How do we find the Top Toys for Kids?

Top Toys for Kids lists the hot toys for the season and where to purchase them. We try to find the best prices, in stock. This is a challenge during the busy holiday months. 

You might wonder how we come up with our lists of toys.  We compile data from many different sources and that gives us a variety of great products in a number of categories.  Here is a summary of how we get our information:

1. Award Winners – There are several groups that produce lists of great products. We try to monitor all of them including:

Toy Wishes Magazine – Their list of top dozen toys for the holiday season was just released on October 2, 2007. Its short and sweet!

Dr. Toy has several lists including the 100 Best Products 2007, Vacation Gift Guide, and Best Products for Summer.  Their lists are very detailed and include some great “Smart Toys.” They also have some hard to find toys that are only available at specialty retailers.

The Toy Industry Assocation has the Toy of the Year Awards which occur in January at the annual conference. These tend to be the great toys that were hot products during the holiday season.

2. Retailer sales – Many retailers publish their best seller lists including Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Toys R Us.  This tells us what people are really buying (or sometimes what the retailer is expecting them to buy).

3. News Media – We pay attention to online, print, and television news about toys. Sometimes a spot on Oprah or other popular programs can bring attention to a great product.

4. Kids – We love to hear from you. We ask our friends and relatives which toys they really like.

5. Online Research – We go to websites and look at the product pictures and reviews and find the ones that look appealing.  In any review site, there is some bias by the author!

Future blog posts will expand upon the top toys for the season and of course we would love to hear from those of you who would like to share their favorite new toy!