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Founded in 1760, Hamleys isn’t just the oldest toyshop in London: it’s the oldest and most influential toyshop in the world. (It’s older than the United States of America).
And that means the world pays attention when it announces its annual Festive 15 – a roundup of the toys that its in-house experts believe will be massive this present-buying season, based on a mix of toy fair trends, in store trends, educated guesswork and (let’s not pretend otherwise) a little pushing of its own in-house lines.
There is no formal number one, but some themes have definitely emerged, the two biggest being Squishies and Doom.
Although technically only a single toy line, Squishies (RRP £10) comprises a multitude of ultra-soft, low-cost stress relief toys and has proved to a runaway success – although Hamleys don’t choose a number one, they appear to pretty much be being pitched as the unofficial toy of the year. Taking in everything from a duck to a dumpling and with new additions added to the range every month until Christmas, Squishies are both on trend and extremely affordable, and are at least nominally good for stress levels.
The other big trend: Doom. That is to say, Doctor Doom. The iconic metal masked villain is joining the MCU this Christmas as the antagonist of Avengers: Doomsday and there are two items in the Festive 15 devoted to him: an impressive Lego bust (£45), and a cool light up action figure (£30) that’s being marketed as both a toy for kids and a display item for adults.
There’s actually a lot of blurring between ‘adult toys’ and ‘children’s toys’ on the list. A swanky collectible of virtual Japanese pop star Hatsune Miku (£26) is definitely not intended to be played with and the Doom Lego is nominally 18-plus (although this shouldn’t be taken as a hard and fast thing if you have a child gifted in the art of bricks).
Elsewhere, there are some fresh spins on old classics tipped for the top, with a new timber based edition of classic boardgame Articulate called Articulate Under Pressure (£25) and a nice PlayDoh Stamp & Spin Pizza Playset (£20). There’s also the Primal Hatch Megalodon (£55), a truly gargantuan example of one of those eggs you put in water, which spits out a fairly large megalodon at alarming speed.
There’s a couple of new dancing Barbies: Barbie in The Nutcracker Clara Doll and Barbie in The Nutcracker Sugar Plum Doll (£30 each). The Numberblocks Sing and Record Music Player helps little ones count their way to glory with 15 pre-recorded songs and the ability to record 90 seconds of singing for playback. Finally, Peppa Pig learns to cycle with the Ready, Pedal, Go Peppa Interactive Toy (£30), which is a model of the popular porcine on a bike that you can push around, or detach and leave to cycle around via its own technological magic.
Hamleys does use the list to promote some of its own wares - which is perfectly reasonable even if it perhaps says a bit less about general toy trends and a bit more about ‘what Hamleys has coming out’ than the other selections. There’s lots of nice-looking stuff: a charming Hamleys Wooden London Taxi (£25), a Magic 3D Track Set (£70), which is a very cute colourful block based track with small USB chargeable train, and the Movers and Shakers (£35 each), a line of very adorable animals (three dogs and a cat) that respond delightfully to claps, touch and other engagement.
Rounding out the list this year are a couple of remote controlled numbers: the Scorpix RC Transforming Car (£50), a sports car that loudly turns into a scorpion and the very butchly entitled Thunder Unicorn (£75) which is basically a unicorn-shaped drone.
Of course nobody is making you buy any of these items, but the Festive 15 gives a good idea of which way the wind is blowing this holiday season and if you’re in the market for toys – be they for your kids, your nephews and nieces, or heck, even some adults – you’re pretty safe with this list and its undeniably broad spread of price points.
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