What to do if the hot toy is unavailable?

By Jim Silver

When a child makes out their holiday wish list, there are often one or two toys at the top that are the ones they “gotta get”. Often a parent hopes to wait for this item to go on sale, unaware that it’s hot, and then gets shocked when it’s unavailable anywhere. What’s a parent to do? Years ago, a friend of mine went into a store and asked for the Furby aisle and was laughed at thinking she’d just walk down the aisle and pick one out. Don’t let this be you!

If you have a toy your child really wants, buy it early. It’s probably not going to be discounted later, and if it sells out, you are out of luck. Take Zhu Zhu pets as an example. People are camping out in stores to find this hard to find toy. I’m already getting frantic phone calls from friends and e-mails from our readers.

Here’s what you do. BUY IT NOW! If you can’t find it in the stores, become friendly with the salespeople on the floor as they often know when new shipments will arrive. Look online at reliable sites that sell toys. Even if they are out of stock, you can still order and will get your toys in a couple of weeks.

The holidays only come once a year for your children. Plan out your shopping strategy early. While there are bargains every year in December on toys, many of the hot toys become difficult to find and could leave you on the frantic last minute search.

Scroll to Top