We’ve got a lot more reviews that we are working and adding as we speak, so be sure to check back often for new additions to the gift guide later today and over the next several days!
Dragon –I Toys – Talking Tom and Talking Ben animated Plush
The Animated Talking Tom and Talking Ben plush (Sold separately) is one of the hottest toys of the year. If you are not familiar with Talking Tom, then you don’t have a kid under ten years old and access to an ipad. Just like the app, these cute and surprisingly cuddly stuffed animals not only mimic your voice, but they also have sensors in their hands, feet, belly and head so that you can abuse them just like you would the cartoon characters on your app.
Age: 3+
Get yours today at: Amazon
Fisher Price Cruise and Groove Ballapalooza
The ultimate play date toy! This massive tribute to ball-play has is excellent for siblings and friends. It has room for three munchkins to play at once and includes fun activities for tiny teethers and tenacious toddlers, alike. The balls are extra durable and won’t dent and squish like other ball toys. Plus, in the tradition of all great paloozas, the Ballapalooza plays some groovin tunes to keep your tot party hoppin. Just make sure you’ve got some space to spare, because this toy is not small and it doesn’t fold or come apart easily for storage.
Ages 6mo – 3yrs
Get yours today at: Amazon
Fisher Price Loops and Swoops Amusement Park
Spiral sliding car towers are cool, looping racecar tracks are awesome. Put ‘em together, and you’ve got hours of dizzying fun for your toddler and the Little People they love. You… a’hem… your children can even race other Little People cars in the Amusement Park, for epic races like Cops vs. Firemen and Batman vs. Superwoman. Some cars are heavier than others and can’t quite swoop all the way through the, but we think the off-road action is half of the fun.
Ages 1 ½ – 5yrs
Get yours today at: Amazon
Fisher Price Voicecomm Batwing
Even the smallest Batman enthusiasts will enjoy this super interactive toy. It is made from tough, durable plastic parts and yet it has lots of moving parts that will keep them entertained well after the wrapping paper has been recycled. The sound system is motion sensitive and features unique conversations for each of the related character figures, like Batman and The Joker. However, the Batwing doesn’t come with any characters in the box and each figure is sold separately for about $16.99. Without the characters, you lose all of the interactive voice features, so your best bet is to get at least one character to make the gift complete.
Ages 3 – 8yrs
Get yours today at: Amazon
Fisher Price Little People Buzz Lightyear & Spaceship
The Toy Story franchise is still in full force. Buzz is back, now in the durable and adorable form of a Little People… Person. The toy has definite wow-power for little lovers of Lightyear. It has awesome voice features, so Buzz can call out his catch phrases when you place him in the pilot’s seat. Not to be left out, Woody and those awesome little aliens have their own sound effects in the back seat. Plus, the rear thrusters light up. Way cool.
Ages 1 – 4yrs
Get yours today at: Amazon
Fisher Price Little People Woody & RC
Now Sheriff Woody can zoom across your home in a life-like RC with really awesome self-propulsion action. When you push down on RC’s rear spoiler, he takes off like a bullet and makes a great wheel-squealing sound. While this toy doesn’t drive much home in the education department, it definitely delivers on imaginative play. Little People’s version of Woody kinda looks like other cowboy characters they’ve put out in the past, but he does have Woody’s signature hat and RC hoots out Woody’s catch phrases when you press down on the driver’s seat.
Ages 1 – 4yrs
Get yours today at: Amazon
Fisher Price Disney Baby Sing Along Choo Choo
It’s cute, it sings, it moves, it’s Disney… you can’t go wrong. Dumbo, Simba, and Lucky the Dalmation Puppy are adorable and fun to play with all on their own. There are tons of colorful and textural elements on the characters and on the train. A surprising element is the great sound quality on the songs and effects. The clear spot-on tones make the old metallic-sounding toys of years past sound like tin cans in a wind tunnel.
Ages 6mo – 3yrs
Get yours today at: Amazon
Fisher Price Imaginext Toy Story Pizza Planet
Ever want to stage your own personal reenactment of the Pizza Planet scene in the comfort of your own home? Your dreams have come true. This bad boy comes with figures of Buzz Lightyear, Zurg, and of course, an awesome little alien dude. There are lots of cool moving parts, including “The Claw” machine with real line-drop and grabbing action and space ship with rocket-launcher. We’re a little sad that there’s only one alien and no Sid. It’s kinda hard to play out the scene without Sid, but your 3 – 8 year old probably won’t be as hard-core orthodox with their reenactments as our toy testers. Just make sure your younger Buzz fans are good with small parts. There are several small detachable parts, like the rockets, that could pose a choking hazard.
Ages 3 – 8yrs
Get yours today at: Amazon
Fisher Price Jake and The Neverland Pirates Bucky The Pirate Ship
Yo ho! (Sorry, we couldn’t help it.) This toy is full of fun surprises. In addition to the 25 sounds and phrases, you’ve got all kinds of spinning and sliding actions around the ship. The ship itself even has realistic boat rocking action as your child rolls it along. The best part, for us old Peter Pan fans, is the Tick Tock Croc that pops out from a hidden trap door on the side of the ship. The ship comes with Jake, of course, and his parrot Skully. It also comes with some “water balls” that you can shoot from the cannon, which is a little odd, but ok. The real bummer is that the add-on packs that you can buy to add more characters to your play set are $9.99 for 3 figures and they all come with a Jake. If you want Hook, you get Jake and a Tick Tock Croc… which you already have on the boat. If you want Jake’s friends, Izzy and Cubby, throw down another ten bucks and you’ll get yet another Jake.
Ages 3+
Get yours today at: Amazon
Bridge Direct – Annoying Orange Fresh Talking Target Game
What can I say about Annoying Orange… well, he’s aptly named. The popular viral character has only gotten bigger since getting his own TV show. Now, you can either enjoy his quips or take out frustration on him by throwing little plastic balls at him. The target game is great for kids with its soft target area and balls. The only drawback to this toy is that it talks and, if you don’t like him, you can find that it can become as annoying as the actual annoying orange
Age: 3+
Get yours today at: Amazon
Trash Pack – Trash Pack Collectible Figures
Trash Pack is one of those things like Pokemon or Squinkies that I will never understand, but kids go nuts for. They are little collectible figures that come in little toy trash cans. Unlike Squinkies, Trash Pack is more for boys… or at least for kids who are less into Hello Kitty and more into the kind of gross little monsters you might expect to find in the trash. These little guys make for a great stocking stuffer.
Age: 5+
Get yours today at: Amazon
Hasbro – Scrabble Catchphrase
If you are looking for a good party game that is still a good family game, Scrabble Catchphrase is a great idea for this year. Don’t worry about the Scrabble part of the name; it is just a branding thing. This is the Catchphrase that you’ve always known and loved, but it has been updated with new words and sounds to make the game feel refreshed and like you are playing it for the first time. If you can’t have fun with this game, you probably have a serious personal problem that requires attention.
Age: 8+
Get yours today at: Amazon
Moose Toys – Micro Chargers Jump Track
If you remember Micro Machines, the Micro Chargers are kinda like that, but with a slick track that they can race around and do jumps on. Each car gets powered up by a hand held charger and then fired into the loop track. There’s a banking turn and a jump that make the track a bit more fun. One of the coolest factors is that there is a switch for when you want your race to end. You just hit it and they make their way to the finish line. If there was one warning for you on this toy it is that really impatient kids could get frustrated when the cars flip over repeatedly… for me, the crashes actually made it more fun.
Age: 3+
Get yours today at: Amazon
Mattel – Chameleon Crunch
If you’ve got a decent amount of floor space, this is a great game for little kids. The Chameleon runs around on the floor while you throw bugs in its mouth. Periodically, it will spit them all out. You can play either to get them all in or just to get your color in its mouth. We found that little kids loved the game because there is a major active component. This isn’t a game that you just sit and play. You have to run around and chase the little lizard. It is a lot of fun.
Ages 4+
Get yours today at: Amazon
Haywire Group – Flickin Chicken
This is a pretty straight forward game and it can be a lot of fun, if for no other reason than the fact that you get to throw rubber chickens around. Think of it as Frisbee golf with chickens. You just throw out the target and then you toss your birds until you reach it. I really liked that, because the chickens are rubber, it is relatively safe for both indoor and outdoor play. Also, it is fun to say Flickin Chicken
Age: 6+
Get yours today at: Amazon
Hasbro – Nerf Vortex Pyragon
This gun is just nuts. It is not only a great toy for kids, but it is also the newest advancement in urban cubical warfare. You could decimate your co-workers with this bad boy. I’ve never actually seen a Nerf gun that has an ammo drum that holds forty rounds of ammo. No one would not love to find this under their tree and everyone will fear the people who find it there.
Age 8+
Get yours today at: Amazon
Skyrocket – Illumivor
This thing is AWESOME! It’s a shark and a radio controlled car! We loved testing out this car. It worked great on carpet and tile floors. The lighting effects really set it apart. When you drive it around in the dark it is like you are being chased by a TRON version of a shark. Also… this is our number one toy of the year if you like tormenting small cats and dogs.
Age 6+
Get yours today at: Toys R US
All Things Equal – Awkward Family Photos Game
This is one of those games that is fun on its own, but even more so when you add some liquid holiday cheer. Basically, this game gives you a chance to get together with friends and make fun of the hilariously awful family photos that have found their way onto the net. You’d think that the game would get old kind of quick, but it is really limited only by your imagination and ability to come up with snarky comments. This is a good gift for a holiday party.
Age: 13+
Get yours today at: Amazon
Forever Fun – Peanuts Holiday Wooden Train Set
Toy trains and Christmas go together like thanksgiving dinner and heartburn. For little kids, there’s no better trains than the wooden Brio style train sets. Round2 Collectibles has put together a great little set for kids that not only gives them hours of play, but it also is based around Charlie Brown and the peanuts gang. This gift is a good old fashioned present. There’s no bells or whistles, but it is still a lot of fun.
Age 3+
Get yours today at: The Internet!
Codigo Cube
In the last few years QR codes have become part of our everyday life, so it only makes sense that someone would make them part of how we play as well. The codigo cube does just that. It is a dice based trivia game that you place with your smart phone. You just roll the cube and read the QR code to get started., what follows is one of the most frequently updated trivia games that we’ve ever seen. There’s six different categories of trivia and you can play by yourself or with a big group of friends. Just keep it in your pocket or hand bag and pull it out when you are in a booth at the bar with some friends. We definitely recommend this one as a crowd pleasing stocking stuffer.
Ages 8+
Get yours today at: Codigo
Underground Toys Star Wars Talking Character Plush
Underground Toys has mastered the art of making Characters from your favorite movies and TV shows cute. They are back again this year with their highly successful line of 9” talking Star Wars plush and they are looking better and cuter than ever. The characters currently available include: Chewbacca, Yoda, Darth Vader, R2D2, Princess Leia, Jawas, Boba Fett, Cantina Band Member, Darth Maul, and Wickett. These adorable and super cuddly plushes each have several phrases that they say when you hug them. I’d recommend them as a gift for anyone from 5 years old through 100.
Get yours today at: The Internets!
Underground Toys Star Wars Talking Plush Balls
OK, I thought that the regular 9” talking plush were cute, but if you really want to give out an overdose of Kawaii this Christmas, you cannot go wrong with the talking plush balls. First, they are called talking plush balls. Try to say that without giggling. Next, they are super adorable, stylized ball-shaped versions of your favorite characters. They talk just like the other plush, but they are giant heads with tiny little feet. You really can’t help but want to hug them. This style is available in Chewbacca, Yoda, Darth Vader, and R2D2
Get yours today at: The Internets
Last year, one of the hottest toys of the year were the air swimmers. They are radio controlled fish and shark shaped balloons. Now, they’ve got a new one and it is a little bit gorier than the ones they were selling to kids. This is the zombie shark, 57 inches of undead mayhem that you can fly around your room via radio control. We love this more than we are really willing to admit. However, if you plan on getting one as a gift, remember that it needs helium. That means you should take it to the party store and get it filled before you give it, otherwise it just looks like a flat dead shark in a box.
Get yours today at: Thinkgeek
Don’t you hate playing playing old school games on your phone or tablet with the crappy controls that they give you on the screen? This is the cure for what ails you. The 8-Bitty is an old school game controller that lets you play games like the Atari favorites app and even things like MAME. It works on both Apple and Android devices and it makes gaming on your tablet a lot more fun.
Get yours today at: Thinkgeek
Board games are often really similar, that’s why we loved the Chupacabra game. It is anything but similar to everyone else, First off, how many games out there do you actually play in the dark? That’s what this is, a fun game that you play with the lights out. You roll the dice and you eat your opponents. I would say that this game is good for kids to adults, but you should make sure that the kids can handle spending a little bit of time in a room with no light first.
Get yours today at: Haywire
Stocking stuffers for girls ages 6 -12, that is what these will be perfect for. The Shoulder Buddies are little figurines that were created specifically to sit on your shoulder. They are designed to inspire positive attitudes and behavior. Along with having their own line of characters, they also come in great licenses like Hello Kitty. Girls love to wear, collect and trade them with their friends and they are starting to get very popular so you should grab them while you can.
Get yours today at: Shoulderbuddies
With a toy tagline like “Who ya gonna squeeze?” it’s hard to not wanna play with these adorable talking plush toys based on the ‘Ghostbuster’ franchise. These cute little dickens are a great addition to any GB loving home and can be enjoyed by all ages. Slimer makes gross noises when squeezed and Stay Puft plays the ‘Ghostbusters’ theme song which will get any true geek dancing and loving that little guy. Stay Puft comes in two variations, happy and angry, you choose which is right for the Ghostbuster in you.
Get yours today at: The Internets
Similar to the G1 Transformers Jumpstarters , Hasbro’s Bot Shots are essentially spring loaded 2” transforming robot that don’t really transform. But that’s perfectly fine, since these aren’t meant to be
real transformable toys, but instead a Cybertronian rock, paper, scissors game. Each Bot Shots come with a rotating chest plate featuring three powers — fist, blaster and sword – and an impact sensitive front bumper. The goal is to set a power, transform them into their vehicles and ram them at your opponent’s to “transform” and reveal the power selection. Blaster beats Fist, Fist beats Sword and
Sword beats Blaster. Pretty simple stuff, even if it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense… Each of the figures also come with a code that works with the online game. Although you don’t really need the code to play online. Sculpt wise, the figure is decent but no where near as detail as most transformable robot toys. Since their aimed at kids, they’re just about right and the gimmick and online component should keep any young Transformer fan entertain for at least a couple of hours.
Get yours today at: HASBRO
Part of Hasbro’s KRE-O Transformer LEGO wannabe line, the Transformers Street Showdown set is touted as a 4-in-1 set with 272 pieces allowing you to build Wheeljack and Knock Out robots and/or vehicles. They also come with two driver figures each, one of the actual driver and one of um… the robots themselves miniaturized. Yeah, it makes no sense, but they’re actually pretty cool especially if you’ve ever wanted Transformers “LEGO” mini figures. The build out for the vehicles and robots are fairly simply, but complicated enough that you’d need to follow the instructions in order to build them right. They each come with a blaster and some road accessories (barricade and cones). Fans of LEGOS and Transformers would probably get a kick out of these, although the Street Showdown set is probably one of the weaker sets when compared to the Destruction Site Devastator Set or Battle for
Energon Set.
Get yours today at: HASBRO
Move over Gabby Douglas, Fisher Price’s Fantastic Gymnastics Dora is in town and going for gold! This 17-inch Dora doll performs 2 full gymnastic routines and 7 different gymnastic moves from splits to back bends. Dora speaks over 40 phrases in English and Spanish and even sings a fun gymnastic song that your little Dora fan is sure to love. Any little girl would love to coach this Dora doll through her amazing routines.
Get yours today at: Amazon
Following in the footsteps of last year’s Rock Star Mickey and the previous year’s Dance Star Mickey, Master Moves Mickey Mouse is in the house to prove he has got the skills!! Disney and Fisher-Price have outdone themselves again this year with this singing and dancing plush. Mickey shows off over 15 different dance moves while getting down to original tracks and funky beats. We might be suckers for all things animatronic and Disney, but this year’s model will keep the whole family entertained with Mickey’s original combinations of dance moves including “The Handstand,” “The Spin Cycle,” and “The Mouska Mix.” Just call us Mouska-Sold!
Get yours today at: Amazon
It’s a little bit Twister, a little bit Dance Dance Revolution, and a whole lot of fun! Hasbro’s Twister Dance gets your kids off the couch and moving, seriously what more could you ask for? Twister Dance can be played by 1 or 2 players, just plug in your MP3 player or dance to one of the 5 pre-programmed songs featuring Britney Spears, Willow, Ke$ha, and Cupid. Place the 8 moveable spots (4 spots per player) on the floor and watch for the lights on the game console to tell your feet where to go. Body and arm movements are all up to you, so each dance will have a style all its own.
Get yours today at: Amazon
There’s no business, like mobile bow business!! Little Minnie fan’s can now take the show on the road with the Fisher Price Minnie’s Bow-tique Fashion On The Go Playset. Open the roll along, suitcase style Bow-tique to reveal Minnie Mouse’s dressing room and makeup vanity. Minnie can try on her collection of fashions (including three dresses, three bows, and 2 pair of shoes) by spinning around on a stage platform in front of a light up mirror that plays music and Minnie phrases. The Bow-tiqe packs up for easy storage and travel and would make a perfect gift for any little girl. “If fun and fashion are what you seek, you’re always welcome at Minnie’s Bow-Tique!”
Get yours today at: Amazon
Put on your dancing shoes Clubhouse friends, it’s a hoe down!! Farmer Mickey and Minnie Mouse take a spin on the dance floor in this Fisher Price Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Barnyard Dance Farm Playset, complete with Mickey phrases, farm sounds, and western dance music. Place one of the three round farm animals inside the silo elevator, raise the handy lever to lift the animal up to the top and into the swinging Mickey hand. The weight of the animal will cause the Mickey arm to swing across the barnyard depositing it into the windmill chute and making the blades spin around. Seriously, what could be more fun than that? Kids will have hours of fun creating different barnyard scenarios with the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse gang.
Get yours today at: Amazon
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