Toy Fair 2009 - A Great Start To The Year

The response to this year's Toy Fair in New York City was very encouraging. The fair was as busy as ever, with lots of exhibitors as well as buyers along the aisles. As expected, toy safety is the highest priority with most toy manufacturers this year. Another expected trend at the fair was the prevelance of green toys and organic toys, with lots of new firms exhibiting their products, as well as older firms who have been in the organic toy business for a while, who continued to promote their products.

A strong undercurrent which could be felt everywhere was the uncertainity about how the economy is going to be in the coming year. Based on this, most toy manufacturers have kept their prices under control. Many big names in the toy business have priced their entire line of toys much more affordably. This is in sharp contrast to last year, where one could see very highly priced toys going for hundred's of dollars.

I found that there was a marked emphasis on classic toys. Simpler and more basic toys are definitely setting the trend this year. Classic toys like jigsaw puzzles were everywhere. Building and construction toys are being encouraged this year. Dolls, dollhouses, pretend play, role play toys were to be seen in many places too. Toys based on magic shows and tricks were spotted as well. There was a much lesser influence of electronic toys at the fair as compared to last year.

Overall, it was reassuring to see classic toys and "quieter" toys being encouraged. Toys which are meant to be cherished and played with over many years are definitely key this year, in comparision to the "one hit wonder" kind of toys that we've been seeing in the recent past.