Nostalgia rules this Christmas
With Christmas “just around the corner“, Entertain the Kids are please to bring together The Entertainer‘s Nostalgic Christmas compilation.
2015 sees a host of old franchises revamping and looking to return to your home come Christmas Day.
Christmas may be still be a month away, but all around the country children are getting their wish lists together, with more than a few renewed classics being in high demand. Monopoly, Meccano and Thunderbirds merchandise will be in almost every home come Christmas Day, and the release of the newest Star Wars film, The Force Awakens, is sure to create a last minute buying frenzy this holiday season.
Parents may remember it wasn’t too long ago that they were receiving very similar gifts themselves. Some toys have received great modern upgrades to be better than ever whereas others seem to have remained firm favourites or even made an unexpected comeback.
The Entertainer, the UK’s largest independent toy retailer, took a look at what are set to become this year’s most popular toys to see how nostalgic your homes will be getting come Christmas Day:
Monopoly Here & Now Game : £16.50
The classic board game is expected to be a firm favourite this year, with the new Here & Now World Edition taking the property-lending and money-wheeling game onto a global scale for its 80th anniversary. Monopoly has been a popular game since its initial release in the 1930s and has produced many collectable versions before this Here & Now World edition, which also has players collecting passport stamps alongside properties.
Pie Face Game : £20
The game that took the internet by storm is sure to come near the top of children’s lists, with the prospect of getting mum and dad’s face covered in cream just too much to resist. The game was actually first released by Hasbro back in the 1960’s meaning this game is set for a 50 year comeback.
Star Wars The Force Awakens Battle Action Millennium Falcon : £119.99
Kenner Toys originally brought Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon to the homes of children all over the world for Christmas in 1979, as Star Wars quickly became a pop culture phenomenon. 46 years later, the release of The Force Awakens means a new crew for the updated ship, now able to fire foam darts as well as carry all of your kids’ favourite Star Wars figures.
Real FX Slotless Racing Set : £79.99
Scalextric made it possible for children to race around their own courses from the late 1950s, with parents everywhere running coins through metal slot tracks and fiddling with wires to keep things working. Now, out of a successful Kickstarter campaign, Real FX integrated AI into their cars meaning no slots are required, and virtual hazards can be added to the course to ramp up the difficulty.
Thunderbirds Are Go – Interactive Tracy Island Playset : £71.99
Thanks to Thunderbirds re-runs on BBC2 at the time, Matchbox’s Tracy Island playsets became the must-have gift of 1992, resulting in stock shortages nationwide. Blue Peter even famously tried to rectify the problem by showing how to craft a homemade version. With Thunderbirds Are Go hitting our screen earlier this year, Tracy Island is back now with smart technology to launch the Thunderbirds automatically from their individual launch pads.
Meccano Meccanoid G15 KS Robot : £349.99
Meccano has been teaching the UK the principals of engineering since the turn of the 20th century. More than 100 years of metal plates, girders and wheels have delivered more than its fair share of must-haves, and this year Meccano released its most advanced set yet. To join the motorbikes and aeroplanes now is the Meccano Maccanoid, with Bluetooth enable ability and up to 1000 pre-programmed phrases.
About The Entertainer
The Entertainer was founded by husband and wife team, Gary and Catherine Grant, in 1981. In recent years it has experienced strong growth and, as a multichannel retailer, it now has 107 high street stores across the UK and a website that has over 18 million visits annually.
In March 2015 The Entertainer was named in ‘The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies To Work For’, in the first year that the group have taken part. The Entertainer was ranked at number 82, after competing against more than 1,050 other businesses and organisations. The Entertainer was then awarded Specialty Retailer of the Year award at the Oracle Retail Week Awards ceremony which took place on 12th March 2015.
The Entertainer currently employs over 1,200 people in its stores, this number rises to over 1,900 on the lead up to Christmas, and a further 150 are based at its Head Office in Amersham.
The Entertainer donates 10% of its net annual profit to charity each year as well as encouraging employees to donate a portion of their salary to charity through Workplace Giving. The retailer is also an active member of the Pennies scheme, whereby customers are given the option to donate a few pence to charity at the till-point, on average generating £5,000 of donations each week.
Prepared by : Sharon Steed
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