Toy Industry Association Toy of the Year Awards

The award winners will be presented tomorrow night. This is a continuation of my posts to guess the winners.  My disclaimor, I am not a member of the Toy Industry Association and do not have any inside information.

The 2008 Activity Toy of the Year nominees are Color A Messenger Bag by ALEX, Digital Arts & Crafts Studio by Fisher-Price, Fashion Design Studio by Creativity for Kids, LEGO City by LEGO Systems, Inc, and Rose Art Smart Easel by MEGA Brands Inc. My choice is LEGO City. Classic LEGO quality with realistic airport and other scenes.

The 2008 Electronic Toy of the Year nominess are American Idol Talent Challenge by KID Design, Inc., Easy Link Internet Launch Pad by Fisher-Price, Power Tour Electric Guitar by Tiger Electronics, Rescue Pets Myepets.com by MGA Entertainment, and U.B. Funkeys by Mattel, Inc. There are so many cool new electronics this year but it’s hard to find a stand out. I am going to go with the highly rated Easy Link Launch Pad by Fisher-Price.

The Innovative Toy of the Year nominees include Air Hogs Havoc Heli Laser Battle by Spin Master, Ltd., DynaCar by SeeToys, EyeClops Bionic Eye by JAKKS Pacific, FLY Fusion Pentop Computer by LeapFrog Enterprises, and Smart Cycle Physical Learning by Fisher-Price. This is also a hard category to call. The Smart Cycle is quite innovative but my vote is going with the EyeClops Bionic Eye.

The nominees for Specialty Toy of the Year include Bananagrams by Bananagrams, LLC, Fashion Design Studio by Creativity for Kids/Faber-Castell, Karito Kids World Collection by KidsGive, LLC.,  Rok Jr. – Rokenbok Toy Co., and Snap Circuits by Elenco. Once again my vote goes to Bananagrams because of all the great reviews by real kids and families.

Next is the Toy Property of the Year nominees which include Hannah Montana by Disney Consumer Products, High School Musical by Disney Consumer Products, Pokemon by JAKKS Pacific, Star Wars by Lucas Film, and Transformers by Hasbro, Inc. To me the clear choice is Hannah Montana – she is so popular!

The actual winners will be announced tomorrow and we’ll see how we did. If you want to find out where to purchase these great products, check out Toy of the Year Awards.