What year were Care Bears created?

The Care Bears were created in 1981 by American Greetings card illustrator Elena Kucharik, but they weren't meant for toys at first. The bears were originally designed for greeting cards before toy company Kenner noticed their potential and turned them into the huggable plush toys kids went crazy for. The first Care Bears hit store shelves in 1983, launching what would become a $2 billion brand complete with movies, TV shows and enough merchandise to fill Care-a-lot twice over.