Yes its nearly the time for the children to go back to school and yes it is a little early to start talking about Xmas but this is no ordinary year or ordinary Xmas. With the pandemic and Brexit we are going to have to be prepared for the festive period.
While I would never condone panic buying, this year is an ideal time to get prepared early for Xmas. According to The Guardian some toys could be in short supply this Xmas. Toys could be in short supply this Christmas, so get buying now, industry warns | Retail industry | The Guardian
Sony PlayStation 5 consoles have been in high demand due to shortages in the required components however Sony have recently stated that they have secured enough components to continue with production however I would not suggest waiting until closer to Xmas until you begin your search.
Websites such as Stock Informer (Stock Informer – Tracking stock of hard-to-find products) will inform you as soon as a company has the products you are interested in come into stock.
Ensure that you know the differences between what you are looking for, for instance the PlayStation 5 Console has the PlayStation Console 5 for sale for £449.99 and a digital edition for £359.99 with the main difference being that the digital edition has no drive for games, they all have to be downloaded onto the console, which to be honest in our house is how we get most of the video games for our consoles.
Also if you do get a console the best piece of advice I have for you is to unpackage the console, carefully, power it up and connect it to the Wi-Fi so that it can update itself. This will mean that when your children plug it in on Xmas morning it will not spend hours updating itself.
I would say that it is likely that the shortage will run well into next year so my advice would be to start looking for presents now.
Another great family game for the festive period is Kids Against Maturity. Have you ever played Cards Against Humanity ? Well this is the child friendly family version for ages 8+. It can be toilet humour at its finest but our family love playing it so take a look at Kids Against Maturity if you want a funny family game for Xmas.
If your children already have a console and you want to get a game for them for Xmas then take a look at Family Video Game Database – Guides, Ratings and Suggestions – Family Video Game Database (taminggaming.com) which has an absolutely fantastic database of games covering all kinds of games where you can search according to age of the player, or games of a certain type such as “Hide and Seek”, “Get children coding”, “Get children gardening”, “Create an attraction”, “Be the villain”, “Commit no violence” and lots lots more, just take a look at Search Games – Family Video Game Database (taminggaming.com)
John Lewis (and we all wonder what their Xmas advert will be this year) have produced their top toy list John Lewis reveals top toys for Christmas 2021 including a £20 wooden train set (thesun.co.uk)
T3 magazine have also published their toy list Best toys for 2021: 20 must-have games and toy gifts for kids | T3 and we love the Mario Kart Live which we play with our boys and being able to create a track in your home or garden is fantastic and no list would be complete without a Scalextric of some sort !!
And then once you have the children sorted then check out
Best Tech Gifts 2020: 27 Gifts for Gadget Lovers | Glamour UK (glamourmagazine.co.uk)
Best tech gifts 2021: 65 gifts for gadget fans | British GQ (gq-magazine.co.uk)
Merry Xmas to all and to all a good night !!