Christmas Bestselling Gifts

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Highlands Today

By JOE SEELIG

SEBRING - Santa's fine-tuned his list of who is naughty or nice, who hasn't called and who forgot to write. Turkeys will thaw for Thanksgiving Day and it won't be long before it's Black Friday.

Many holiday shoppers aren't waiting until Black Friday to find their bargains, according to Melissa O'Brien, a spokesperson for Walmart stores.

"They're very focused on value," she said.

But in this fast-paced world, it's difficult to keep up with what's holiday-hot and what's definitely not.

This year's hot item is furry, but not a Furby, for people who remember those little "must-have" fur-bots, which sold 40 million units from 1998 through 2000. Nor is it a Tickle Me Elmo, the must-have toy of 1996.

Among the Top 10 items being sought and sold for 2009 at Walmart are the Zhu Zhu Pets' Zhu Zhu Hamster, a robotic hamster that's available as five different characters: Patches, Chunk, PipSqueak, Num Nums and Mr. Squiggles.

The little guys are scurrying from store shelves as fast as retailers can stock them.

"It's unlikely you'll find them in the store today," said O'Brien. "We continue to get as many as we can each week."

The neat thing about Zhu Zhu Hamsters is they don't eat, they don't mess their cages and they don't die, technically. Well, they do run on batteries.

In addition to the five hamsters, there are multiple Zhu Zhu Pets accessories available for purchase, allowing kids to collect and connect them all to create their own customized hamster habitats, according to their Web site.

These accessories include the hamster funhouse, hamster wheel and tunnel, hamster-mobile and garage, spiral slide and ramp, adventure ball, surfboard and sleep dome, skateboard and U-turn, pet bed and blanket and pet carrier and blanket.

Zhu Zhu Pets are being sold at Walmart, Toys "R" Us, Target, eToys, amazon.com and other select retail stores. For more information go to: http://www.zhuzhupets.com .

Board games

At Walmart is a resurgence of interest this year in board games, O'Brien said. Games like Candyland, Monopoly, Yahtzee, Sorry and Sorry Sliders are big sellers.

"We've got many of them in stock at $5 now," she said.

Action figures and games

Transformers action figures and Transformers playsets are hot items. These Hasbro toys change from robots into a various kinds of cars, tanks, trucks jets, etc., including good guys and the villains and hopefully hours of fun.

For the more mature child or even a man-child, a copy of the Transformers' DVD could be fun.

The Star Wars action figures and playsets are still big sellers.

Sega Toys and Spin Master released a strategic game, called Bakugan, using metal cards and magnetic spring-loaded miniature figures.

"These balls containing mini-droids roll over a magnet card and pop open, and whatever is on that card... It's hard to explain. But it's for young boys," said O'Brien.

The latest season of Bakugan is called Bakugan: New Vestroia. The next one which is coming in 2010 is Bakugan: Gundalian Invaders.

For a softer side of life Nerf toys are still going strong.

Those precious home furnishings could be a little safer around Nerf Blasters, the Nerf Big Bad Bow, or Nerf Dart Tag.

If that's too violent for your taste, there are Nerf Nerfoop Basketball With Wings for the kids to play with; the Nerf Night Jam Hoop, a half dozen kinds of Nerf footballs, etc. and lastly Nerf armor for Nintendo DS games.

Crayola has a big line of popular products for the artistic crowd.

Kids and parents love the interactive playtime they have with a new product called Bendaroos, for bendable craft fun, said O'Brien.

Video Games

As the holiday season marches on, the local GameStop store at Lakeshore Mall will see a steady stream of shoppers choosing holiday gifts.

Video games and consoles have become a big part of holiday giving, not just for children but also adults.

In recent weeks, manufacturers of Wii, Xbox and PlayStation 3


have reportedly slashed their prices.

Sebring GameStop store manager Lisa Duprey expects brisk sales of these systems, but the No. 1 video game console that she said always sells out for Christmas is the Nintendo DS Lite, a dual-screen handheld video game.

"The Wii is also popular," Duprey said. "It's a family-based console."

Duprey remembers playing Mario Brothers games on the original Nintendo systems while in middle school. By the time she was "old enough to babysit" the Nintendo 64 was the rage.

Nintendo is still around. So is Mario. And so is Sony, among others.

What's changed is the technological finesse that gamers now have at their finger tips.

Headphones for video games have surround sound, Duprey said.

When she plays the all-time video game blockbuster, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, the shadows of enemy soldiers can alert her to danger and the controllers vibrate when a grenade goes off.

Electronics

Wireless gadgets, BlackBerrys, iPhones, iPods, iRecord - personal media recorder, MP3 players, digital cameras and picture makers, lap top computers





and notebooks are all popular. And, don't forget the accessories.

And let's not forget those HDTVs, BlueRay players and DVDs.

Toys "R" Us

A Toys "R" Us store employee at Eagle Ridge Mall in Lake Wales said Zhu Zhu Pets are this season's hottest seller there as well.

The store can't keep up with the demand and a customer can only buy one at a time.

Electronics, Star Wars or Lego play-sets, Hot Wheels and action figures are enduring holiday gift items.

What has also endured the test of time are Elmo toys and Power Wheels by Fisher Price, he added.

Important: For information on recalled items go to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Web site at http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prerel.html .

Holidays past spark warm memories

Nearly everyone can recall a favorite holiday toy that made a big impression during their childhood. For a little girl in the 1960s it may have been the Thumbelina doll. Thumbelina was Ideal'smost popularselling baby doll of the 1960s.

For a young boy it could have been a Fort Apache playset. Or for both boy and girl the Mouse Trap Game published by Ideal in 1963 was a big hit.

Michele Keller, 41, of Sebring was holiday shopping Wednesday afternoon with her two daughters, ages 12 and 16.

Keller fondly remembered her favorite Christmas toy, her first Barbie Doll, when she was just 6 years old.

"That was the best Christmas ever," she said.

But her girls are beyond the age of getting toys.

"My youngest daughter doesn't have cable in her room," said Keller. "That's what we're getting her. My older daughter is getting a phone."

She and her husband may catch up with the girls and get their own laptops, she said.

Will she brave the Black Friday scene?

"I've always avoided doing that, but I've always worked," she said. "This year I'm not working so I think I just might do it to see what all the fuss is about."

Highlands Today reporter Joe Seelig can be reached at 863-386-5834 or jseelig@highlandstoday.com