Christmas 2011 - Must have toys!!

Yes, you read that right, I am blogging about 2011 Christmas's must have toys in July.  Now, I know I am a super duper control freak but not even I am that well controlled to buy all the goodies in July and save them for Christmas.  So when I was asked by UK Mums TV to attend Christmas in July and give my opinion on what I thought was going to be hot, I jumped at the chance.

Christmas in July is an event that showcases lots of toy manufacturers under one roof, in the hope that journalists and bloggers alike will pick up on their toy being the Christmas No 1 best seller.

I think it was an ingenious idea to invite "real mums" along as after all, we are the heart and soul of the industry and of course, the majority of purchasing decisions are made by us.  In the Super Amazing household, I definitely have my hand on the purse strings when it comes to kids presents!

We were given the task of selecting our best in class - categories included Best Boy/Girl Toy, best pre schooler and of course best game.  I am sure the results from us "real mums" are going to be collated at some stage, but as I am dashing off to Berlin tomorrow for 3 days I wanted to get my post up.  So, without further ado....(drum roll please) here are MY favourites from the show. 

1) Best Boys

I adore the HM Armed Forces range.  I don't know if it harks back to my days of playing with Sindy and Action Man but my boys get a lot of pleasure out of role play with their figures.   They have all been endorsed by the MOD and the range is getting bigger and bigger.  Hot this year are the talking action figures.  I just *know* these will be on our Santa list this year.  In fact, I would go as far as saying that the the 4 blade, twin action attack helicopter is going to be the sell out, must have boys item!

Something else that I think is going to be BIG is the Paper Jamz Pro Guitars which turns you into an instant rock star.  Retailing at £49.99 (I think from memory) they offer you cutting edge technology to turn you into the next Hendrix.  My Beau Bo already thinks he is a rockstar so this will also go on our list!

2) Best Girls

I had my little Pixie with me and she was utterly enchanted by several things.  First up was the Disney Princess Play Kitchen with a cool Bake Magic Oven.  She was totally engrossed by the fact you could make your cake rise by using the magic wand.

Next up we spent close to a hour playing with the Zhu Zhu Pets which I always thought were aimed at older girls.  Well this little 2 year old couldn't get enough of petting/stroking/brushing hair/putting the babies to bed/playing with the princess castle.  She really was in Toy Nirvana and who am I to spoil her fun?!

After dragging her away from the Zhu Zu's, she was soon dragging me over to the Ben and Holly toys - another runaway success in our house.  She spent a good half an hour playing with the soft toys (she adored Garson) but was really captivated by the Ben and Holly Magic Draw which was like an electronic etch a sketch.  It used the same principles of drawing but had Holly to guide you.  Ingenious and kept her quiet and entertained which is saying something as anyone on the train home will testify.  She also thoroughly enjoyed playing with the Ben and Holly interactive Castle Playset and magic wand.

We are massive fans of Micro Scooters in our house with both boys having started out on them.  It was great to see the Maxi Scooter as this will be the next scooter the boys progress onto.  I LOVED the new limited addition neon colours and think they should take this up into the Maxi range.  The only other thing I think they can do to appeal to the older kids (ie my Beansy) is to have "spark" and "trick" option scooters.

I was also very taken by a game called Dino Bite which incorporates all the good elements of a game - surprise, fun and of course a snapping dinosaur.  I think this is going to be BIG.

Other toys worthy of a mention and which I think will be best sellers are Pirates of the Caribbean 4 Disney Fairies and Kidizoom Camera which Pixie tried to walk away with several times!

Finally, I have to say a massive thank you to  Trunki as they gave us all a case to take home.  We got an original trunki about 4 years ago which died a sad death in the Maldives (erm, we forgot to bring it home) and to celebrate 5 years of Trunki they have produced 5,000 numbered cases.    We got number 1987 and it's causing a lot of fun and arguments in our house right now as they all vie for pole position!

It was a really good informative day and I for one can't wait to see if my predictions for Christmas's must have toys come true.  What do you think?

Peace and Love

S.A.M xxxx

Disclaimer: I was paid travel expenses to attend the event but all the opinions are mine and mine alone.  No sponsored content here my hearties!