Christmas is coming and many of us are already thinking about what gifts to buy this year. It’s always a good idea to buy early for Christmas – and that’s especially true this year.
Last year many retailers over stocked. Large discounts had to be offered in order to clear the shelves. Factor in the fact that the economic climate is, whilst getting better, still somewhat less than buoyant, it’s easy to see why a lot of retailers have decided to run with relatively low stock levels this year.
It may well become difficult to source toys and other popular gifts as we near Christmas. Toys in particular may be problematic. Retailers may attempt to arrange for new deliveries to meet customer demand, the fact that most toys these days are produced in Asia means that the delivery time tends to be several weeks. Replenishing empty shelves may not be a viable option.
One of the hottest toys so far this year is Zhu Zhu Pets. They are a gang of five robot hamsters, complete with a large selection of accessories and toys, incorporating artificial intelligence. This allows them to interact with the kids playing with them and to respond to their external surroundings. Zhu Zhu pets were only released in August of 2009 – and kids are going crazy for them. Assuming that stock levels are high enough, they look set to be the number selling Xmas toy of 2009.
They are already becoming hard to locate – and prices are increasing rapidly. You can now see third party vendors on both eBay and Amazon selling them for quite a bit over the recommended ticket price.
However, if you can’t get hold of the latest fad toy, or if you object to paying inflated prices for a fad that may well fizzle out in a few months, then you could consider a more traditional toy instead. Whilst many of these will not be the latest craze the fact that they have endured the test of time is significant.
For example, if you wanted something for a young boy, a son or nephew perhaps, a train set is usually a popular choice. A good Hornby Dublo train set will last for years and will still be giving children enjoyment when the latest fad has fizzled out and been replaced by something newer.
The same logic could be just as well applied to old favourites like Monopoly, Lego and Scrabble. All of these have stood the test of time, over generations, and adapted to suit the requirements of modern day children.
