Top 15 Toys for 2007 and only 86 days left to buy them!

I found some interesting statistics today. The average spend on Christmas gifts in 2006 was £378 per person in the UK according to Deloitte - and over £7.7bn was spent online based on information from IMRG. That's a lot of money!

Every year my family says Christmas is too commercialised and that we won't succumb to the spend-fest of the Holidays. But it is very difficult not to be drawn into the frenzy. However, I do set budgets and I have just put together a spreadsheet to help me budget this year. Email me if you would like a copy.

My kids are not overly demanding, but they do get influenced by the top toy trends like most. Sometimes, however, I think the kids only get into this behaviour because of us parents. One year I remember queueing up outside Toys R Us at 5.00am, hoping to get a Telly Tubby. I had no idea what hey were- my child had never seen them on TV, but I had been sucked into media frenzy and convinced myself that if my child didn't have one of these for Christmas then I was a terrible mother! I did manage to get one- the green one- I didn't even know it's name at the time! The toy did become one of my young son's treasured soft toys, so I suppose there was a happy ending!

Still there is nothing worse then disappointed children on Christmas morning, and as we live in a society that is heavily influenced by trends, I guess we just have to go along with them to a degree. I have found the predicted Top 15 toy list for the USA. This list was issued by Toys R Us on 27 September 2007 and is in alphabetical order:

• Aqua Dots(TM) Super Studio from Spin Master (TM)


• ClickStart(TM) My First Computer from LeapFrog(R)


• Daisy Pocket Mod from Razor (TM)


• Eyeclops(TM) from JAKKS Pacific(R)


• Geotrax(TM) Rail and Road System (Grand Central Station) from Fisher-Price(R)


• Guitar Hero(TM) III: Legends of Rock Game and Guitar Controller from Activision(R)


• Hannah Montana in Concert Collection Doll from Play Along(R)


• Made For Me MP3 Music Player from Playskool(R)


• Monopoly(R): Boutique Edition from Hasbro(R) Games


• Shining Stars from Russ Berrie & Co.


• SMART CYCLE(TM) Physical learning Arcade System from Fisher-Price(R)


• T.M.X. Friends from Fisher-Price(R)


• TRANSFORMERS(TM) ULTIMATE BUMBLEBEE(TM) from Hasbro(R)


• XPV(TM) R-A-D Robotic Air Defense(TM) from JAKKS Pacific(R)

I haven't got the list for the UK yet- it will no doubt have some of these toys on, but there may be a few differences. I'm expecting a list to be available in early October and as soon as I find it I will put it on the blog.

In my view missing from the list are the gadgets such as the new Ipods, game consoles such as the XBox 360 Elite and the still popular Nintendo DS.
It's October tomorrow- time for Doris!!!!