Tis the season to shop for more toys!

It is the time of the year for Christmas shopping and one of the top selling items every year is toys!  Yes, parents are splurging their hard-earned year-end bonuses on their children and all children must have new toys to play with for Christmas.  It is like a tradition here for every Christmas, regardless of race or religion.  The final school exams had just ended 2 months ago here in Singapore and it is now the school holidays, from the end of November till New Year’s Day. 

The festive mood is in full swing at the malls and every shopping area here in Singapore.  Christmas carols are being played continuously in the retail stores while shoppers browse amd shop.  Along Orchard Road (the main shopping street in Singapore), there are choirs, dances, skits and many other live performances lined up from this week till Christmas Eve to entertain everyone.  The whole street is aglow with the all the beautiful Christimas lightings on the trees and on the facades of the various malls.

At one of the departmental stores called Takashimaya, the toy department was very conjested with shoppers and their kids, who all seem to be piling their shopping baskets with many boxes of toys as if they are freebies; while the queues at the cashiers were much longer than I am used to seeing in quite a long while.  It was all a sort of a last minute shopping for these families. 

Everyone seem to have forgotten about the scandal of lead being detected in certain Mattel toys just a few months back.  It is Christmas shopping time now and nobody bothers.  The talk about toy sales was going to be to be affected this year-end because consumers would be concerned about the lead levels in China-made toys, has been thrown out the window it seems.  This is where emotion and festive urgency to finish the shopping take over part or all of the logic mind.  Anyway, almost every toy you can find and can think of are made in China.  Hence it is either you buy them or there are hardly any other toys to buy.  It is Christmas time now, so just buy first and think about the issue later, or perhaps there is no need to think about it after all.  People tend to worry too much at times.

I did not find any toy I fancy at the toy departments of the various malls this Christmas, for once.  The only toy I want most for this Christmas has to be imported from overseas.  Alas I procrastinated in making my purchase and hence it will definitely arrive after Christmas, perhaps after New Year’s Day since the postal services along its route may be closed or understaffed during the year end holidays.  I do not really mind, as long the toy comes to me eventually.

Meanwhile the annual year-end Christmas shopping frenzy here goes on as according to tradition, and will continue till Christmas Eve.  Then I will see what offers by the retailers will be in store for consumers on Christmas Day and beyond!