It is now estimated to be worth over £2.2 billion. In addition, of the 500 best-selling toys in 2007, more than half were new products. In 2005 by contrast the market had witnessed a level performance with 2004. The industry also enjoyed growth of 4.5 percent during December alone compared to the previous year, despite reports that footfall was down. Following the trend set in recent years, the majority of Christmas toy sales occurred later in the month. The final week before Christmas saw the highest turnover, with toy sales of over £100 million. The final quarter of the year accounted for just over half of total annual toy sales.

Compare that with how nursery fares during the run up to Christmas and you can see why many nursery retailers look to selling toys at this time of year.

The Nursery Toys Guide ran an online survey in November and December of 2006 to try and understand more about parents’ attitudes to toy buying for their children. Over two thirds of parents bought their child a book for their Christmas stocking. Fifty six per cent of parents included a soft toy and 45 per cent added a tangerine to the stocking. Overall, the results indicated that for Christmas, parents tended to spend between £70 - £150 on toys and books for their children. The most popular toys tended to be building toys (32 per cent), electronic toys (22 per cent) and musical toys (14 per cent) whilst the favourite toy brands included Fisher Price (24 per cent), Early Learning Centre (21 per cent) and Lego (16 per cent).

Obviously a nursery shop is not the sort of place that springs to mind when looking for toys for older children but there is a definite market for toys for their younger brothers and sisters, especially the 56% that buy a soft toy.