The New York Toy Fair in Pictures

by Lori Cunningham  

Ah yes, the New York Toy Fair.  Since college, I have always wanted to attend.  It was my plan to work for a toy company.   Remember the movie BIG?  I loved that movie.   I so desperately wanted to work for Fisher-Price, but moving to New York from sunny Southern  California seemed like such a sacrifice.  So instead, I pursued Mattel in El Segundo, CA.  I’d always heard getting into Mattel was extremely hard.  I did a lot of interviewing in my senior year of college.  I was blessed to be offered a job with Nestle early, with a fantastic 15 mos. training program in marketing and sales. 

Nonetheless, I still pursued Mattel.  When I finally obtained my interview with Mattel (with much assertion I assure you), they recommended I take the job with Nestle, as their marketing training program was unsurpassed.  So, I took a different path than I anticipated.  There was no doubt, chocolate has always been another love of mine.  I stayed at Nestle for 12 years until I decided to stay home full-time.  I have enjoyed spending time with my kids these past 8 years.  Once I got into blogging, I realized that I now had the credentials to attend the Toy Fair.  So, 20 years later I finally attended the Toy Fair last week and let me tell you, it was a hoot!  I had a blast! 

No children are allowed on the show floor, which is rather ironic, since the people at the show are buying toys to stock the retail stores.  Nonetheless, the buyers at the Toy Fair were serious about their trade.  They attended demonstrations, sat down at tables and played board games to learn of their entertainment value, and hit the carpet to see over 1,100 toy companies and their 100,000+ toy offerings.

I felt like a kid in a candy store…there were toys everywhere!  As a newbie to the Toy Fair, I went in search of the best toys…both with a technology bent and without.  It didn’t matter whether a toy was new or had been out for years.  I just wanted to find the coolest toys.  And you know what?  I found them!  I will showcase my fave toys…both tech and non-tech in a later post.  For this post, I want to give you a “feel” of some of the fun sights from the show…

These stairs were transformed.  You almost had to watch your step as you walk up to the main Toy Fair hall.  Don’t step on Hello Kitty!  I’m sure my daughter would have reprimanded me if I did!

Now this Lightning McQueen was something to see.  Lego Master Builders used 325,000 Lego bricks and it took over 2,000 hours for them to build.  The car weighs 3 tons!

Before heading into the show, I garnered some extra strength from my Power Rangers buddies to face the day!  I’m ready for action!

I loved these Beanie Puzzle Eraserz from ty.  They have over 15 different kinds of collectible animals that come apart into 2-4 pieces.  Kids then piece them back together again.  My kids loved playing with these throughout our trip.  These erasable collectibles will retail for $1.00, a price children can afford.

 What’s a Toy Fair without Angry Birds, the highly popular app that everyone is talking about.  Now debuting in the plush, you’ll be able to cuddle with your Angry Birds or mischievous Pigs every night!  Pricing ranges from $6 to $60 dependent upon the size of character.

Lego’s new Pirates of the Caribbean — Queen Anne’s Revenge Ship for ages 9-16 is pretty remarkable with all of it’s detail and accessories.  It will be available in May for $119.99.

I took a tour of the HEXBUG booth and I never realized they have so many different bugs.  They have crabs that walk side ways, spiders that use all of their legs, an inchworm that inches along, and an ant, and some of these even have remote controls! 

The new glow in the dark line really got my attention.   The Glow in the Dark HEXBUG Nano Habitat Set’s tracks and bugs will glow once the lights are turned off.  I’ve been told that the glow will last up to 2 hours in the dark!  Pretty cool. The Habitat set will retail for $39.99.

 What I love about the Toy Fair is that you don’t have to be a big company to get a booth and show off your product.  At age 12, this boy came up with an idea.  He wanted to roll marbles down a wall.  With his dad’s help, they created the Wall Coaster which has interactive shoots, buckets, and spinners to guide marbles along.  Affixed with a putty, found easily in hardware stores, you can arrange and rearrange your tracks to your heart’s content.  Purchasing extra sets will allow you to extend the fun.  Wall Coaster sets can be purchased online  ranging from $19.95 to $29.95.

Another new toy inventor, Michele Berman, came up with the creative zazoo KiDS photo clock which uses pictures to teach children when they should stay in bed and when they can get up.  This helps parents get in their extra zzzz’s as well as kids.  This fun clock also features  a rotating photo frame, alarm clock, video and MP3 playback ,and calendar features.  zazoo KiDS just debuted is available now online for $89.99. 

 Mega Bloks gave mom bloggers a special tour of their booth, which was behind closed doors so competitors couldn’t peek in on their upcoming toy releases for Christmas this year.

Although there were tons of fun products at the Mega Blok’s booth…for all ages… one of the unique items was the new Need for Speed race cars where you build the race car yourself.  This brings together two of boys’ favorite activities into one toy.  Boys will love it.  Prices will range from $11.99 to $49.99.

Crayola and Griffin Technology have joined together to create Crayola ColorStudio HD.  This fun little app for the iPad offers all sorts of coloring activities and the option to color with many different types of materials…marker, pencil, crayon, etc.  The ColorStudio HD app contains a large library of templates to color or kids can free draw their own creations.  Fun games and social sharing are also included.  The app is free but you’ll need to buy the Crayola iMarker digital stylus available later this year for $29.99.

Now here’s something you don’t see everyday!  The WMC booth had two men in Scooba diving suits walking around controlling a giant fish and giant shark in the air with their remote controls.  The fish and shark are actually large mylar balloons, filled with helium, but geared with technology that makes their tails swish and allows them to move via remote control.  Talk about a way to make an impression at your child’s birthday party!  Called Air Swimmers, these giant fish will provide weeks of entertainment and can be refilled.  They are scheduled to debut in July, retailing around $39.99.

Toy giant Mattel was living large at the Toy Fair.  They took over the North Hall to display their products from Mattel and Fisher-Price.  Entry into the hall was for press only.  Buyers had their own private booth to enter, but it wasn’t nearly the size of the press booth.  I must say the booth was most impressive…and busy.  Obtaining an appointment even ahead of the show wasn’t easy. 

This picture doesn’t do it justice, put it gives you a glance at what the hall looked like, filled with their products.  I was  given a personal tour with demonstrators lined up at each product.  It took 1 1/2 hours to go through the booth!

Before the Toy Fair, Mattel created a lot of buzz around NYC with their “Ken wants Barbie back” campaign. 

Advertisements like these were in the Mattel booth and around Times Square asking people to text in whether they felt Barbie should take Ken back.  By the last day of the Toy Fair, it was advertised that Barbie did take Ken back.  Phew.  All is well again.  I can go on with my life.

Of course with Barbie being the ever fashionista,  Mattel has come out with customizable, printable hair extensions called Barbie Hairtastic Printables!  Create cool designs on the computer and print them out using exclusive Barbie hair paper.  The special paper works with most color printers.  Attach them to your Barbie and yourself!  Be the hippest one on the block! Barbie Hairtastic Printables Will sell for $29.99 later in the year.

OK, now I’ve seen everything.  Mattel was also debuting their new Mind Flex Duel game.  Both players wear a headband with sensors along with a sensor clipped to your ear.  There is a long board in between the players with a small blue ball.  The object of the game is to move the blue ball to your opponent’s side using your mind.  The blue ball incidentally floats in the air slightly above the board game.  Apparently, you are moving the ball by using limited telekinesis.  As you get better you can think the ball through all sorts of hoops and obstacles.  Mind flex will debut later this year for $99.

And, like CES, you can always expect a blogger party or two!  Fisher-Price, Lego’s, and Zhu Zhu Pets put on some very nice gatherings to thank bloggers for their support, get to know them better, and debut their latest toy innovations.  Fisher-Price hosted their first ever Toy Fair blogger event at Loew’s Hotel in Manhattan. 

Cocktails awaited us as we entered the door.  Great tasting hor’ deurves were passed around as we gathered and talked with other bloggers. 

Later, the curtain was opened and we had the opportunity to see all of their latest products and interact with company representatives.  A live screen depicted all the tweets for the evening so we could keep up with one another. 

I just loved the flower arrangements on the tables.  They were adorable!

Well, there you have it.  I wish I could show you more pictures, but my entire website would probably crash with all of the pictures I took.  Rest assured, there will be more articles stemming from the Toy Fair 2011.  Next I’ll post about some of my fave toys.  But I’ll warn you now, I couldn’t just pick 5…or 10…or 15!