Hottest Toys For The 2008 Holiday Season

The 2008 holiday season is just around the corner and it’s time to start thinking about them. I usually wait till the last day to do everything. People say that I’m crazy, but it’s not as bad as it sounds if you know what you are going to get. If you are going that late just to search, then you’re in trouble. I, for one, want to get somebody something they want, but they never know what they want. I am not much better, but it’s easy to put off shopping when you just don’t have the time to wander stores for hours aimlessly, hoping for something to catch your eye. Yahoo has put together a list of 30 hot toys for kids of all ages, from babies to teens, and none of them are from dollar stores. Take a look at the list and see if any of the products on the list match anything on your child’s wish list. Not all of them are toys in my opinion. Some of the products on that list are video games and some shouldn’t really be considered “toys”, but it’s a good list. The toy prices range from $6.95 to $399.99, the $399.99 toy is an electric scooter. The rest are more reasonably priced. The Video Games There are some good video game gift ideas that will be available for the holidays. For the PS3, the game Little Big Planet was just released after a short delay. I have to get this one. The Spore video game for the computer has been out for a little while with some DRM issues, but the monster creation is fun. The Wii has Wario Land Shake It which is supposed to be like the old style Mario Brothers games. With the success of Megaman 9 going back to the old NES style, we might be seeing more games like that instead of full 3D games that are much shorter. The XBOX 360 has its own holiday offering with a game called Viva Piñata Trouble in Paradise and for something not game console related, there’s the Smart Cycle Physical Learning Arcade. It’s an exercise cycle that plugs into your television so the child can get exercise, but they also learn stuff. The Non Toys Some of the items aren’t really toys to me. There are some book sets, the Harry Potter Hardcover Boxed Set and the 65 Years of Little Golden Books set. They also have some DVD sets of kid stuff, not really...

Toy Safety Information Website Listed On Milk Cartons

Milk is a source of lots of vitamins and minerals. It’s great for baking, adding to coffee for people who need caffeine but don’t like the taste of coffee or for drowning your favorite cereal or oatmeal. It’s also good to add things to milk like chocolate or strawberry syrup. On milk cartons, you can find nutritional information, pictures of missing children and now, toy safety information and a website kids can go to for toy safety information. The Tory Record reports over 1.5 million half-pint milk containers now have safety information about toys. With all the toys that have been recalled, there’s a good chance some are still around. Even with all the internet buzz and news reports, some people might still have those toys. It’s another way to promote awareness about dangerous and potentially dangerous toys. They know it’s a slim chance that kids will actually visit the websites, but it might promote discussion with parents and they hope it gets kids drinking more milk. They’re also hoping to add that information to bigger cartons and other brands to broaden the awareness. The advertising already done is covered by the state so, for now, the cost looks like it won’t be going up. Read the full story here. It sounds like a neat idea, although it seems to be more worthwhile for parents than the kids. If they want to make it more interesting to kids, they should make them collectible cards you get off the milk cartons. The Recalled Toys collectible cards and subsequent card game associated with it, like they do with other cards. Games like the Yu-Gi-Oh monster card game. Now that would be something to see. Recalled Toy Monsters: “I play the Nerf Blaster +1 card and attack your toy speed boat.” See, who says you can’t have fun with recalled...

Toy Exporters In China Forced To Close

Well I guess it was only a matter of time with all the problems causing toy recalls. According to the BBC, a large portion of the toy exporters in China have gone out of business. Safety issues with the exported toys has lowered the demand in addition to a stronger Chinese economy and higher safety standards have all played a part in the industries closures. A whopping 3,631 exporters, more than 50% of the businesses, were shut down due to those factors. Most of those businesses were the smaller establishments who were unable to handle the massive recalls. The larger exporters, who were able to withstand the recalls, were told to comply with the safety regulations. Read the full story here. It’s too bad it had to come to that. I’m sure there was a large demand to get all those toys out to the store, but they just weren’t safe. I remember starting to collect items for the website just before the first batch of recalls. I was wondering how that was going to affect the website. Some of the toys are actually decent for the price, although I couldn’t help but wonder which painted ones may actually be coated in lead paint. Lead paint was used on the toys because it made the toys shinier and kids like shiny things. I just figured the worst, all were potential hazards! I’m sure the toys will be back once they get things sorted out over there, but will people be willing to buy the toys? I mean, other than me for this...

Wal Mart Selling Ten Dollar Toys

Wal-Mart is getting the jump on the Christmas shopping competition early this year, the Wall Street Journal reports. It’s no surprise that Wal-Mart makes up over one quarter of toy sales and they want to keep it that way. They plan on luring customers to their store by cutting the price of ten familiar toys and selling them for ten dollars. I can just see the advertisement now, “Ten for Ten Toys”. This, of course, is causing problems for just about, if not all, toy retailers who have a very tough time competing with Wal-Mart. Really, who doesn’t have a tough time competing with Wal-Mart these days. Some of the big names having to compete with Wal-Mart are Toys R Us and Target. Online retailers are also having a problem, even if they can match the price, because of the necessary shipping cost. Wal-Mart isn’t cutting the prices of all the stock like a dollar store, but it’s going to get people into the stores and they’re going to buy normal stuff with the “while I’m here” attitude. With the economy the way it is, people are going to be looking to save as much as they can and Wal-Mart is counting on that. It’s unfortunate that so many people need to rely on Wal-Mart to get by, otherwise they may not have the strangle hold they do on the competition. Family Guy did a funny episode about Wal-Mart titled “Hell Comes to Quahog“. A giant store comes to Quahog and all the local businesses go under because of it. The store was called Superstore USA but the writers are definitely poking fun at Wal-Mart. If that isn’t enough animated fun for you, and if you can stomach the show, South Park did a very funny episode about Wal-Mart called “Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes“. The store was called Wall-Mart, note the extra “L”. Wall-Mart came to town and wrecked the economy because everyone wanted to shop there instead for the low prices. People just have a hard time paying more to shop somewhere else to support the other businesses. Any retailer matching Wal-Mart’s prices are most likely selling at a loss to them. Either way Wal-Mart wins. Heads I win, Tails you...