Be the Awesome Aunt! Cool Holiday Toys for Nieces & Nephews
Wanna become the coolest aunt to your young niece and nephew? Here’s a tip: Learn about what’s hot for holiday toys this year.
Every year brings a new slew of toys for boys and girls, and with them, accompanying marketing gimmicks and TV tie-ins to help promote them. It doesn’t take much to find out what toys and accessories will wow your favorite kids.
You’ll score points with your brother or sister’s kids if you show that you’re down on what’s epic on Cartoon Network, what’s hilarious on Nickelodeon, or what’s just plain goofy on the Disney Channel. After all, you want your nieces and nephews to remember you for cool toys, not just the Minted photo Christmas cards that you sent for Christmas.
Earlier this year, Toys R Us announced its annual “hot toy” list that, according to Huffington Post, “includes tablets for kids, fashion dolls in the likeness of boy-band sensation One Direction, and even retro hits like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Furby.”
So with some top toy knowledge, here are some toy ideas for holiday shopping as to what’s awesome for boys, and cute for girls.
Girls Toys
Lalaloopsy Silly Hair Stars Harmony B. Sharp
Every little niece about 4-6 yrs. old will appreciate the talking, singing button-eyed doll called Lalaloopsy. She has interactive features, like being able to talk, dance and sing five different songs when she gets a new hairdo. Your niece will love the creative play and music fun of Lalaloopsy.
Multiplication Mosaics
If you have a math-loving niece like I do, she’ll love Multiplication Mosaics, which teaches math tables in artistic and creative ways. She’ll be jazzed by the art of all those numbers!
Boys Toys
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Deluxe Power Sound FX Figures
You might remember the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the 1980s. They’re still here, and like any cool character with longevity, they get modernized and computerized. These warriors of the night will thrill your 5 yr. old boy because of its new features, like the activated TMNT arms and legs that boys can pull to trigger heroic battle phrases like “I’m invincible!” or “Hiiiiii-ya!” And here’s a headache inducing feature for parents: the longer your nephew pulls and holds the arm or leg, the longer the phrases sound out.
MEGA Bloks Skylanders Giants Arkeyan Copter Attack
This toy is perfect for the MEGA Blok loving nephew in your life. It combines MEGA Bloks with characters from the epic video game Skylanders, in which the toy characters come to life on a portal via your video screen. MEGA has taken some of the Skylanders Giants figures and turned them into a MEGA Bloks construction set, with 138 pieces that lets your nephew build an attack copter, with a cockpit, spinning rotors, and two working launchers. Plus, they work online with codes at Skylanders.MegaBloks.com.
Of course, there are many more toys to choose from. Try checking Toys R Us online for tips and insights. Or on Saturday mornings, instead of turning on CNN or your other favorite cable news channel, flip on Disney Channel, Nick Jr. or Cartoon Network to see which toys advertisers are pitching to kids. That’s a good sense to know what toy ideas are in their (fun) brains!


