreeSixty Group in 2016, has since opened stores in Beijing, London and Dublin. Oscar Mayer Offers to Solve the Age-Old Problem of Mismatched Hot Dogs and Buns