World leading toy expert hints educational toys top this Christmas shopping list ItsImagical unveils top 8 Christmas toy trends & valuesBack

Press Release on November 23, 2005

Hong Kong parents aim high but over 50% spend only one hour or even less a day in quality playing time with their children

(Hong Kong November 23, 2005) If you haven't figured out your Christmas shopping list, ItsImagical, one of the largest specialized toy retail company in the world has just opened its Asian flagship store in Hong Kong, and is happy to offer you some recommendations. According to the latest "Shall We Play?" survey commissioned by ItsImagical, Hong Kong parents want educational games (36%), intelligence inspired games (39%) and books (39%) as Christmas gifts for their children this year. "Educational" (58%) is considered as the top priority when selecting toys. 39% of the parents plan to spend HK$ 100 or more on a Christmas gift per child, a 7% increase from the monthly toy purchase spending.

The survey was commissioned by ItsImagical - entitled "2005 Toy Choice Survey" - was conducted by The University of Hong Kong's Public Opinion Programme (HKUPOP) at the end of October. A total of 500 parents aged between 25 to 54 and have children of aged 9 or below were surveyed, who have also been purchasing toys for children in the past 2 years.

While education-oriented is the top desire this Christmas, reflecting to a great extent that Hong Kong parents always have high expectation for their next generation, almost all of the survey respondents (98%), highly consider that "playing together with children" is important and very important in order to raise better children. 56% consider 2 to 3 hours as play-with-children time per day is the most ideal. However, the "2005 Toy Choice Survey" findings show the reality that more than 50% of the parents spend only one hour or even less a day playing with their children.

"Parent playing with children is key to a child's growth and development. Through playing with parents, their lifetime models, children learn what love is, what warmth is and how to build self-confidence. This is such a magical experience for both parents and children that they will never forget it. With a variety of quality toys including the trendy educational toys offered in the market today, it further enhances this magical moment. " Stated Dr Fritz Pang, Registered Educational Psychologist.

As a world leading toy expert, ItsImagical advocates to connect parents and children by offering a variety of toys that involves both parties, a concept that helps parents educate children while having fun with them at the same time. More importantly, it is enabling the family to spend time together.

"Hong Kong parents, like parents in many other countries, regard love and care as the most essential elements in raising children, even though they always have a high expectation of them. To make a balance between quality parenting and educating is vital. To strengthen the link between parents and kids is our priority. ItsImagical is committed to help parents raise children with positive values. Each of our toys has at least one positive value behind it. For example, 'ItsImagical Stories' with the company value Marvelous Minds enables parents to be creative with their children, by making up their own stories with finger puppets and pictures." Helena Lopez, Director of ItsImagical Hong Kong.

As Christmas draws nearer and a new year will begin, ItsImagical encourages balancing educating your children with spending quality time with them by unveiling its top 8 Christmas toys trend & values. Among the 8 most favorable categories, it is worth to note a couple of emerged ones. They are "Imagical MP3" - a MP3 toy with 32MB memory space with built in speaker. It allows messages recording and even downloading songs. "PDA Jr." is a PDA for juniors aged 6 years on with 7 languages to choose from. It comes with alarm, calendar, dairy, etc., which help building organization skills. Another is "Autosofa" - a fantastic cover that transforms sofa into a taxi, ambulance or a fire machine with the 3 interchangeable signs.

ItsImagical's Top 8 Christmas Toy Categories:

1. Techno Go-Go for the Little Geniuses (electronic toys): PDA's and MP3's to help children get to grip with the present electronics filled world.
2. Imaginative World (role playing): Costumes, puppets and stages that develop a child's imagination through pretence.
3. Free Your Mind (creative): Enables children to express their feelings through drawings and story-telling.
4. On the Move (action): Keep children active and move about, as that is what they are born to do.
5. Take Care of Me (dolls): The ItsImagical dolls teach children how to care for otherse.
6. Fun at Home (environmental): Enables the child's house to become a place of fun.
7. Have a Happy Habit (makes daily routines fun): Making drag routines become fun routines for children.
8. Green Toy (environmental-friendly): Toys made from environmentally safe and friendly materials that teach children to care about our environment.

Each category is supported by ItsImagical's true value(s), and one that is common within many ItsImagical toys is Growing Up Happy. For example, a toy that bares this value is the Kico Nico, it teaches children to grow up loving themselves the way they are. Parents can choose a value that they desire to build within their children.

About ItsImagcial
ItsImagical is one of the largest specialized toy retail companies in the world today, with 310 sales outlets in 26 countries, offering parents and children fun and learning with quality and safety toys. ItsImagical products, an exclusive collection that is renewed regularly, provide children with both development and social values. ItsImagical believes children will have more and better fun in playing toys, which promote more comprehensive education and development for children.

ItsImagical currently has 3 branches in Hong Kong at the Lee Gardens Two (Shop 216 Level 2), the APM Mall (Shop L2-9 Level 2), and the Ocean Terminal (Shop G17 Level G).

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