When it comes to purchasing toys for kids this holiday season, nearly one in five shoppers will be buying sports equipment, according to data from a recent Harris Poll. The survey, conducted online between Oct. 10-17 among 2,463 U.S. adults, showed that half of Americans plan on buying some sort of toy this holiday season, while 40% will purchase some other sort of gift and 9% are not sure. Among those buying toy gifts, 19% plan to purchase sports equipment, ranking just below those who plan on buying handheld electronic games (20%). Sports equipment saw the highest levels of planned purchases among households with kids 13-17 (37%), ranking below only games for consoles (62%) in that age group. Listed below are the types of toys Americans plan to buy this holiday season, broken down by age demographic of the child in the particular household (Harris Poll).
| TOYS TO BE PURCHASED THIS HOLIDAY SEASON (BY AGE GROUP) |
| TYPE | ALL KIDS | < 2 | 3-5 | 6-9 | 10-12 | 13-17 |
| Children's books | 45% | 69% | 62% | 59% | 43% | 34% |
| Games for consoles | 33% | 21% | 34% | 52% | 67% | 62% |
| Arts and crafts | 29% | 38% | 44% | 33% | 30% | 28% |
| Board games | 25% | 22% | 38% | 45% | 41% | 26% |
| Dolls | 25% | 52% | 41% | 29% | 27% | 27% |
| Building blocks and bricks | 23% | 51% | 33% | 21% | 16% | 22% |
| Handheld electronic games | 20% | 19% | 26% | 29% | 35% | 22% |
| Sports equipment | 19% | 18% | 20% | 25% | 36% | 37% |
| Game consoles | 7% | 3% | 9% | 10% | 16% | 13% |
| Something else | 25% | 32% | 34% | 34% | 27% | 35% |
| Not sure | 20% | 9% | 9% | 7% | 11% | 10% |
