Gibsons also gifted Christmas hampers filled with its Little Gibsons pre-school range to children’s charities based around the UK.

Staff at Gibsons have provided gifts to local children in support of the company’s charity partner Jigsaw4U, and it has gifted £10,000 of jigsaw puzzles to the Royal Marsden and Mind, the mental health charity.

Ellie Seagrave, volunteer & community fundraising assistant at The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity said: “We’d like say a huge thank you to everyone at Gibsons for their kind donation. We give each of our patients gifts on Christmas day and this is only possible thanks to the support of businesses like yours. Our patients will be grateful to know you’re thinking of them at this special time of year.”

Gibsons also gifted Christmas hampers filled with its Little Gibsons pre-school range to several children’s charities based around the UK, including Happy Days and Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity.

“We are always on the lookout for ways that we can enhance the lives of those in our community. Our team really enjoy going out to buy something directly benefitting local children and we are delighted this year to offer our support again to The Royal Marsden and for the first time Mind,” states Gibsons managing director, Kate Gibson. “Puzzles are great for keeping the mind occupied. They can also be an extremely therapeutic and relaxing pastime which is beneficial for those suffering mental or physical health problems.”

According to Mind, approximately one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year and in England, one in six people report experiencing a common mental health problem in any given week.

You can find out more about Gibsons community support here.

Anne Kidgell, Hayley Holland and Paula Haddy join Ravensburger in the ninth consecutive year of growth for the company.

Ravensburger has made three new appointments, boosting both the sales and marketing teams.

Anne Kidgell joins the sales team as national account manager. She re-joins the toy industry following 11 years spent in the confectionery industry, including seven years at Kinnerton and a role with industry giant, Ferrero, where she managed a portfolio of high street accounts. Prior to this, Anne spent nine years in the sales team at Mattel. Anne will report to head of sales, Derek Scott.

“We’re delighted to have Anne on board at Ravensburger,” said Derek, “This is our ninth consecutive year of growth and Anne’s experience will be invaluable as we continue to build on that momentum through 2020.”

Reinforcing the marketing team, Hayley Holland joins Ravensburger as marketing and product development assistant, while Paula Haddy takes on the role of customer services advisor. Both new additions to the team will report to head of department, Katy Fletcher.

The year’s highlights are brought to life as kids are encouraged to get creative and bring their own best bits of the year to life using Lego bricks.

The birth of the royal baby has been voted as the highlight of 2019 by Britain’s kids, in a new poll conducted by the Lego Group. A selection of iconic moments have been brought to life using Lego bricks to showcase the highlights of 2019 through the eyes of a child.

The birth of Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in May topped the list, while 13-year-old Fin winning Junior Bake Off and the 50th anniversary of the moon landing also made a big impression on British kids over the past 12 months.

Sporting moments including England’s impressive run in the Rugby World Cup, and England reaching the Semi Finals of the Women’s World Cup over the summer, also scored highly, while animal-loving kids were delighted when a human-sized penguin fossil was discovered in New Zealand.

The top ten most memorable moments of 2019, as voted for by British children, are as follows:

1. The birth of the royal baby, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor (May)
2. The 50th anniversary of humans landing on the moon (July)
3. England’s run in the Rugby World Cup (September – November)
4. England reaching the Semi Finals of the Women’s World Cup (June – July)
5. Fin announced as the winner of Junior Bake off (November)
6. Colin Thackery announced as the winner of Britain’s Got Talent 2019 (June)
7. Karim Zeroual and Amy Dowden scoring the first perfect score for the current series of Strictly Come Dancing (December)
8. Human-sized penguin fossil being discovered in New Zealand (August)
9. Little Mix winning the Favourite Global Star Award at Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards (March)
10. Dina Asher Smith winning the 200m final at the World Athletics Championships (October)

The new partnership will see the release of kids cooking and baking sets under the Nadiya brand, due to launch in autumn/winter 2020.

Since winning the sixth series of The Great British Bake Off, Nadiya Hussain has gone on to release bestselling books, star in multiple TV shows and is currently making her way around the UK as part of her ‘Finding My Voice’ tour.

A new partnership with Wilton Bradley will see the release of kids cooking and baking sets under the Nadiya brand, due to come to market for autumn/winter 2020. Featuring a host of colourful baking and cooking utensils for kids, each set comes with easy to follow recipe cards created by Nadiya from her bestselling ‘Bake me a story’ cookbook.

Working closely with Wilton Bradley, the GBBO winner has been closely involved in all stages of product development from concept creation to final designs. Nadiya said: “I love to cook with my family, and I am a true believer in involving children in cooking from a young age; teaching them a valuable skill whilst enjoying some family time together. I am proud of what we have created with these sets and am excited to think that they may encourage more children start their cookery journey.”

Nadiya will also be working with Wilton Bradley to promote the new range to her fans, including posting videos on social media to her followers. The videos will feature Nadiya showing children how to make the most out of the kits.

As part of the launch, Nadiya will also be visiting London Toy Fair 2020 to visit the Wilton Bradley stand and showcase the new range.

The money raised from sales of Smyths’ Oscar toy will go to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity. 

Smyths Toys’ lovable new plush toy, Oscar, was created to raise money for charity – and 100% of the profits from all sales in the UK have been donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity to support the vital work of GOSH and make a real difference to seriously ill children who are treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Amit Aggarwal, director of corporate partnerships at Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have Smyths Toys’ support this Christmas. This donation will make a real difference to seriously ill children from across the UK being treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital. We are extremely grateful to Smyths Toys and its customers for their generosity. If you’re still looking for that last-minute Christmas gift, don’t forget that every Oscar will help raise more money to support more patients and families.”

Sinead Byrne, joint head of marketing at Smyths Toys added: “We are delighted to support GOSH for our third year, and continue to admire the hard work of the staff and the great work they do.”

Oscar first appeared on screens in 2016, where he began his journey through the toy store. Oscar’s imagination made the toy store his theatre for 2019, with the new Smyths advert featuring a raft of iconic performers, from Barbie to Buzz and Woody. In the ad, Oscar and the toys present a new version of the song If I Were a Toy, showing us the magic of the toy store through the eyes of a child.

From January, Plum will become the official UK & Ireland distributor for the leading ride-on manufacturer. 

Injusa ride-ons are an engaging expansion to the Plum wheels category, offering a new concept to traditional ride-on toys. Operating for over 70 years, the Spanish family-run business holds licences for the likes of Mercedes, Porsche, Honda and Kawaski. The Injusa range creates child-friendly replicas of popular car and motorbike models, ranging from battery-operated vehicles to its Foot to Floor products.

Paul Schaffer, managing director, commented: “Injusa is an amazing brand to be adding to our expanding distribution range at Plum. An important part of our brand is to encourage outdoor play, and by growing our offering with this latest deal, we hope that customers can find everything they need at Plum.”

Injusa is the second distribution deal Plum has announced in 2019; Happy Hop Inflatables was also welcomed earlier in the year. The company has kept to its promise to continue to expand its product offering and grow new categories.

This London Toy Fair, Plum will be hosting the new line on its stand (F20). Book an appointment or stop by the stand to meet the team and to take a look at the latest editions.

For more information, contact Rosie Gissing, account manager, by emailing r.gissing@plumproducts.com or call 01522 737 126.

Toy companies well represented in 2019 awards.

Warner Bros Consumer Products has enjoyed another strong year in the UK, growing its business by double digits for the third year in a row. The next few years are set to see that trend continue: a strong slate of movies including Scooby Doo will bolster the portfolio in 2020, while Warner will also take over licensing for the Cartoon Network brands from January 1^st. Looking ahead to 2021, a new Batman movie will no doubt deliver a boost to the iconic brand.

Yesterday saw Warner Bros welcome licensees to Television Centre in West London to recognise a host of outstanding licensee achievements over the past 12 months. General manager of the Warner Bros Consumer Products division Rachel Wakely and her team gave out a selection of awards which saw several toy companies including Mattel, Lego, Wow Stuff and Asmodee among the winners.

The full list of recipients was:

• DC Product of the Year – Global Licensing
• Best Product Award, Classic Animation – Rubies (Scooby Doo dress-up)
• Wizarding World product of the Year – Lego
• TV Product of the Year – Brands In (Riverdale apparel)
• Vault Product of the Year – Paladone (It / Gremlins)
• Product Innovation of the Year – Wow Stuff (Invisibility Cloak)
• Marketing Activation of the Year – Mattel (exclusive Imaginext promotion with Smyths)
• Newcomer of the Year – Asmodee (Harry Potter Dobble)
• Licensee of the Year – Aykroyds / TDP

The new range is due to hit the market in 2020. 

Diamant Toys is launching its Keypsees line – a new range that comes with plenty of surprises for kids to unbox. Diamant Toys is a global manufacturer of hobby and creative products for children, with its own in-house product development and R&D. It offers worldwide distribution to more than 40 countries.

Though the company is renowned for its arts and crafts product ranges, this new line signals an additional direction for Diamant Toys and is due to hit the market in 2020.

The range includes furry pets, featuring animals like unicorns and owls, which have their own colourful houses to live in. Each box contains a pet and nine surprises. By using the magnet found in the attic, kids can reveal the pet and all the surprise encased in the box. Surprise accessories could be a comb, a bow, a food dish or a bone, depending on the animal discovered with the magic magnet. One of the surprises is a key, which kids will need to open the box for their new pet to live in. There are over 15 different pets in the series.

Diamant Toys has further developed the line to include a Mermaid series, complete with glittery accessories, special effects, an aquarium and a fish bowl. There is also a racing car edition.

It will be showing the new range at Nuremberg toy fair from 29th January till 2nd February in hall 12, stand A-10/B-05.