Cool Christmas Gifts

That’s right the children’s superstar doll has now turned 50 years old for 2009.

This is a significant milestone when you consider how many toys and brands and come and went in this time period alone.  In addition, few toys have had such an impact on America like Barbie dolls.

Barbie® is an American institution that could be likened to baseball, apple pie, and the Fourth of July.  Several generations of women have grown up with the different variations of this doll and now a new generation gets to enjoy Barbie® all over again.

To commerate this historic 50^th anniversary year, Mattel® has created a new Barbie doll that is designed to incorporate all the beauty and glamour that has been the standard of Barbie®.

50^th Anniversary Barbie Doll®

The 50^th Anniversary Barbie Doll does not disappoint.  Fans and collectors are impressed with how stylish this doll looks.  It offers an evening glamour dress that looks truly amazing for doll designs and even has couture twist built into it allowing fans of all ages to easily play with this beauty.

Another significant bonus is the 50^th Anniversary Barbie Doll was designed by Robert Best who shows off his creative genius in this awe inspiring doll.  He used as his model the original 1959 doll and has transformed into something truly remarkable by adapting modern trends and styling.  The result is a doll that many fans have already commented matches some current beauty queens in terms of looks and style.

With this launch, do not be surprised to see collectors snatch up this valuable collectors item and also to see a whole new generation of young girls enjoy playing with Barbie®.  If the last 50 years has taught us anything, it is young girls love to play with Barbie dolls.

For other new toys, games, and electronics, check out Popular Christmas Gifts.

Year 2009 is a great year for board games.

We have seen many classic games being remade with new cooler versions and also have seen some new board games altogether.

This new surge of board games is created by a number of toy manufacturers taking notice of the ongoing recession and adjusted their product strategy to promote less expensive games and toys.  The result is a lot of low cost Christmas and birthday gift board game ideas.  In addition, this should make fans of the classic games happy as these new versions offer significant renovations for problems with the old games.

Here, is a list of just a few of the New Board Games For 2009:

Pictureka Flipper

The Pictureka Flipper board game is followup to the wildly popular Pictureka® board game from last year.  The original made for a fantastic party game, but the new one is even better.  It includes a mechanical penguin that flips tiles.  Depending on how you are doing in the game you will view him as a friend or foe.  However, either way, pure fun in this one.  It has been a big hit at toy fairs.

Monopoly City Edition

If you are like me, you grew up on Monopoly®.  This classic game is fun to play and is one that just about anyone can learn how to play quickly.  However, many people are aware of the problems with the original: takes too long to play and is contrived.

The good news for Monopoly fans is the newest edition, Monopoly City Edition is completely original.  Instead, of competing for properties, this takes on a city appeal where you compete for zoning deeds and to add more fuel to the fire, you can actually do some competitive playing by placing a waste dump by your opponents fancy building to help bring down its property value.  As you can imagine, such additions make this game more fast paced and fun to play.

Clue Secrets and Spies

The Curious Case of Clue®.  The old classic is another favorite game for many that has become a popular topic in movies and general trivia.  The newest Clue game is an interesting option itself.  The Clue Secrets and Spies game takes on an international feel here where it even incorporates text messaging.  Yes, that is right.  This one actually works with modern cell phones to give a more “current” feel to game play.  Early reports are this is expected to be a big seller this year.

Trivial Pursuit Team Edition

Everybody likes Trivial Pursuit when they know the answer to the question.  The problem, of course, is many editions of the game have too many questions that people just flat out do not know.  This is frustrating as people want to feel smarter not dumber after playing a game.  Plus, if you are like me, you wonder why some of the questions are in the older editions, period.

However, don’t despair.  There is a new version available that addresses all the problems of past games.  This one is called Trivial Pursuit Team Edition.  It allows for multiple choice answers and encourages team play.  This helps make the game more fast paced and also makes it more enjoyable for everyone.  I suspect this one will be a big hit once more people experience playing this better Trivial Pursuit version.

As you can see there are plenty of choices to choose from in regard to New Board Games For 2009.  All these make for great gift ideas for Christmas and birthdays.  Not only are they inexpensive, they can provide hours of fun for years to come.

The new Transformers movie has been out for about 20 days now and has received a wide range of reviews.

It appears for the most part that the critics and the older crowd were not impressed with the new movie citing the lack of a plot in place of more childish jokes and extravagant action scenes.  On the other hand, the target audience of the movie (young kids) could not be happier as they seem to enjoy it more than the original.  Even the teenage boys were happy thanks to the active role played by Megan Fox.

So despite some older folks being disappointed, the movie has sold very well and looks like this is going to rub off on all the Transformers Movie 2 merchandise.  Of course, at the top of that list the Transformers Movie 2 toys.

These toys made by Hasbro® are looking very impressive and many should be best sellers for birthday and Christmas gifts this year.  I have looked over all that is available and found a number of toys that definitely look very impressive.  (Click on the links in each section to go to specific sites of each toy to see pictures and get more information on each toy.)

Transformers Movie 2 Leader Optimus Prime

Starting off our list is the Transformers Movie 2 Leader Optimus Prime.  The new version is a welcome improvement over the first movie’s model as this one looks more like the big screen presence and has the voice of Peter Cullen give a few catch phrases.  Transformers were glad to know the original Optimus Prime was used in the second movie.

Transformers Movie 2 Leader Megatron

Another hot toy this year will be the Transformers Movie 2 Leader Megatron toy.  This is Optimus Prime’s nemesis and this one has a sleek and metallic look that shows cool and evil at the same time.  This one will also remind fans more of the Megatron that showed up in the cartoons as its weapon takes on more of that look than the first movie’s addition.

Transformers Movie 2 Ultimate Bumblebee

The cool Camaro Bumblebee is back again with a nice looking toy in the Transformers Movie 2 Ultimate Bumblebee.  This one has a more authentic look to the movie thanks to Mech Alive Gearing and Hasbro® listening to comments made from the first year’s toy version.  The result is a very nice looking toy that many kids will like.

Transformers Movie 2 Bumblebee Plasma Cannon

Role playing has also extended beyond just the robots.  Now, kids can become more like some of the transformers.  One example of this is the Transformers Movie 2 Bumblebee Plasma Cannon.  This toy lets kids try on arm toy that resembles the arm of the real bumblebee.  This one will let them shift from a fist to a plasma cannon and even have a number of sound effects and gives the voice of Bumblebee also.  Pure fun that I wish they had when I was a kid.

Transformers Movie 2 Bumblebee Role Play Helmet

The Transformers Movie 2 Bumblebee Role Play Helmet is a great addition to the Bumblebee Plasma Cannon or just on its own.  This one actually alters the kids voice and makes it sound like the Transformers Bumblebee character.  What young kid wouldn’t want this particularly when Bumblebee is one of the most favorite characters in all of Transformers.

Transformers Movie 2 Optimus Prime Role Play Helmet

Another voice changer helmet is the Transformers Movie 2 Optimus Prime Role Play Helmet.  This one is preferred by other fans who either like the Bumblebee character less or already have the Bumblebee Role Play Helmet.  This one will let the kids voice sound like Optimus Prime which is actually pretty cool.  A number of dads have actually had a lot of fun with this toy whether they played around with it at work talking to co-workers or surprising the cashier in the drive thru.  Both young kids and dads have really liked this new toy.

Transformers Movie 2 Voyager The Fallen

The big villain of the second Transformers movie is Voyager the Fallen  He has a very cool toy called the Transformers Movie 2 Voyager The Fallen.  This one also has an interesting look that will be a must have for many kids who are trying to have some extra characters for their game playing and already have the good guys.

Transformers Constructicon Devastator, 5 Pack

One of my favorite transformers as a kid was the Transformers Constructicon.  This is why I was happy to see this character have a large role in the new movie and have its own toy as well.  Its toy is the Transformers Constructicon Devastator, 5 Pack and it is essentially 5 individual transformer robots that can all be combined to make one super robot.  Think the super robot in Voltron® or Thundercats® and you will kind of get the idea.  However, like all transformers the 5 individual robots can also change into individual vehicles.  In this case, they are all construction related.

The above are the cream of the crop of the new Transformer toys.  With how many sales the new Transformers movie is grossing, I would not be surprised at all to see all these be in high demand come the fall.  Many of these toys are already selling well now and the movie is only a few weeks from its release.

This is definitely a good year for all kids who like Transformers®.

This Christmas is shaping up to be a really good one.

Many manufacturers have already made adjustments to toys and games overall price tag to make more affordable gift options.  The good news for customers is that for many of these choices the manufacturers  are not sacrificing quality in the process.

The result of these efforts is a wide variety of high quality games, toys, and electronics that people can really enjoy.  This coupled with the fact that many of these options are inexpensive means a literal embarrassment of good Christmas and birthday gift options.

Our goal at this website is to help pinpoint all the good options that are coming out or are popular.  The posts provided should be able to help make your Christmas shopping easier and allow you to do all your shopping online.  One of the best ways to not get run down by the Christmas shopping rush is to avoid from the start by shopping online.  It results in you being able to save time, access to a broader selection of products, and most importantly, save you money.

Be sure to take a look around our site and to visit our main website at: Popular Christmas Gifts Ideas or www.popularchristmasgiftsideas.com.