Toy Wishes Press Event

Yesterday, I had the good fortune to attend the Toy Wishes Magazine Holiday Preview 2008. During this event, toy companies big and small present their holiday offerings to the press. The magazine also announces its “Hot Dozen”–toys that after months of testing and analyzing, the magazine has predicted will be top sellers this year.

You can find a complete list of the Hot Dozen, along with other toys expected to be bestsellers, here.

The least expensive item on the list may also prove to be the most coveted: the Bakugan Battle Brawlers Starting Pack. ($12.99 for the starter pack; $4.99 and up for add-ons and accessories). The hybrid trading card strategy/marble-esque skill game is based on a cartoon of the same name and is enormously popular with boys. The resale market on Amazon and ebay prove it: if you have a kid on your list who likes these toys, buy them now, before they’re Baku-gone. (Oh, c’mon, easy pun.)

Although several of the toys are quite pricey (topping out at $300 for Kota the “living” dinosaur), many have less expensive counterparts. There are several items in the LEGO AGENTS line, for example, with the smallest starting at $9.99. (The most expensive, the Mobile Command Center, made the list and goes for $89.99.) The toys, which encourage builders to turn into mission-solving secret agents, involve a unique online storytelling format to enhance play.

And there are numerous, smaller versions of the $250 Toys R Us exclusive Ultimate WALL-E , a remote-control robot, that are perhaps not as ultimate but certainly not as costly.

This year, both on and off the list, technology continues to change the way we play, with an emphasis on toys that have an online element but can also be enjoyed without a computer (LEGO AGENTS, Disney Fairies Clickables, Robot Galaxy, etc.). Trading card games, including the aforementioned Bakugan, as well as Yu-Gi-Oh and Chaotic, are also ubiquitous. And you can expect a very Hannah Montana holiday season, with the Disney Diva showing up in her own Guitar Hero-styled game for girls (Hannah Montana Pop Tour Guitar Video Game) and a Malubu Beach House ($129.99). Hannah will also join Disney Channel favorites (Suite Life of Zach and Cody, High School Musical, Cheetah Girls) on Scene It: Disney Channel edition ($39.99).

I’ll be touching on my favorite items–both those chosen as “hot” and those flying under the radar screen–in separate posts over the next several weeks.
Keep in mind that while the toys listed on “Best Of” lists are a good guide of what will be popular with children, the best toy you can give a child is the one that is right for them, no matter what the Joneses are up to.