IT’s the most magical time of the year - nearly.
In my opinion, Christmas shopping in the run up to December 25 should be considered an Olympic sport.
Your heart rate increases and between the adrenalin, the highs, the lows, and the scuffles over that last pair of mittens in Baby Gap, it must be at least the equivalent of at an hour of power exercising at the gym.
So, while you may be burning calories as you scrimmage your way through an assault course of a department store, the unfortunate side effect is of course, stress.
So to help make your festive shopping binge as easy as possible, every week this column will cover the best gifts for your family this Christmas.
And best of all, all products featured will be available to order online from the comfort of your own living room.
So, feet up, tea in hand, and let us begin, with arguably the most important gift guide - toys for the kiddie winks.
Debenhams has recently revealed its top ten bestselling toys of all time as well as its predicted best sellers for this Christmas. After thorough sales analysis from the last fifty years, 1980s favourite the Cabbage Patch Doll has come out on top, but the predicted bestselling toy for this year is a tablet.
Despite the gap in years, the Debenhams chart shows that nostalgia still reigns supreme and some toys are still rated highly on kids’ Christmas lists decades on, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Lego.
The top five toys in 2013 vs the bestselling toys of all time are:
1 Kurio 4S touch tablet £90 vs Cabbage Patch Dolls
2 Doc McStuffins Doctor’s Bag £20 vs The Rubiks cube
3 Monster High 13 Wishes Party Dolls £23 vs Monopoly
4 Lego Galaxy Squad Bug Obliterator £60 v s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figures
5 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Anchovy Alley v Buzz Lightyear
Other treasured retro toys from Christmas past that didn’t quite make it into the top ten but were rated highly include; Space hoppers, Tiny Tears doll, Beanie Babies, My Little Pony, Polly Pocket, Transformers, Thunder Birds Tracy Island, Etch-a-Sketch, Care Bears, Action Man, Slinky, Star Wars Action Figures and family board game favourites Guess Who, Monopoly and Dream Phone.
James Ford, Debenhams' toy buyer, said: “As many Mums and Dads start their Christmas shopping this week, we hope this list provides them with a nostalgic look at the Christmases of their own childhoods.
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Lego are non-movers and are still as popular today as they were when they first launched. Parents will remember these brands, and provided we modernise them, they're more likely to buy them for their kids. These brands have stood the test of time."
“In recent years we have seen the rise of the tablet and techy gifts, we have two tablets alone on our list of top ten and last year sold 700 per cent more than previous years. “Dolls and action figures feature heavily as the best loved toys of all time, the only techy toy to make the list was 90’s favourite; the Tamagotchi. It’s nice to see that even despite technological advances some toys have maintained their popularity and kids today are playing with the same toys that their parents did.”
Interestingly the Queen of dolls, Barbie, has been knocked off the top ten this year and replaced with another doll from Mattel; Monsters High 13 Wishes Doll.
For your own little monsters, have a look at these classic toys, all available to buy online:
1. Marks and Spencer Magical Christmas Stories Book (£8.50 from www.marksandspencer.com)
2. Marks and Spencer My First Wooden Pull Along Duck Toy (£12 from www.marksandspencer.com)
3. Sainsbury's Dream Kingdom Unicorn & Stable Playset (£5.99 from www.sainsburys.co.uk)
4. Wilkinson Monster Crush Remote Control Truck (£20 from www.wilko.com)
5. Doc McStuffins Doctor’s Bag (£20 from www.debenhams.com)
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