So a couple of weeks ago I attended TIA’s annual NYC Toy Fair. For those of you that don’t know what Toy Fair is (no worries, I wasn’t aware of what it was until this year), every year the Toy Industry Association holds an industry and press only Toy Fair in NYC. This year there were over 30,000 people walking up and down Jacob Javits center – where the Fair was held. Generally, the fair largely caters to the business side of things – so giant retailers meet up with Toy Companies and manufacturers to wheel and deal in the background and bring the hottest toys to your local stores. I attended as press – which was pretty awesome because we did get our own press center and had access to showroom tours and things like that. Anyways, here’s what I saw at Toy Fair 2013!
Elf on a Shelf Makes a Reappearance – Pressman Toys has a lot of board games coming out. After watching Elf on a Shelf take over Pinterest this past holiday season I can definitely see an audience for the Naughty or Nice Board Game and the Musical Elf on the Shelf Hide and Seek game.
The Hobbit Board Game is one game that I, as a massive Hobbit & LOTR fan, am ridiculously excited about. In fact, anything Hobbit or LOTR related that I saw at Toy Fair is something I am ridiculously excited for.
The New Girl, Hello Kitty, The Smurfs, Skylanders, The Trash Pack, and Dork Diaries were also present at the Pressman booth.
Look at how big the Fair was, this was just ONE booth!
Westminster had some pretty awesome toys out, a personal favorite was this Bacon Bits pig and iCube puzzle cube.
Look- a Smurf!
Scanimalz had this GIANT Panda Scanimal perched precariously on the corner of their showroom – it was so adorable, I wish I could have taken him home with me!
Wonder Forge had loads of awesome toys, a lot of them were geared towards younger kids, but my favorite item at their booth was their Konexi game. Konexi is a game for the whole family, and how you play it is that you build words using letters while attaching them to eachother – if you make it fall you lose. If Jenga and Scrabble had a love child, this would be it!
I loved Monkeez and Goof Ballz – these plushy toys are not only absolutely adorable but also altruistic, Monkeez Makes a Difference donates a portion of the wholesale cost of your Monkeez to one of three charities of your choice when you register your Monkeez on their online interactive website (for kids!).
I also met with Crayola, which I was super excited about – they have the coolest products coming out, I wasn’t able to take any pictures but here’s a sneak peak that they posted on their Facebook wall recently:
So that’s it for Part 1 of my Toy Fair recap – let me know what you think? See any toys you’d like to get your hands on???