Have you looked through the 2010 Walmart Top Toy Catalog yet? If not, you should! There are so many toys that it was difficult to choose just a few to talk about! Here are a few of the good and bad in my personal opinion… and hopefully I’ll help with ideas for your Christmas list!
Barbie Video Girl:
It’s a good concept. My girls had a lot of fun playing with the Barbie Video Girl. I just wasn’t as impressed as I had hoped to be. Here’s why. The Barbie Video Girl has a small video camera in the middle of her chest. It’s made to look like a large necklace pendant, which is fine, but it just looked weird to me. They loved using Barbie to video interviews of each other, and their other dolls, and they played with it for a couple of hours, so from a kid standpoint, it seems like a hit. From a techie mommy side, I was disappointed in the video quality. We used the Barbie Video Girl in our living room, which is pretty well lit since one of our walls is almost completely windows. The video still turned out dark and hard to see. Hooking up the Barbie to the computer was easy. It plugs in via USB cable, and pops up on my Mac as any external camera/memory card would. Transferring video over was a breeze. I can see where Mattel was going with this, and I think it’s a great idea that just needs a little more work. My girls are used to their Flip Cameras, so they weren’t too happy when their videos turned out too dark. All in all, it’s a lot of fun for the kids, jut don’t keep your technological hopes high. Barbie Video Girl can be found at Walmart for $39.95
Squinkies:
I’ve seen these around for a while, and I have no idea what it is with them, but they are HOT! My girls absolutely love them! What are Squinkies? Well, they are cute little squishy, collectible things… Animals, dolls, birthday cakes, you name it, there’s probably a Squinkie of it. They have little playsets to go with them. I think our favorite is the Cupcake play house. It makes great storage for the Squinkies when the girls aren’t playing with them. We’ve had to get a little storage box to keep all of their Squinkies in, otherwise they’d be all over their room. From a kid point of view, Squinkies are pretty cool, and fun to play with. I think they’re cute, reasonably priced, and fun for the kids. They are not meant for very little kids as they are very small and the playsets contain very small parts. Prices vary and range from around $3.98 to about $14.98 depending on the package you purchase.
V.Reader from VTech:
This is known as the girls’ Kindle in our house. My girls absolutely love their V.Readers! The V.Reader has a color touch screen, pretty good selection of “e-books” and a bunch of really cute games that go along with them. My girls were absolutely glued to their V.Readers for at least an hour when they first got them. I love them because they have been learning to read, and the V.Reader helps them practice reading while having fun. I think this is a great gift for kids! It’s reasonably priced at $49.95 and additional book cartridges are about $17.95
These are just a few of the many toys that you can find at Walmart this holiday season. They have great prices on this year’s top toys! Check out the 2010 Top Toy Catalog in your local store!
I am a participant in the Walmart Moms program.  Join me and my fellow Walmart Moms, and see some great reviews of 2010’s Top Toys! Walmart provided me with a gift card to purchase some toys for this post. Walmart has provided me with compensation for this blog post. Participation in this program is voluntary. As always, all opinions are 100% my own.