NOTE: On October 13, the Toy Association announced that the Toy Fair will be staying in New York City: ‘While we aimed to adapt to the perceived shifts in our industry, the announcement of that change was met with strong feelings of tradition and enduring memories of toy business conducted in New York… It has become abundantly clear through the passionate reaction, that the PLACE holds as much or more importance than the DATE, and that the industry’s desired location for the great industry-wide coming together remains New York City. Thus, we have recommitted to New York and the Javits Center. We will return to the first available opening (March 1- 4, 2025) and are working with Javits Center leadership to confirm dates in February for 2026 and beyond.'”

BY CHARLI BATTERSBY | Our last live coverage of Toy Fair New York was way back in February 2020, when some of the presenters told us there might be a slight shipping disruption due to something called COVID-19. We had to wait three and a half years to see the next live edition of Toy Fair New York, which took place September 30 through October 3 at the Jacob Javitz Center. The most important news from this long-overdue event was that there will only be one more Toy Fair in New York: March 1-5 2025 (at the Javits). After that, the fair moves to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, for January 17-20, 2026; January 9-12, 2027; and January 15-18, 2028. Toy Fair organizers say a return to NYC is possible in 2029.

The Toy Fair is off-limits to the general public—only industry pros and lucky journalists get to prowl this Santa’s Workshop on the Hudson. As we explored the show floor, we caught the scent of delicious ice cream. It’s a common tactic: Lure people into your booth by giving out free food, drinks, and even booze. The Kawaii Slime company was promoting their ice cream scented slime, complete with a replica of an ice cream stand and a uniformed soda jerk scooping out balls of slime that looked and smelled like yummy treats (non-toxic, but not intended to be eaten).

One floor above, we were seduced by Fizz Creations, who used a similar tactic to promote their officially licensed line of Icee snow cone makers. They had a real, full-sized Icee machine to tempt people into their booth. While there, we learned about Fizz’s mini ICEE machines. They’re about the size of a typical kitchen appliance, and already available for home use. Jill Kimbrough, the Fizz Creations’ Director of Sales for the US, explained that this was their first time at Toy Fair, while our reporter took full advantage of the setting by becoming among the first to try a snow cone soaked in the upcoming lemonade flavor.

People who wanted something harder than lemonade could stop by the Do or Drink booth. It’s a line of party games along the lines of “Truth or Dare.” Players are given cards with random challenges, and must do the task. Or drink. Their booth was serving cups of real beer to attendees. One of the attendants told us, “Normally when you play with your friends, you skip the challenge the first few times and take the drink. After a few drinks in you say ‘’You know what, I’ll do the challenge.’ ” The hard-partying crowd of toymakers seemed happy for the free booze too.

Aside from toy companies, there were also game companies. Rocky Horror fans have been shivering in antici-…-pation for 50 years, waiting for a board game adaptation of the show. Finally, this has happened, thanks to University Games. We spoke to Bob Moog, co-founder of the company, and designer of the game. Moog told us, “Someone who really knows the property is going to love the game right from the start. People who haven’t seen the movie will feel awkward, like Brad and Janet did when they went into the castle.” He correctly called newbies “Virgins.” Players score points by knowing quotes from the movie, but can also score by knowing what the audience is supposed to yell back. SLUT!

Nearby was the Schylling booth. They make the sort of toys that you can’t get anymore. A quick glance inside Schylling’s booth was like looking through a magic portal into the past: Big Wheels, Sea Monkeys, wind-up tin toys, Lava Lamps, and more. In fact, they had a live model inside a giant Lava Lamp to entice people into checking out their booth. We spoke to Beth Muehlenkamp, Marketing Director for Schylling, and she described their line of products as, “It’s all of those things you love and remember as a child.” And, yes, the sea monkeys come with a tank exactly like in the good old days. Muehlenkamp fondly calls them “The pet that your mom lets you have in the house.”

With the Barbie movie breaking box office records, one would expect Mattel to have dominated the Javits Center this year. But neither Mattel nor Hasbro had booths. Mattel typically takes up the fourth floor of the convention center during this event, so their absence was particularly perplexing. Mattel won multiple Toy of the Year awards too, and several of those were for the Barbie franchise. This left a conspicuous pink shadow over the penultimate Toy Fair New York.

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