Christmas is a time for children and all children love presents. So to help you beat the queues and avoid missing out on what your child must must must must must MUST have this Christmas, here are the toys that are likely to make your kid go absolutely blooming mental on Christmas morning.
Bakugan Battle Pack
Boys are going mad for Bakugan right now. Based on an animated series, the strategy card game comes complete with action figures which pop out of magnetic marbles when thrown. Fight!
Battle Strikers Starter Pack
First there were spinning tops, then there were battling tops, now there are Battle Strikers spinning top type things. And they’re spinning out of stores fast! Power-up your top with a Turbo Launcher or a handheld spinning stick which looks very much like what I used to accelerate scalextric cars with, let it go and attack attack attack your opponent by remote control.
Battle Strikers Starter Pack – $15
Bendaroos
Perhaps more for the female market, although I certainly don’t want to start stereotyping, these colourful Bendaroos are great for art, jewellery and creating accessories for dolls. Best of all there’s no need for any glue.
Ben 10 Alien Force Kevin’s DX Action Cruiser
I have to confess I haven’t got a clue who Ben or Kevin are but apparently a lot of kids love them. It’s all to do with television, early mornings and aliens, three of my top three least favourite things in the world. The car flips open into battle mode, shoots DNA alien capsules filled with planetary powder and comes complete with Kevin. Which all sound like quite good things. The car does look pretty cool.
Ben 10 Alien Force Kevin’s DX Action Cruiser – $40
Go Go Pets Hamsters
Without doubt the best toy on the list. All my friends are getting one. Go Go Hamsters are the new iPod. They come in different colours, you can carry them in a little bag, and if you watch the advert you’ll see they even drive cars and talk. Go Go Hamsters are very funny and about 94% more fun than a real hamster.
Go Go Pets Hamsters – prices vary a lot so be careful!
Kidizoom Multimedia Digital Camera
Kids grow up fast. They get born. They get teeth. They walk. They talk. They eat food. Now they’re all speaking on mobile phones and taking photos. When did all this happen? The Kidizoom camera is a real digital camera. That’s right. A real digital camera. I don’t even have a real digital camera. It’s quite expensive as a toy but then, in case I didn’t mention this enough, it is a real digital camera. For a kid. What is the point of that?!
Kidizoom Multimedia Digital Camera – $60
Lego Games Minotaurus
Christmas is a great time for family games which makes Lego the perfect present. Nothing electronic just a lot of different coloured bricks. The strategy is simple – do a Theseus, avoid the Minotaur and get to the temple. The game will keep two to four people happy for at least 30 minutes. Which leaves about twelve and a half hours to come up with something else!
Monopoly City
It seems the world’s love affair with Monopoly goes on, which, for someone who has never finished and rarely started a game of Monopoly, is a rather confusing phenomenon. Now the old board game has rebranded itself as Monopoly City (although surely Monopoly, as a game based on the streets of London, was always Monopoly City) and allows players to build up a 3D landscape. Didn’t it always do that as well? Actually the new features are to do with schools, skyscrapers, industrial estates and football stadiums. And presumably empty banks and boarded up shops. How very modern and exciting.
Princess Peppa’s Palace
Peppa is a pig who lives in a palace, much like the Queen of England. Peppa’s palace folds out to reveal a banqueting hall and seven regal rooms including bedrooms, bathroom, a kitchen with a cauldron oven, thrones and two guardsmen. And you won’t find thousands of tourists stalking the grounds with cameras.
Sylvanian Families Caravan
The Sylvanian Families are a quiet little bunch of rabbits who like nothing better than to travel together on their holidays in a caravan. The set comes with beds, seating, tables, toilet, shower, sink and ironing board. It’s really all quite adorable.
Sylvanian Families Caravan – $45
Tightrope Terror
Madness. Absolute madness. Not only do these racing cars zip round a track at electrifying speeds, they now scale over a tightrope that can extend to a staggering 10 feet. GO GO GO!
Transformers Revenge of The Fallen Voyager
When I was young there was an amazing TV show where robots turned into trucks and trucks turned into robots and good and bad robots had big fights for twenty minutes until good won and children could have their breakfast. There were films, toys, lunch boxes. You wouldn’t get that now. Except you would. And actually it’s probably even better.