A selection of Toys for Christmas 2008
Christmas is always an expensive if exciting time, especially for families with young children. With youngsters being bombarded by advertising on TV and the printed media, it is an almost impossible task to decide what toy to purchase with our hard-earned cash.
The British Toy Retailers Association represents over 150 members in the toy industry with its members selling over 90% of the toys sold in the UK market. It is an independent body based on 50 years experience and it acts as the retailer’s voice and spokesman to take into account what customers are looking for, what excites children and keeping an eye on the latest trend in new products. Each year, after the major toy fairs where all the latest products are introduced, they produce a report of what they found to be exciting and what they forsee as the top selling toys the following Christmas.
Now when I was a lad the highest of high-tech was a clockwork train. Nowadays there are truly amazing toys including life-sized puppy dogs that respond to your spoken command, dollys that eat, drink, sleep, cry….and pee !! and a complete host of electronic toys which range from consoles to voice changing masks to strange little gadgets that can find weird mutants floating around the ether.
Let’s have a look at three toys from this year’s British Toy Retailers Association award winners and we’ve simply got to start with that lifelike puppy. It’s made by FurReal and named “Biscuit - My Lovin’ Pup“. It certainly isn’t cheap at £119.95, but this astonishing life-sized Golden Retriever puppy obeys your spoken commands. He lies down, sits, offers you his paw, begs and has a number of sensors that tell him when you’re stroking him so that he can make little puppy yelps and barks whilst wagging his tail. Leave him alone for a minute or two and he falls asleep and starts snoring.
It’s time to move from cute and lovable to high-tech, sci-fi and totally weird. The Catcha Beast is a little hand held, battery operated toy that detects invisible beings that live in the air that we live and breathe. Once found, the monster has to be reeled into the machine. It’s very difficult to explain, so I’d advise that click the link and watch the video of the toy being used. The Catcha Beast retails at £17.95.
Let’s finish with something priced halfway between the two earlier toys. Elmo Live has escaped from Sesame Street and costs £59.95. He’s another outstanding introduction with the ability to speak, sing, sit and stand together with crossing his legs whilst seated on a chair telling stories. He isn’t voice controlled like Biscuit the pup, but he has a number of actions if you squeeze his tummy, nose, foot or back.
So there we have it. Three of the toys voted as the best of the year by the toy industry. Check out our top toy website for a selection of other fine gifts.