Top 10 Best Selling Toys for 2008 at YoYo Joe's - #1

As we look forward to 2009, I'll take a look back at the hectic two and a half months that made up 2008 at YoYo Joe's and review each of the top 10 best selling items at YoYo Joe's for 2008. Check back each day for the next of our top ten items

Today, I'll take a look at #1 - (drum roll please?)

It's 'Elf on a Shelf!'

'Elf on a Shelf' is a book and elf combo kit that I learned about last year as a member of the American Specialty Toy Retailers Association (ASTRA), so I ordered two dozen of them when we opened, which I thought would last the holiday season. Then I reordered them. Then I reordered them again. Then again, then again....it became a daily mantra, "How many Elf's do we have?" "Should I order more?" The answers were inevitably "not enough," and "yes, you doof!" They took on a life of their own. It took me a little time to understand the concept (I'm kinda think), so I could explain it to customers. Turns out, I didn't need to do any explaining, as almost every customer knew all about it. It's one of those things that spread like wildfire though the recess ground. One kid's talking about his elf and the other five go home telling mom or dad. Word of mouth was awesome on this. We had people sent to us from Barnes & Noble (heck, we had customers who worked at Barnes & Noble!) Suffice it to say, we'll be stocking it again next season and we've put in for an author appearance next year.

For those uninitiated, the idea is this - you purchase the Elf on a Shelf book and elf kit. The elf doesn't come to life until he is brought home, and then you can name your elf. The elf reports back to Santa each night - on the wishes of the kids he stays with as well as the behavior of the kids. The kids cannot touch the elf and each morning after he returns from his visit to Santa, he plops up in a different place, so part of the fun is the kids searching for the elf in the morning.

Top 10 Best Selling Toys for 2008 at YoYo Joe's - #2

As we look forward to 2009, I'll take a look back at the hectic two and a half months that made up 2008 at YoYo Joe's and review each of the top 10 best selling items at YoYo Joe's for 2008. Check back each day for the next of our top ten items

Today, I'll take a look at #2 - Kids Watches

These cuter than cute kids watches are the perfect accessory for the child who's just starting to learn how to tell time. They're analog (I know, right?) watches that tell time the old fashioned way, with a big hand and a little hand. Some are waterproof, some are not. Featuring dozens of designs for both boys and girls at a great price point. We have the spinner rack at the counter (Joe once knocked the empty display off the counter while yo-yoing - don't tell Emily!) and it's a great pick-up item.

Top 10 Best Selling Toys for 2008 at YoYo Joe's - #3

As we look forward to 2009, I'll take a look back at the hectic two and a half months that made up 2008 at YoYo Joe's and review each of the top 10 best selling items at YoYo Joe's for 2008. Check back each day for the next of our top ten items

Today, I'll take a look at #3 - Profly Yo-Yo

This is the other of the two yo-yos in our top ten toys of '08. (Now that we're nearing the end of the decade, what will this decade be known as? We had the 70's, the 80's, the 90's - will it be the 00's? Doesn't roll off the tongue, does it? How about the 'ohs?' The 'aughts?' How about my favorite, Grampa Simpson's 'dicketies,' as in 'back in dickety eight, we sold us some yo-yos?')

It's a Duncan Profly. People come in all the time and say, 'Do you sell the Duncan Butterfly' or the 'Duncan Imperial?' Nope, we sure don't. Why, you ask? They are classics. Yep, they sure are. They've been around for something like 40 years now without changing at all. That's the key right there, they haven't changed at all. We sell the Profly instead. The Profly has a take-apart design, whereas if the Butterfly or Imperial come apart, they're broken. The take-apart design makes it oh so much easier to clear out the inevitable string knots or tangles that occur all the time in yo-yoing. Plus, it's our opinion that it's much more difficult to yo-yo on a Butterfly or Imperial than it is on a Profly. The Profly has a real wooden axle. The Butterfly and Imperial have a metal rod as an axle. Sure, it costs a bit more, but it's a much, much better yo-yo. And it comes with a CD you can put in your computer to learn some tricks. It's the only yo-yo we sell that doesn't have a ball-bearing axle and it was our best selling yo-yo of dickety eight. 

Top 10 Best Selling Toys for 2008 at YoYo Joe's - #4

As we look forward to 2009, I'll take a look back at the hectic two and a half months that made up 2008 at YoYo Joe's and review each of the top 10 best selling items at YoYo Joe's for 2008. Check back each day for the next of our top ten items

Today, I'll take a look at #4 - Doinkit Darts

We sold piles of these at Mitchell's over the past couple of years. So, we got piles of them in for our opening in November. We vastly underestimated how many we'd need. 

One of our goals in our store was to make it as interactive as possible. Lots of stuff to try and do. Cripes, we put in a pirate ship, for the love of Mike! We also have a fun marble run and the Plasmacars that offer a whole different perspective on our store. But, of all the try-it stuff, the Doink-It Dart Board might be the most popular. 

This magnetic dart board works awesome. The magnets stick to the board well, with little slipping. Plus, the magnets do not stick in your little brother or sister as easily as those pointy versions. It's probably our most popular gift for the 8-10 year old crowd (both boys & girls). 

Top 10 Best Selling Toys for 2008 at YoYo Joe's - #5

As we look forward to 2009, I'll take a look back at the hectic two and a half months that made up 2008 at YoYo Joe's and review each of the top 10 best selling items at YoYo Joe's for 2008. Check back each day for the next of our top ten items

Today, I'll take a look at #5- Christmas Puzzleball

The Puzzleball came out a little over a year ago. Most of them are pretty big, but the Christmas Puzzleball is an ornament for your Christmas tree. It's about the size of a baseball. We also had a Snowman puzzleball, which was somewhere in the top 20 items as well. 

Here's a quick FAQ for you on this

Q - Is it really a puzzle?

A - Yes, it's a puzzle. That's why they call it a 'Puzzle' Ball. Geez. 

Q - How do they make the curved pieces?

A - How the heck should know? I didn't design it, we just sell them. 

Q - Aren't you a bit snarky in your responses to questions?

A - Shut up, you jerk. 

On that note, we look forward to getting these back in stock when we start merchandising for Christmas 2009 after Thanksgiving. (Or, if you're going to a big box store, should be in a little over a month)

Top 10 Best Selling Toys for 2008 at YoYo Joe's - #6

As we look forward to 2009, I'll take a look back at the hectic two and a half months that made up 2008 at YoYo Joe's and review each of the top 10 best selling items at YoYo Joe's for 2008. Check back each day for the next of our top ten items

Today, I'll take a look at #6 - Gamma Brain Wing Yo-Yo

You know how the yo-yo business is, right? Up and down. Get it? Up and down? 

I know, ugh. 

Anyhoo, here's a shocker, two (count 'em), two of our best selling 10 items were yo-yo's. Three in the top 20! This here yo-yo, it's a Gamma Brain from Yomega. A Gamma what? Gamma Brain, silly! I have no idea what the Gamma means, but the Brain part of the title means this is a 'smart' yo-yo. A yo-yo that automatically returns to your hand. It's got a little clutch in it, which allows the yo-yo to 'sleep' or spin at the end of the string. Depending on how hard  you throw it, it will sleep for an amount of time, then come back to your hand without you having to do anything at all. Really! How? Don't question the magic! If you must know, it has a clutch in it that opens by the centrifugal force of the yo-yo spinning. Once the yo-yo slows down, the clutch grabs the axle and the yo-yo goes back up to your hand. 

How much would you pay for such a wonder?

But wait, there's more! The yo-yo has a switch on it. I think they call it a 'smart switch' (which seems kinda redundant thanks to the 'Brain' in the title), which allows you to turn off the auto-return clutch and forces you to bring it back the old fashioned way, with a jerk. 

Now how much would you pay for this yo-yo?

No, there's more! The Gamma Brain comes with a DVD of 150 tricks on it! The DVD alone a couple years ago sold for $20! Now it comes with the yo-yo. 

It's a wonderful package for a beginner yo-yoer. It's the one we recommend to most people getting started, as the number one problem we have noticed with beginning yo-yoers is the inability to get the yo-yo to return to their hand. And with the Gamma Brain, it returns quite well, thank you. 

Top 10 Best Selling Toys for 2008 at YoYo Joe's - #7

As we look forward to 2009, I'll take a look back at the hectic two and a half months that made up 2008 at YoYo Joe's and review each of the top 10 best selling items at YoYo Joe's for 2008. Check back each day for the next of our top ten items

Today, I'll take a look at #7 - Playfoam

These little $1.99 bricks of Playfoam flew out the door during the Holiday season. What is Playfoam? Well, they look like Rice Krispies treats. Little foam beads that are kinda sticky, but not too sticky. You use them to make stuff, sorta like clay, but with a whole different feel to them. It never dries out, and comes in lots of colors - sparkly colors, glow-in-the-dark colors and more. It's made for kids 3 & up and is non-toxic (always a good thing). YoYo Joe's also has 6-packs and 12-packs of the stuff.

Top 10 Best Selling Toys for 2008 at YoYo Joe's - #8

As we look forward to 2009, I'll take a look back at the hectic two and a half months that made up 2008 at YoYo Joe's and review each of the top 10 best selling items at YoYo Joe's for 2008. Check back each day for the next of our top ten items

Today, I'll take a look at #8 - Bananagrams

Perhaps you'll recall my action packed post back in September about placing our initial order with Bananagrams. If not, step into my time machine. Since that order, we reordered, reordered again, then placed a big honkin' reorder that caused the folks at Bananagrams to call us to make sure we hadn't made a mistake in our quantity. Nope, sure didn't. Bananagrams was our best-selling game at YoYo Joe's.
If you're not familiar with Bananagrams, it seems obvious to me that it was invented by someone who got tired of playing Scrabble the right way, and just made up his own rules. The game features tiles that look almost exactly like Scrabble tiles (except no points). Anyhoo, you turn all 144 tiles upside down, each player picks a number of tiles (depending on how many players are in the game). The game starts when one player calls out 'Split' (get it? Bananas? Split? Banana Split!) and the players turn over the tiles. Each player works on his own crossword puzzle-like arrangement of tiles. If a player runs out of tiles, they call out 'peel' (get it? Bananas HAVE a peel!) and takes a tile from the remaining 'Bunch' (get it? Bunch of Bananas? As in "A Beautiful Bunch of Ripe Banana - Daylight Come and Me want to go home") and each other player also has to take a tile. If you wanna trade in a tile you cannot use, you can call out 'dump' (get it? Banana dump? wait....that doesn't make any sense...it should be some banana-ey word!) your tile and get three others in trade. The winner is the person who has no remaining tiles in their hand after the number of tiles in the bunch is less than the number of players playing. If it sounds confusing, that's because I am really really fond of run-on sentences.
It's an awesome game, and comes in a nifty banana pouch that is easily transportable.

Top 10 Best Selling Toys for 2008 at YoYo Joe's - #9

As we look forward to 2009, I'll take a look back at the hectic two and a half months that made up 2008 at YoYo Joe's and review each of the top 10 best selling items at YoYo Joe's for 2008. Check back each day for the next of our top ten items

Today, I'll take a look at #9 - Mood Ring

Like yesterday's post about the Make A Plate Kit, the Mood Ring has been around for eons. Or the 1970's. Which seems like eons to me.
The Mood Ring 'shows' what mood you're in. For example, when I get really stressed out that the big pile of boxes in the back room hasn't magically placed themselves in the recycling bin, my mood ring turns black (stressed). When Emily walks into the store, I get all googly eyed and my mood ring turns purple (romantic). Other moods include red (nervous), orange (unsettled), green (active), blue (relaxed) and dark blue (lovable). You'll never be unhappy with your mood ring (unhappy is not a mood that registers with the mood ring, nor is 'happy' or 'cheesed off' for that matter)

Top 10 Best Selling Toys for 2008 at YoYo Joe's - #10

As we look forward to 2009, I'll take a look back at the hectic two and a half months that made up 2008 at YoYo Joe's and review each of the top 10 best selling items at YoYo Joe's for 2008. Check back each day for the next of our top ten items

Today, I'll take a look at #10 - Make a Plate Kit

This kit has been around forever. Well, to me at least. I remember making one of these plates for my mother for Mother's Day sometime in the 70's. It was (and still is) a stellar work of art that is displayed at my dad's house on the Elk River in Maryland. My theme was 'terrible storm on Mother's Day,' but also featured a 'I liked my friends US Flag design so I made a small version of it on my plate' sub-theme. Odd choices as themes? Hey, I was ten and the previous Mothers Day featured a really bad rainstorm, so there.

The basic idea behind the kit is that you design your plate on the included paper that you send away to The Magic Factory and they turn it into a 10" sturdy plastic plate and ship it back to you. The kit includes five sheets of paper, markers and a certificate good for one plate. You can order extra plates if you want, they cost $7.95 more (plus shipping). We sold piles of these kits! Plus, the kit (and the markers) are made in the USA! Who'da thunk it?