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2008′s Leading Toys

By RomanticHeart | November 8, 2008

Biscuit - My Lovin Pup

The festive season is such an exciting but expensive time, especially for families with young children. With kids 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.

Many of the UK’s leading toy shops are members of the British Toy Retailers Association, representing over 150 companies responsible for selling over 90% of the toys sold in the UK. Being an independant body established over fifty years ago, it acts as the voice of retailers to take into account what consumers are requesting, what excites children and keeping abreast of the latest trends. Every year, following the major toy fairs where all the latest innovations are shown to the toy trade for the first time, they print a list of what they found to be exciting and what they expect to be the top sellers the following Christmas.

In days long gone the highest of high-tech was a Triang electric train set. Nowadays there are truly amazing toys such as toy dogs that obey your spoken command, dolls that eat, drink, sleep, cry….and pee !! and a complete host of electronic toys which range from consoles to voice changing masks to funny little machines that can find weird mutants loitering in the very air that we breathe.

Let’s take a look at a few of this year’s stars and we’ve simply got to start with that loveable puppy. It’s made by FurReal and named “Biscuit – My Lovin’ Pup“. It certainly isn’t cheap at £119.95, but this amazing full sized Golden Retriever puppy obeys your spoken commands. He lies down, sits, offers you his paw, begs and has umpteen sensors that know when you’re stroking him so that he can wag his tail and make strange “puppy-like” noises. Leave him undisturbed for a few minutes and he falls asleep and begins to snore.

It’s time to move from cute and lovable to sci-fi high-tech and completely weird. The Catcha Beast is a hand held electronic toy that finds invisible beasts that inhabit the atmosphere around the user. Once found, the monster has to be wound into the machine. It’s pretty to describe, if you click on the following link, there’s a video that shows the gadget in use. The Catcha Beast retails at £17.95.

Our final offering is priced halfway between those earlier toys. Elmo Live is a much loved character from Sesame Street and sells at £59.95. He’s another outstanding introduction being able to sit on a chair telling stories whilst crossing and uncrossing his legs or waving is arms around as he sings a song. He isn’t voice activated like Biscuit the dog, but he has a variety of actions as you squeeze his foot, tummy, back or nose.

So there we have it. Our top three toys for Christmas 2008. Check out our top toy website for lots of other great presents.