Collectibles and Plush among Toys Hopping into Easter Baskets

March 26, 2018 | The National Retail Federation (NRF) projects that Easter spending will total $18.2 billion this year, a figure that is almost on par with the record $18.4 billion consumers spent for the holiday in 2017.

According to the NRF survey, consumers will spend $2.9 billion on gifts alone for the holiday – and no Easter basket would be complete without toys.

“Toymakers are unveiling fresh spring lines and collectibles, especially those that come in bling bags, and plush, continue to be hot toy categories,” said Adrienne Appell, toy trends specialist at The Toy Association. “Whether its activities that will engage kids’ creativity or a super-soft plush to tap into their nurturing skills, the Easter basket is the perfect place to incorporate fun, new playthings for kids of all ages.”

Appell was recently featured on Chicago’s ABC/WLS to talk about great ideas for Easter gifts. View a recording of the broadcast TV segment on The Toy Association’s YouTube page.

Here is a selection of new toys and activities all under $15, making them perfect picks for Easter:

Kellytoy’s Uni-Pets (3+) is a brand new magical collectible plush toy line with characters straight out of a fairytale. Uni-Pets are a hybrid creation between a unicorn and another familiar animal, offering kids super soft, huggable joy. Characters include a pig, cow, lion, elephant, monkey, panda bear, puppy, and cat.

Wowwee has added to its Fingerling line by introducing Fingerling Baby Unicorns and Baby Sloths (5+).  Each pet Fingerling responds to noise, motion, and touch with special unicorn and sloth sounds, with the sloth moving 20 percent slower than regular Fingerlings – to emulate real Sloths.

Funrise has added 20 new Tonka Tinys Blind Box Vehicles (5+) to its micro-sized line. The vehicle replicas are built “Tonka tough” with real-working wheels; each comes with its own garage for storing and stacking. There are more than 80 Tonka Tinys vehicles in all to collect!

Ideal for Easter, the Peeps® PopUp Play Scene (4+) by Savvi (a division of TM International) contains one Peeps®-themed travel tote that, when opened, reveals a cute play scene that can be decorated with reusable stickers. The activity kit comes with 25 reusable stickers and six 3D chick and bunny characters (in the signature Peeps style) that will keep little ones occupied with lots of creative play.

GUND’s Mini Dahlia Bunny (1+) is an adorable white bunny decked in her springtime finest! This 7.5-inch plush features pale pink accents on the inner ears and a pink flower crown.

Epoch’s new nursery collection features sweet Baby Critters and specially designed environments. The Calico Critters Blind Bags - Baby Band Series (3+) adds an element of surprise to Calico Critters play. Each bag contains a baby critter and a uniquely designed musical instrument. Kids can collect all eight new babies to complete the band.

Pikmi Pops Surprise (6+) from Moose Toys are big lollipops filled with cute mini-plushies and so many sweet surprises for kids to enjoy. For season 2, new surprise items include: notebooks, sticker sheets, nail decals, a pencil case, charms keyrings, and erasers. There are more than 45 new Pikmi plushies to collect in yummy scents.

The Toy Association is continually looking for new and exciting playthings for media opportunities. Toy and game suggestions may be sent to Adrienne Appell. All products must be available at retail and new for spring 2018. If selected, shipping instructions will be provided. Preference for all media opportunities is given to members of The Toy Association.