Already toy firms are battling for hearts and minds of Christmas 2005. Róisín Ingle reports from London on an out-of-season experience.
It's a rainy day in Soho. Dozens of reporters and a few gleeful children are being led into a Georgian townhouse in London where the people from toy company Hasbro want to show us the toys they think are going to be making a splash with kids this December. There's a fully decorated tree twinkling in the foyer, but forget the toy model of Santa Claus standing beside it - even believing in Christmas is a bit of a tall order on this damp July afternoon.
If you include Sundays there are exactly 145 days left to do your Christmas shopping, by the way. It may be the last thing on your mind right now but high summer is when toy companies start targeting the parental pocket, anxious to ensure their products are the ones to find their way under your tree.
This is the "Christmas-in-July" event, and it kick-started the battle, fought annually by toy companies large and small, to convince your child that if they don't have said toys then Life Will Not Be Worth Living.
There are carols playing low in the background, mince pies going around on trays, and in the girls' toy room a stressed looking man from Hasbro is trying to demonstrate the Furby, this year's comeback toy (it was previously popular with children in the 1990s), which is being launched by the company today.
Remember Furby? Looks a bit like a gremlin? Has huge eyes and extremely covetable eyelashes? Well it's back, bigger and furrier than ever. They come in a variety of hues, and there's even a dictionary of Furbish - the creatures' official language - in the box. To get Furby talking you have to say "hey Furby" and wait for the thing to say "doo". Then you issue a command such as "sing us a song, Furby" or "tell us a joke, Furby", and hopefully Furby obliges.
Not today. "Hey Furby," I shout, feeling slightly self-conscious. But Furby just makes farting or burping noises or, worse, falls asleep, snoring gently as if to say: "Can't be bothered talking to you."
Thankfully it turns out Furby does not have an aversion to The Irish Times alone. He (she? it?) is being just as uncooperative with everyone else, including a group of small children whose cries of "hey Furby" are becoming increasingly plaintive.
The man from Hasbro explains the toy's reticence: "They are really temperamental if you are not nice to them," he says, immediately making us feel guilty of Furby abuse. "The more you pet them the more obedient they get."
In fairness, it's probably too noisy in the room for Furby to hear us properly. It becomes a battle of wills, humans versus technologically enhanced cuddly toys.
"Hey Furby," you entreat again and again, to be rewarded only with a perfectly executed raspberry and a series of chirrups. The boys are all in the next room playing with another toy that's being tipped as a big Christmas seller. Like Pokémon before it, B-Daman was inspired by a Japanese cartoon series and involves launching marbles from your B-Daman - a kind of transformer-like toy - at your opponent's B-Daman to score points.
Star Wars is still dominant in the market, with a make-your-own lightsabre kit and an energy beam blaster that shoots silly string from a canister. Hasbro is hoping the Narnia figures, to go with the imminent series of movies, will also sell well. Other Hasbro toys making a comeback include My Little Pony and Weebles. The children assembled in this toy paradise cannot believe their luck.
Other toy manufacturers and marketers have been equally quick off the mark in recent days, letting us know about everything from Amazing Amanda - an opiniated interactive doll worth around €90 who recognises her owner's voice - to a souped-up Robo Sapien, which stomps in at around €250. Una Morrison of the Smyth's chain of toy stores in Ireland reckons these two are serious contenders for the biggest-selling Christmas toy this year.
"A lot of the most interesting and exciting toys this year are interactive, combining elements of science or education," she says. "More traditional toys such as the new Right Here, Right Now Monopoly and old favourite Thomas the Tank Engine are other products we expect to sell well."
Back in London, those in the know are talking about new, improved electronic pet Tamagotchis and the V Smile Learning System as two other big players in the Christmas 2005 market.
In the airport bar on the way home from Christmas in July, I can't resist trying to bond with Furby one last time. This time when I say "hey Furby" he responds with an unmistakeable "doo".
"Tell us a joke Furby," I say.
"Knock knock," says Furby.
"Who's there?" I reply.
"Lena," says Furby.
"Lena who?" I ask.
"Lena little closer," says Furby, before dissolving in giggles and doing a little dance on the airport table.
Totally adorable or utterly furreal? The battle for Christmas toy supremacy starts here.