Ready-made Christmas list: the top 10 most wanted toys

 

There’s no accounting for the credit crunch when it comes to a child’s Christmas list, and who knows, if we all spend all our savings this December we might be able to lift the economy out of this man-made disaster.

With that in mind, we have collated the top 10 most-wanted toys, drawing on the expertise of toy pickers from Amazon, Hamleys and Toys R Us.

This is not a list of the toys you think they should have – these are the expensive, plastic, squawking, anti-feminist, quite possibly very irritating creations that your child wants just as much as you wanted that Etch a Sketch.

1. Elmo Live
This is an update on the original Elmo doll, which rolled around and laughed. The new Elmo doll can cross its legs and tell jokes and stories. On first look, it is cute, but the squeaky voice and insistence on referring to itself in the third person could get annoying.
Age: 18 months and up
Price: £59.99 from Toys R Us

2. Chou Chou ‘My first tooth’ doll
Somehow this doll feels a little bit creepy. It has to have something to do with an inanimate object actually growing a 'tooth'. This creation cries so much that her cheeks go red. She can be soothed with a bottle and you can hear her suck on her dummy, and like many of these toys, giggles when you tickle her tummy.
Age: 36 months and up
Wallet watch: £27.99 from Amazon.co.uk

3. Pleo Robotic Dinosaur
Hailed as a major advance in toys, this dinosaur knocks the socks off Chou Chou and Elmo in terms of innovation - and pricing, it costs £199. It learns from its environment and can perform tricks. It even knows if you're ignoring it, making it the ultimate inescapable Christmas gift.
Age: 8 years and up
Wallet watch: £199.95 from John Lewis

4. Dance with me Tellytubby
This is Hamleys' hot pick. Short of dressing up in a Tellytubby costume yourself and prancing around in front of your children, you can't get much closer to giving your children a genuine Tellytubby experience. Children can play musical statues with the robot, which also blinks and giggles as it dances.
Age: 12 months and up
Wallet watch: £40 from Hamleys

5. Ben 10 Deluxe Omnitrix
In the cartoon, Ben 10 uses his Omnitrix watch to turn into alien life forms. There is no suggestion that this will actually turn the owner into an alien, but at least they can pretend.
Age: Four years and up
Wallet watch: £11.99 from Argos

6. In The Night Garden Upsy Daisy and her bed
Another TV-show spin-off. This time it’s the BBC and their smash-hit series In the Night Garden. Upsy Daisy comes with her own bed, which rocks her to sleep at night, and runs away during the day (you have to watch the series to find out why).
Age: 18 months and up
Wallet watch: £32.99 from Play.com

7. Retro toys
According to Amazon, this is a trend that comes back every year, with items like the Rubik’s cube always featuring in the online store’s top 10 sellers for Christmas. Whether it’s because we’re desperate for our children share the joyful fun of our own childhoods or just because we want to play with the toys ourselves is unclear. Surely it can be no coincidence that the Rubik’s cube, a 1970s classic, is being bought for kids by parents born in the same decade. Also tipped to be popular (again) is Lego and the Star Wars Clone Wars Trooper Voice changer.

8. Anything Dr Who
Timelord David Tennant may have just announced his retirement, but that doesn’t mean your children will be slacking off in their fandom for the resurrected TV show. Dr Who Classic Figures and the Dr Who Dalek voice changer are tipped to be big.

9. Anything High School Musical
Whether it’s a dance mat (Toys R Us are predicting this to be a big seller at £17.99), the High School Musical Sing Together dolls (£22 from Boots) or the fashion dolls, anything with the faces of those pesky kids emblazoned on it is sure to catch your children’s eye. Unfortunately for many mums, Zac Efron is sold separately.

10. Anything Hannah Montana
If you don’t know who Hannah Montana is, you’ll probably know who Miley Cyrus is, you are like, totally out of it. The young actress, daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, has won a place in pre-teen girls hearts as the character in a Disney series. Hannah also has a dance mat, as well as a feature doll that Toys R Us and Hamleys are tipping to be big-sellers.

By Corinne Abrams

Comments

[lizzi]

by the way great list :)

[lizzi]

i mean print.....
im bored

[lizzi]

why can't i pront this page goddammit

[Peter Orme]

The disgusting thing about the Elmo toy is the price in Britain. Here in Canada it is $59.99. Yes, the same numerals, but note the dollar sign rather than the pound sign. In Britain you are paying twice as much as we do! It happens over and over again -- and it's not as if you earn twice as much as we do!

[Rez]

There are a few Elmo Live videos at www.FunWithElmo.com

[Geoff]

Yes Andrew, tips my hat to you, but the wonderful intensity of David Tennant can make things that require hard dreary things upfront before you get the benefits later can make a bit of a difference. Actually I'd use a different Doctor for each chapter. Maybe we can toss innovation to Tom Baker :). I really, truly would like the beeb to do this mind.

[andrew b]

hmmm - rather than the Dr Who guide to maths and science i think a more appropriate thing would be the Dr Who guide to creative and imaginative thinking :)

[Gipsy]

Geoff, if there isn't then you should propose it as an idea to the BBC. It is brilliant! I would enjoy something like that, and I'm an adult. I know plenty of little boys and girls who would follow every exercise and project in a book like that with enthusiasm (that isn't applied to their maths homework). There has got to be a Dr Who Maths and Science book somewhere!

[Sho]

In the FT How To Spend It from last week the Pleo was GBP 229 - so this one here is a bargain! (and he recommended that two are much more fun than one)

And didn't they have one on Something for The Weekend the other week? There is going to be a definite run on them!

[Geoff]

Look, I know this is boringly didactic but is there anywhere a Doctor Who guide to maths and science. Must be I suppose, surely. The BBC can't be pouring ALL its licence fee into drooling Jonathan Ross, can it?

[Tori]

If you are looking for something that all children are likely to enjoy, that is educational and not too expensive, you could try looking up some of the VTech laptops on Amazon. They start around £30 and there are a variety to choose from, depending on both age and developmental stage.

My son loved his when he was 5, and I do strongly recommend looking into them. The educational features are hidden within the fun activities, so learning really is made fun. The one we got for my son even had a function to learn to play music.

I honestly can not praise VTech enough for these toys. What's more, my son felt like a real "grown up" sitting beside me on his computer while I was working away on mine.

Also, I remember when I was 5 and all I wanted was Playdough and the mop-top hair shop. Again, some nice gifts that are unisex.

Being that I was never a "girly girl", I think that I can recall all the things that were fun for me come Christmas day. Boardgames were also a big favourite, though as an only child, there was never anyone to play with me. Craft sets are also great gifts, especially the ones about now-a-days.

[Michael]

The Pleo is ridiculously expensive and,in the current economic climate, it would be incredibly wasteful to give one to any child.

Having said that, I really want one and if all the AlphaMummy regulars want to club together & buy me one that would (a) boost consumer confidence in the high street this ending the recession and (b) be the most totally festive thing ever.

[KM]

Great list, Jennifer, thank you.

[Sho]

Tell you what, Delilah, I'd buy them...

[Delilah]

MOF2, a bad mother is one whose children don't know how to switch a vacuum cleaner on.

(Fantasises briefly about commercial success with a range of household cleaning implements aimed at the toy market, under the trade name "Happy House"; from Larry the Loo Brush (punk with real safety pin through rubber nose) to Wanda the Washing-up mop (preppie swimmer doll with braidable hair, a wardrobe of swimsuits, and a special deckchair to recline on between dishwashes). Videos featuring said characters in comic dramas that teach valuable life lessons and basic cleaning techniques. A range of non-toxic cleaners that do interesting things like bubble or change colour when squeezed out. And, of course, child-size rubber gloves that change colour or light up when immersed in hot water).

POP! Back to reality......

[mumoftwo]

Delilah, perhaps I'm a bad mother, but I already make them hoover on the lowest setting on our real hoover (thereby cunningly disguising housework as play!) I'll look out for the parrot though.

[Delilah]

Consider getting them something nice and durable for Xmas on the understanding that you will be picking these nine-day-wonders up cheap in the January sales.

Every child I have ever known loves that parrot that repeats whatever you shout at it. Usually around £15 from the cheapie toy stores. Believe me, if they get this they probably won't notice that they didn't get something off the list. Get earplugs for yourself. Ours is on a top shelf at the moment with the batteries out.

A toy vacuum cleaner that visibly sucks things up is also very popular. (Or maybe give THEM a REAL bagless vaccuum for Christmas "to play with" and customise with stickers).

[Jennifer]

My top 5 toys

These are the toys and games my daughter loves, although sometimes they can be hard to find:

* Tummy Ache - easy game even 3-year-olds love

* Uno - recognising numbers and colours. Be prepared to lose, not just pretend to lose.

* Wiki Stix - wax covered string you can use like PlayDoh. Amazing and unusual

* Operation - an oldie but a goodie, but more fun if you remove the batteries

[KM]

Playmobil does sound lovely.

What, no one else had a Present Day at school?

[Theta Sigma Mummy]

MUMOFTWO

How about Playmobil? My kids have all loved that. hours and hours of imaginative play.

[Sho]

Yes!

hehe - not really, slackmummy. However I have found that the DS is a good tool for "if you don't keep your room tidy, I get the DS for a week" (that way I get to do the brain training)

It's also improved my #1's frankly atrocious reading skills.

But we don't have a Wii... yet.

As for the last 3 items: it's difficult to recommend any one thing. My daughters are almost as happy with a remote control Dalek for around 60 quid as they would be with a Hannah Montanna bag or HSM belt.

[slackmummy]

What do you get for children whose only desire is for variations of nintendos, wiis and playstations? I hate them all, we can't afford them and I will be forever nagging them to switch them off. Am I mean?

[DanTheBestBigBrother]

Just commenting on how horrendously lazy the last 3 things on the list of 10 were. Non specific just say buy Dr Who toys? Why not research a particularly good toy and add anything else Dr Who later into that item?

[mumoftwo]

Thanks for all your suggestions, I hadn't thought of Playmobile at all which would be a great option. We have a small set of Magnetix but not enought so may take up Mrs K's suggestion and go large on that one (although a bit worried that younger sis will swallow the balls).

We just seem to have tonnes of some stuff (books, dressing up costumes, stuffed toys, barbies no one likes) and hardly anything of others. Mine do love stuffed animals rather than dolls, too, LM, we have a great stuffed dog that features in many a game being dragged round on his lead...(he's also rather naughty so gets told off a lot, thereby allowing me to hear just how awful I must sound half the time!)

[tiredmum]

mumoftwo, your daughter sounds a bit like mine, though mine is affirmatively anti-pink as well as anti-dolls. She doesn't really play with 'toys' at all. She plays board games and does lots of art and craft stuff.

I haven't really decided what to get her yet, though I don't intend to spend too much this year as she's just had her birthday (she's 6), and had a new bike, plus lots of little presents from her friends.

She definitely wouldn't be interested in anything on the list.

I'll probably get her a new game, as she likes playing board games, and maybe a craft kit or 2 (though she'll probably have finished those by the end of boxing day!)

I'm not sure about construction kits for girls - she likes playing with the meccano at school, but I'm not sure if she'd like it at home as well. The lego kits are often tied in with films/TV that we haven't seen. One of her friends bought her a small magnetix set, which she quite likes.

I suspect the whatever I buy her, she'll be back to mostly playing with felt tips and paper by the end of January!