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The "oys and aahs" of Jewish toys.
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Jewish Telegraphic Agency
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November 18 • 2010
ant to increase your odds
for Chanukah fun?
A new market of holiday
offerings is featuring Jewish toys that
flash, spin and challenge — including
No Limit Texas Dreidel, a poker version
of the classic top game.
With new Jewish designs from niche
and mainstream manufacturers, find-
ing something your kids will want
won't be a stretch. Or if it is, at least it'll
be a wearable one.
"We expect Chanukah silly bands
to sell a ton',' says Laurie Glusman,
founder of the OyToys cyber store, of
the Chanukah-themed variation on the
fad elastic wristbands being worn by
American schoolchildren. The bands,
which feature shapes like the outline of a
menorah, Maccabee or dreidel, come in
packs of 18 and sell for $3.99.
"My three kids come home from
school wearing the regular ones',' says
Glusman, who runs her 6-year-old busi-
ness out of Atlanta. "It's great they now
have Jewish ones to trade and wear:'
The bands are part of an inventory of
children's toys, games, puzzles and craft
sets with a Jewish theme that Glusman
says has been growing since OyToys.com
has been in business.
Among the new offerings, the oldest
Chanukah toy, the dreidel, is still a "huge
seller," she says. No Limit Texas Dreidel
is a distant cousin of the earliest humble
versions that were made out of lead.
Will kids test the table limit on gelt?
The Texas version combines the dreidel
game with poker, offering kids 9 and
older the opportunity to "check, bet, raise
or fold depending on the strength of your
dreidel hand or how much you like to
bluff,' according to the online catalog.
Other updated dreidels include a pair
of Dueling Bouncing Light Up Dreidels,
as well as a Techno Dreidel with Light
and Sound.
After surveying the new offerings at
this year's wholesale toy shows, Glusman
sees a return to "standard popular items"
and expects "board games, dreidels and
card games like Chanukah Go Fish to sell
well this year."
Also trending this year are Jewish toys
for the family dog. OyToys sells a blue
plush toy bone marked "kosher" and a
Kosherland is a Jewish version of an all-
time favorite board game, Candyland.
plush ant marked "shpilkes."
Jewish toys are a niche product cat-
egory that has long been dominated by
small, sometimes traditionally oriented
companies like JET, Jewish Educational
Toys of Chicago. JET produces board
games with halachically wholesome
content and imagery that until recently
usually sold in Jewish bookstores an aisle
or two away from the holy books.
Now you can buy one of its popular
games, Kosherland, which is inspired by
Candyland, at Moderntribe.com . Even
Urban Outfitters had it a few years ago.
JET, also drawing from the shelf of
popular American word games, produces
Jewish and Junior Jewish editions of
Apples to Apples, that "game of hilarious
comparisons."
Until recently these companies have
had little competition from larger
American toy companies. But since 2004,
the year Glusman opened her business,
"The number of products have increased
dramatically,' she said.
During that time, the mainstream toy
manufacturer Melissa and Doug, known
for its sturdy line of wooden activity toys,
entered the Jewish toy market with sev-
eral Jewish holiday puzzles.
Looney Labs, publisher of Plums:, the
card game "of ever-changing rules" also
has entered the Jewish market with an
expansion pack with "Jewish themes
of the Torah and Shabbat." Included is
a "New Rule" card: "If you're wearing a
Magen David or a Chai, you may play an
extra card on your turn:'
Glusman says Jewish toys can help
parents relate the Chanukah story to their
children, adding that for households in
which one of the parents is not Jewish,
"toys are a non-threatening way to intro-
duce understanding of Judaism:"