A girl and her toys.

As a kid I used to call my basement Toys R Us. Mostly because one whole area in our basement was our dedicated toy room, and also because a friend once said we had more toys than Toys R Us.

After spending a few years with my fiancee's family, I've noticed that my family isn't the only one who bought and kept (for way too long) copious amounts of toys. So I sat down with my (future) niece and we discussed the hottest toys for kids... Keep in mind this list is composed by a 7-year-old girl.


1. Monster High (anything associated with this brand)

Monster High dolls are made by Mattel (yes the same company who brings you Barbie) after years of litigation, they could finally bring your their Bratz like dolls, meaning these dolls have huge heads and tiny slender bodies.


2. Pillow Pets (also anything associated with this brand)

Pillow Pets are really an ingenious idea. They are stuffed animals that turn into pillows, so kids can take their favorite stuffed animal to bed every night. They've also expanded the pillow pet brand to include dozens of animals, books, blankets, hats, games, and slippers! These things are so hot right now, even adults love them (ahem Angry Jess has one!)





3. Zoobles

Zoobles come from the same toy company who brought us Bakugan. They basically took the same product, changed the color scheme and the name and violia they had a new toy, and a new market. Now this line changes so much its kind of hard to keep up with but the kids love it and its popularity doesn't seem to be fading anytime soon.






4. SMS messengers

It seems almost every toy company has launched their own version of this product. My (future) niece has a Monster High version of this toy...which BTW didn't these debut way back in like 2001? I remember them from that era, but I believe my generation's were of much higher quality. Current gen models have to be in a well lit area and kept in a straight line to have the messages sent. There are a few brands out there that are actually more of an IM or web based service, and I would recommend those over these. Check out IM me instead.



5. Barbie (and Ken, that's right they're still on top)

Barbie debuted in 1958, its almost shocking to think that a toy that is over 50-years-old is still on top as one of the highest selling children toys ever. But then again, with numerous face lifts and image revamping, I guess Mattel made sure of it. She and Ken began rekindling their romance during the filming of Toy Story 3. The new hit doll will be the "Barbie Video Girl Doll"





6. Club Penguin Membership

Club Penguin is a MMORPG for kids, by Disney. It is designed for kids ages 6-14. One of the major focuses is child safety, and they have even implemented the "ultimate safe chat" where users select comments from a menu of options. They must purchase a membership (even though free memberships are available) if they want to spend any in game currency to buy virtual pets and other things.




7. Legos

Legos are another one of those toys that have been around, practically forever! Noe the most popular sets of Legos include: Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Sponge Bob. It was kind of hard to tell if girls are interested in these simply because the boys love them, or if they genuinely love them too. But I do know that they are here to stay, maybe for another 50 years! Lego has expanded their line to movies, video games and other merchandise.





8. Littlest PetShop

Many people don't know that LPS has been around since the early 1990s. It has had some serious reconstruction and image revamping since then but now it has become a longtime favorite of little girls. Hasbro recently created video games and an online world for girls to adopt virtual pets.




9. Nintendo Dsi

The Nintendo Dsi has been around since 2009. And it has been popular with kids ever since! They love the camera feature, the online games, the Nintendo shop and many of the other games as well. My one gripe is that this is not a toy for kids. My recommendation is to wait until they have the ability to read to dish out the cash for a system like this.

10. Wii games

The Wii has been super popular with families with young children since it was released in 2006. The reason is, many games are "party" games and are designed for the most novice of video gamers. Recently the most popular games for kids include the Just Dance franchise, Mario Party, Mario Kart, the Lego Franchise, and a few more. Personally I love my Wii and I will recommend it to anyone because of its versatility. Not only can you play current generation games but you have the ability to download all of your favorite Nintendo (and even some Sega) games!



Thats our list of the current popular kids toys, but stay tuned this week as we update our blog with the most popular toys of our childhood. Thats right we're talking 1980s and 1990s toys. So buckle your seat belts, we're going back in time!

(Do you have a favorite toy that has to be included in our list? How about suggestions for an upcoming list) Be sure to leave a comment or email us thelistchicks@gmail.com