What price a child’s happiness

Press, 10 January 1987, Page 23

What price a child’s happiness

NZPA staff correspondent London What price can you put on the happiness of a child at Christmas? Try £59.99 (SNZI6B). Whether it is by coinci•dence or the result of shrewd marketing, the most sought after toys in London came with the same pride tag. Favourites were talking bears, with Teddy Ruxpin, Smarty Bear and Gabby Bear all trying to talk their way — with an American accent straight out of the Waltons — into Christmas stockings. Gabby Bear moves his eyebrows as well as his mouth to give extra expression to his utterances. Smarty Bear is even more clever. Pick him up and he will tell you he likes being

picked up, tickle him under the arms and he giggles. His other 14 computer prorammed responses do not, however, include a suitable phrase for when bored junior rips off his head or throws him down the stairs. Maybe next year. There were talking dolls too. Baby talk coos “I love you,” demands to be fed and makes sucking noises when a bottle is placed in her mouth. She costs ... yes, £59.99. Radio-controlled cars remained popular with children with an undying urge to chip the polish off furniture. A big seller was a dune buggy with four-wheel-drive and a built-in winch for when the going really gets tough. No need to guess the price. It was not difficult to

spend more tban £59.99. The aptly named Pester cat, cost ing £79.99 (SNZ224) moves in four directions by remote control and, at the touch of a button meows, purrs or makes a growl as grotesque as its appearance. Going right up the scale are giant teddy bears. A Imhigh Paddington Bear, with red hat, blue coat and real black gumboots, cost £175 (SNZ49O). More than twice the size are bears dressed as Scots bandsmen or London bobbies. The huge London toy shop, Hamleys, charges £750 (INZ2100) - and they ■don’t even talk. Hamleys also had the answer for children tired of BMX bikes: a half scale Range Rover with 5-speed gearbox for £3950 (SNZII,OSO)