I’ve been getting a lot of press releases lately for toys to include in our holiday gift guide coming up in the December issue. (I know, thinking about the holidays in July?) And while I’d prefer to keep thoughts of singing elves and 4-foot snow drifts at bay at least until the leaves fall off the trees, I can still make some observations on what I’ve seen.

Now granted, half of the releases I receive have little to no place in Toy Shop, as they are meant for children or have no collectible bent to them whatsoever. But I get junk mail at home, so what not at work, too?

But what I have noticed about a lot of the toys that will be on store shelves this fall is that they really aren’t toys at all. Everything has to be related to the latest gadgets on the technology market. If it doesn’t hook up to an iPod, MP3 player or a DVD player, it’s not new. I saw this at Toy Fair, and I honestly hoped some of these wouldn’t come to pass. I don’t think a 5-year-old needs to be pumping videos through a pillow while taking a nap.

I wonder what the future holds for toys of these types. I hardly feel they will be collectible, and I’d imagine very few will be operable even 10 years down the road. How knows, I could be wrong. In the meantime, I’ll keep my recycling bin handy.  


Iola Old Car Show
On the grounds of Toy Shop, the Midwest’s largest car show and swap meets takes place every July. Currently, it looks like a circus outside with all of the tents raised. (Will they survive the predicted storms?)

Nestled among all the cars are a wide variety of toys — including some great vehicle toys. Yes, car collectors are also toy car collectors, which means I should have some interesting things to report after the weekend.

Until then, enjoy summer — after all, the holidays are just a short time away!