Can you believe Thanksgiving is done and over with?! With that, the holiday shopping season has officially started! Time for the fun to begin! I have to say that for me--the holidays started a bit early at the Time to Play Holiday Showcase in NYC that I attended in October. During the event, Time to Play Mag announced their 16 Most Wanted Toys of the season.


Out of all of the events that I have been to--this one was hands down my favorite. I hate saying that because I have been lucky to have been invited to several wonderful events, but this one was really special to me. Not only because Christmas is my favorite time of the year. Not just because I love toys and getting to pretend that I am a kid again. This trip was special to me because of the people I got to meet--people I have known online, but have never met face to face. Bloggers talk a lot about the friendships they make with other bloggers. What I don't see talked about as often are the friendships you make with the people that you work with. I work with many pr that I can honestly call my friends and I got to meet several of them at the Time to Play Holiday Showcase {you know who you are--Marissa, Elise & the rest of the Litzky Ladies}. Not to mention the amazing bloggers I got the chance to finally meet: Audrey, Victoria, Amy, Colleen, Mariana, Troy, and Ana. All people that I can now call friends.


Finally, I got to meet two wonderful dads, bloggers, and kids at heart--Jim and Chris--from Time to Play Mag. I want to tell you about them today because not only are they awesome people, but their website--Time to Play Mag--is a plethora of valuable information on everything TOYS. Their site is valuable to moms year round, but during this time of the year--it is priceless!


Time to Play Mag provides honest and thorough reviews on all of the HOT toys of the year. They are known as industry experts and there's a reason why--these guys know their stuff. They and their team have over a 100 years of combined experience in the toy industry! I sat down and talked to Jim Silver during the blogger dinner the night before the Time to Play event and what struck me the most about both him and Chris--is that they are so passionate about what they do. Their enthusiasm for what they do is contagious. They care about kids--their own and ours. They have hearts of gold. When you get a chance, promise me you will stop by Time to Play Mag and check them out! Make sure to follow them on Twitter and keep up to date on all of their giveaways and toy recommendations. You won't be sorry--I promise.

Check out this video of Jim and Chris during the Time to Play press conference. It is pretty interesting--in it they talk about the impact {or lack of} the economy has had on how parents shop for their kids and the effect it has had on toy companies.