The prezzies kids will really want to find under the tree this year
THE TOY WORLD has been set alight by a renewed desire for gift-buying after a year of belt-tightening and anxiety. And boy is there demand – John Lewis is doing a roaring trade (up 15 per cent on last year at this time), helped by sales of its toys of which the bestseller is the Mini Micro T-Bar Scooter. Wheeled floor toys are up by 150 per cent at the Oxford Street store this year and Sylvanian Family stuffed toys are flying off the shelves.
Over at Harrods, a spokesperson warns that it may be impossible to get hold of one of their exclusive Aleksandr the Meerkat stuffed toys as they’re expected to be snapped up instantaneously. But the toys that have swept the world by storm are none other than a family of battery-operated hamsters, named Num Nums, Pipsqueak, Chunk and Mr Squiggles, sold in the UK under the name Go Go Pets.
Jerry Storch, chief executive of Toys R Us, says the craze for the Go Gos is equal to that of the 1980s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Here are a few of the season’s must-haves.
Baby Hedgehog,
Hamleys
£9.50
www.hamleys.com
Mini Micro T Bar Scooter, John Lewis
£46.95
www.johnlewis.com
Electric Flowers Knitting Set,
Cath Kidston, £14
www.cathkidston.co.uk
Tiramisu Teddy Bear,
Hamleys, £23
www.hamleys.co.uk
Aleksandr the Meerkat,
Harrods, £19.95
www.harrods.com
Sylvania Family’s Grand Hotel,
John Lewis £89.95
www.johnlewis.com
Go Go Hamsters
£29.99 each
www.amazon.com