The Thanksgiving turkey is barely cooled down before the serious holiday shopping begins. Sometimes it’s hard to choose that one perfect thing to get for the kid in your life, given the vast amount of popular toys and fads available. But you don’t have to settle for just one. You can go for a mash-up, and combine the best part of two or more fads. If you’re not sure what to buy, consider this list of 15 popular toy fad mash-ups to inspire the most unimaginative shopper:
Raggedy Rubik’s Cube: Part rag doll, part mind-blowing shape shifter, this toy is appropriate for both toddlers and middle school boys alike.
• Tickle Me Pokémon: You play this trading card game by putting on fuzzy red gloves and tickling your opponent, while giggling like a maniac all the while.
• Cabbage Patch Beanies: If you’ve never seen beans growing in a cabbage patch, you’re in for a treat with this agricultural toy that encourages you to adopt a healthy diet of cruciferous vegetables. Be prepared to spend big bucks to collect them all.
• Mr. Potato Bobblehead: Try this game of skill to test your fine motor abilities by attempting to build a face on a potato head while it is in perpetual motion.
• Silly Putty Transformers: This little bit of slime can transform into a powerful robotic creature that might take over the world, unless it just sticks to the ceiling for the next three years.
• Mood Hula Hoops: A fresh take on the mood rings of the 1970s, these hula hoops change color to reflect your level of frustration at not being able to spin them more than once around your waist.
• Chia Ouija Board: To play this game, you first choose your spirit animal, which sprouts a fluffy little plant that can tell your future.
• Polly Pocketknife: This tiny knife measures barely one inch long, perfect for a child’s little fingers.
• Mad Libsopoly: Players make their way around the board trying to collect nouns, adjectives, numbers, and funny places. The winner is the one who can use the word “stinky” in five different parts of speech while simultaneously avoiding getting sent to grammar jail.
• Kewpie Trolls: These adorable baby-faced dolls have blue and pink hair that sticks straight up from the tops of their heads. Rub their fat little bellies for good luck.
• Slinky Nerf Balls: These foam balls are so tightly wound that they can “walk” down stairs or stretch to incredible lengths. Just don’t let them get tangled up when you insert them into their blasters.
• My Little Pony Spinners: These collectible plastic ponies have long, colorful manes and tails that link them together into a spinning vortex that allows them to fly home to Ponyville.
• Pet Jumping Beans: These beans come in their own personalized little box complete with care instructions. But be careful when you open it, or your pet beans might jump right out of the box.
• Trivial Dungeons: In this role-playing game, players advance by answering trivia questions about castles and dungeons across Europe.
And, the most popular toy fad mash-up of the 2017 shopping season:
• Lego Fingerlings: These blockhead finger puppets are formed from popping your fingertips into the holes in the bottom of your Lego bricks for an economical holiday gift.
Best wishes for the holiday shopping. Enjoy the toy fad mash-up of your choice!
• Peggy McKee Barnhill is a wife, mother and debut author who writes cozy mysteries under the name “Greta McKennan.” Her first novel, Uniformly Dead, is available at Hearthside Books. She likes to look at the bright side of life.
