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Totnes castle looking very pretty, dusted with Saturday's snow. We've been very busy for the past few weeks, making sure everyone gets their Christmas presents in time for the big day. The sorting office in Totnes has been deluged with our sacks of parcels, headed for destinations from Plymouth to New Zeland. The most popular present this year has been the Penguin Race, which has also featured in our window display and has been entertaining shoppers in the Narrows. The late night shopping on Tuesday nights has been a resounding success this year, with Adam and Emily running hook-a-duck and a lucky dip outside the shop. Many people braved the cold to shop and soak up the fantastic atmosphere. Unfortunately the snow arrived in the two weeks before Christmas and this has caused some disruption, with delivery men being unable to get through. We've been trying our best to make sure as few people are disappointed as possible, but inevitably there will be some delays. Do...

Could it have happened on a worse day? Although the experts seem undecided about whether manic Monday fell on November 29th or December 6th this year 2010) It is absolutely conclusive for us that the busiest day this year so far has been today, being Manic Monday December 6th. This catastrophic sagepay meltdown was not affecting just us either - it appears that many, if not all e-commerce sites relying on Sagepays (formerly Protx) payment gateway have also been affected, several of which appearing not to have a contingency plan in place, and probably losing a small fortune in lost sales and abandoned baskets. Luckily for us, our system alerted us that we had an unusual amount of pending orders, and so we were able to switch over to the trusty Paypal gateway so that all of our customers would not spend an hour or so deciding on which toys to buy, choosing the various colours and product selection types, ticking off their Christmas present list and stocking fillers one by one, get their ...

I have just been building an order for a customer of ours, who asked for the most popular name train letters to fill a couple of display stands. This has made me think how much children's names have changed so much since I was at school. I think the most shocking statistic for me in the most popular name letters top ten, is the letter P at number 25! Yes, that's right, the letter P is less popular in children's names today than X or Z. When I was at school, I had friends named Peter, Paul, Penny, Penelope & Poppy, but don't recall anyone who's name contained the letter Z. Here is the official most popular letters list, based on our wooden letter train sales in 2010. MOST POPULAR Position Letter Percentage of Sales 1 A 13% 2 E 11% 3 L 8% 4 I 7% 5 R 7% 6 O 6% 7 S 5% 8 N 5% 9 H 4% 10 C 4% 11 M 4% 12 J...

Once again it feels like autumn is well and truly here, and the gales of last night have now stripped the trees of their gold and orange leaves leaving them bare once more until the spring, and we will soon be counting down the days to Christmas. It might still only be November but I expect like me most of you have already started buying presents for your children or grand children and each year it becomes harder to find something that little different only we have some great stocking filler ideas in our shops and on line. Looe as usual have organised their Christmas events for December and I expect they will be well supported as they have been in previous years. Saturday December 4th will be the switching on of the Christmas lights and the arrival of Father Christmas at 6.30pm on West Looe Quay. There will be music, refreshments and a procession around the streets of East Looe with carol singers and roast chestnuts in the Rose Garden. As most shops will be staying open till la...

We send so many toys out via mail order especially at Christmas it made me wonder if we ever have any celebrities buying our toys. The only celeb to purchase something from us in the Totnes shop or at least the only one I recognised was Melinda Messenger. I thought that lady looks very glamorous but I didn't twig it was her until she came up to buy a blackboard and a mini table top football. Shiloh Jolie-Pitt was spotted coming off a flight with a wooden sword that looks just like ours, proof if ever you needed any that traditional toys are cool. It's not surprising that Angelina Jolie's daughter would be able to kick some butts just like mummy. I wonder if she'd like the matching shield that we have. Celebrities can get away with far more than us mere mortals. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be aloud a sword on a plane or like the Beckham children to ride around on skateboards in a shop. Having David Beckham as their dad those boys seem to be quite sporty, I imagi...

Some of our toys are set to feature on this Friday's episode of 60 Minute Makeover on ITV1 at 2pm! In this episode a team of designers to Surrey, to transform the home of a carer who devotes much of her time to looking after other people. The team has just 60 minutes to revamp several rooms before the homeowner returns to see the surprise makeover . One of the bedrooms for her six-year-old twin boys will have a seaside theme. It will feature our extremely popular Wooden Flying Seagull , Wooden Fishing Game and Wind Up Submarine . Let us know if you manage to spot any of the toys!

If your peeking in our window this week don't be alarmed we haven't gone mad. It's Totnes Carnival week this week (Sunday 15 th till Sunday 22 nd ) and what your seeing is our odd object. You can buy a form from paper works or tourist information and play along for just £1. Work your way around the town and try and work out what all the odd objects are that are being displayed in shop windows. There are prizes and trophies to be won. Events this week Sunday 15 th August - Fun Tag Rugby at Totnes Rugby Club from 2pm, teams of 7 entry £25. To enter contact Stephen Evans on 07767 787345 Monday 16 th August - Baby Show at the Civic Hall 10.30am till 12noon. Register by 10.15am, entry £1. Glamorous Grandparent Competition Totnes has Talent at Totnes Civic Hall from 7pm, entry £2.50. Tuesday 17 th August - Mile of Pennies in the High Street, 10am till 12 noon . The Floral Dance, from the Rotherfold to the Plains with the Totnes Band, 7pm Wednesday 18 th August - Sport...

It’s that time of year again when all the children are off school for the summer! For us here at Toyday it means a very busy time for both Looe and Totnes shops! Many of the people who visit the shops this time of year our on holiday, so it’s important the children are kept entertained on their visit! Below are Toyday's Top 5 toys for this summer for an idea of how to keep the children occupied rain or shine! 1. Propeller Sky Flyers - Release the propellers into the sky! 2. Small Bucket and Spade Set - C hildren can make sand castles on the beach with this bucket and spade set l 3 . Rope Quoits - Easy to transport and great fun indoors or out! 4. Bubble Fun Play Set - Comes with various accessories to do fun things with the bubble mixture. 5. Mini Flower Press - Fits into a rucksack or pocket. Perfect for pressing a flower whilst out and aboutl

Well this week is Looe Carnival week and as I write this there are crowds of holiday makers in the town enjoying the festivities that have been put on for their entertainment and the weather has been perfect. So far this week there has been a vintage and classic transport display with boot sale and a Bird of Prey show. The traditional floral dance was on Monday with the carnival queen choosing in the evening although I believe it is now called Royalty Choosing which I presume to mean in these days of equality it is now open to boys and girls! On the beach yesterday was the sand modelling competition and thankfully the weather held dry for all the budding sculptors. On the Seafront tonight is the Polperro Fisherman's Choir who are always a resounding success and whenever I hear them it does send a shiver down my spine. Tomorrow, Friday, on East Looe beach from 2pm will be an afternoon of children's entertainment with a Punch and Judy show, and surely we have all booed at M...

Hello! I'm Alessia, I'm from Italy, I'm eighteen years old and I want to talk a little bit about my work experience. This is my first time in England, I've never been here before and this is also my first job! I arrived two weeks ago, I was really scared about the work and about the owners of the shop that I hadn't met before. When I arrived in the shop the owners Adam and Emily received me very well, they were very friendly and kind. I like them because they were always smiling and they didn't get angry when I made mistakes. I got on very well with them and I enjoyed very much to stay in their shop because they had a very beautiful shop (I like a lot wood toys) and I spoke with a lot of people. It was a very interesting and important experience for me! Thank you very much Adam and Emily for this unforgettable experience in your shop! I hope to come to Totnes another time ! Thanks for everything! Alessia

It really doesn't seem that long ago, that at the bottom of every mail-order advert, you would have in the small print the words "28 days for delivery". I remember ordering a small rubber spider and cockroach from my Scream horror comic, and that 28 days felt like a lifetime! Every morning I would run downstairs and eagerly await the post mans visit, but the rubber insects would not arrive. When they did, it would be one of the greatest and happiest moments in my life. It was the same for items ordered from my mail - order joke catalogue, and once I got a bit older I had to wait a small eternity for my photographs to be developed. Now, being in the business of mail - order ourselves, the same questions keep coming to mind - "Why?!! - Why specifically 28 Days? Why did they keep us waiting so long?" What were they doing? OK, so we had to rely on snail-mail to deliver our order and our cheque, and perhaps they wanted to make sure the cheque cleared, but even then, ...

Well the bank holiday is almost upon us and it will also be half term around the country. I expect Looe to be very busy and if the weather is anything like the last few days then there will probably be standing room only on the beach. I had a look to see what events are happening in and around Looe and notice that there is a Pirate and Buccaneer Event on May 29th, 30th and 31st at Mount Edgcumbe Country Park, which is only about 20 minutes away by car from Looe. It promises to be a weekend of swashbuckling adventure. Now L ooe and Polperro have a long history of pirates and smuggling throughout the ages. When I was growing up here I remember hearing the stories of how smugglers had dug tunnels by hand beneath the bay from the seafront out to Looe Island. There they would land their bounty probably at night, and then would carry it ashore through the tunnels to evade capture by the Revenue men who would be waiting on the shore. As children, my friends and I would be play pirates and go ...

I had an interesting conversation with a customer last week in recalling the toys we had when we were children, which was many years ago! I often have people in the shop, usually grandparents, picking up toys and remembering them from their childhood days long ago, and we got talking about the replica wind up tin toys that we sell. Now I am going back to the late 1950's and early 1960's when I was just a young boy and and at that time there were no rules about buying tin toys that I can remember unlike today where we have stricter regulations. They are now more for adult collectors and we cannot sell them to children under 14 as they do not comply with toy safety legislation. Now the one he fondly remembered best of all was Robbie the Robot or Planet Robot as its sometimes called. I do remember my brother having one, which I wasn't allowed near, but then in those days toys were far more expensive and we had few to play with, and for that reason were more cherished. It is pr...

Well this has to be one of every shopkeepers nightmare in having a window smash and the clear up afterwards. It happened on the Saturday afternoon before the bank holiday weekend. I was standing outside the shop on the pavement talking to a customer about the toy display and there was a tremendous bang as the window literally shattered in front of us. First reaction was disbelief of what I just saw happen and then shopkeepers in the street appearing expecting to see a car accident. Incredibly at that moment there was no one else around and so thankfully no one was injured. If you have ever dropped a glass bowl or vase on the floor then you will know how much glass there seems to be, well this was a ten foot by six foot pane and due to the age of the building, approx 1973 the glass wasn't toughened so it had shattered everywhere. The first job was clearing the road of glass and then the pavement. Have you ever tried to find a company to board up a window late on a Saturday after...

I work in the toy shop "Toyday" for 2 weeks. It is very cool to work here, because all are very friendly and I have different things to do. Now I have a good overview about the toys and I will tell you my favourite toys. I have seen a lot of toys which I played as a child, for example marbles or bubbles. In Toyday there are a lot of beautiful marbles in different sizes. I also like the smurfs. Last week we got a new smurf collection about the horoscope - very nice. With the fairytale finger puppets you can play a lot of fantastic stories. Since I am here I have bought some finger puppets and "London in bag" for my niece. "London in bag" shows the most famous sites of London, this wooden city is fascinating. Next week I want to buy a flashing rubber duck. The multi coloured lights flash are activated when placed in water. It looks very nice. Furthermore I want to buy some wooden train letters. In Germany I bought some of these trains. But I do not have eno...

Ceramic marbles began mass production in the 1870, but it wasn’t until the 1890’s that machinery to manufacture glass marbles was introduced. From then on they have been used for a variety of children's games, and are collected by many people, both for nostalgia and for their interesting mix of colours! There are many small glassmakers who make marbles by hand. A po pular glassmake r in the South West is the House of Marbles, who offers a modern range of marbles, sought after by many colle ctors. The manufacturing process is actually quite compl ex. Firstly, glass is melted in a furnace and poured o ut. The chosen coloured glasses are then injected into the flowing glass if inserts are needed in the marble. Shears are cut into small cylinders as the glass descends. These are then placed into moving, mechanical rollers were the final shape an d size is created and the marbles are left to cool. Here are some of the best known marble games: Bounce about A game for two ...

Hello, I am Astrid and I come from Germany. I am a trainee for Industrial Business Management. Me and my class stay in Totnes for 4 weeks because of a school project. Totnes is a small city in Devon in the South of England. Here there is a beautiful landscape. I live with a friend by a hostfamily near the High Street. The first 3 days I went to the Totnes school of English and the other time I work in the toy shop called Toyday. It is a wonderful shop with a lot of traditional and modern toys. I like to working here, because I can improve my language skills. For me it is a cool experience to see another country and another culture. I am sure this 4 weeks will be very funny.

Everyone loves a rubber duck race, and duck racing can be a great fund raising event. One of the most common questions we are asked at Toyday, is "what ducks are best for duck racing?". This depends largely on budget, and for many annual duck racing events, the event managers will have invested in special racing rubber ducks, which are weighted so that they float upright. We do supply these ducks designed especially for duck racing, (priced £3 - £10) although these can often be price prohibitive for 1 off duck racing events. The biggest challenge with racing ducks, is the ability for them to stay upright whilst racing, and many duck races have ducks floating down the rivers on their sides or upside down. Having said that, we have supplied many companies with rubber ducks for duck racing. Here's a list of the most popular: - Classic Small Bath Duck 4.5cm. Most likely to turn over but lowest price. This is our most popular duck purchased for 1 - time duck races. L...

According to the majority - Neither! 43% of Toy shop owners think that sites like Twitter or Facebook are useful to their business, whilst the remaining 57% of respondents suggest that they are a pretty pointless, or have never used either. Are they missing out on an opportunity here? After all - they are both effectively free, and could be a great way of introducing new customers to their wares, whilst building a relationship with their customers, and strengthening the brand awareness. We love facebook At Toyday, we actively use facebook as a tool for our customers to see the more personable side of Toyday. After all, life is about much more than just work - that's why we sell toys! Although relatively new to facebook, we have found it a great place to 'meet' our customers, engage in some conversation and interact with each other by sharing photos and experiences. It's also a great place for us to offer savings and discounts to our most valued customers. Unlike many li...

Whilst watching a documentary on bears I started wondering, why do we buy each other teddy bears? It seems strange that an animal referred to as a grizzly can be such a popular toy. You hear all these story's of mauling yet this doesn't seem to lessen the cuteness of the teddy bear, the two animals don't even seem to be linked. It seems the teddy bear is a species of its own!! The fascination with bears apparently started with politics in 1902 when Theodore Roosevelt was on a hunting trip. The hunters caught and tied up an exhausted bear for him to shoot but he refused deeming it unsportsman like. This led to a political cartoon in the Washington Post. The cartoons gradually got cuter and this soon inspired the creation of the teddy bear toy. We've all heard of Steiff which are still going strong today, making the most beautiful bears. All the cartoons, films and TV shows must have added to popularity of the teddy bear. Who doesn't love Rupert the Bear, Paddington b...

Hello world,my name is Sofia and I'm an Italian girl. I came to England two weeks ago for a school project, the first week I was in London I visited the city that it's very nice!!! Now and next week I will stay in Totnes ,a small village in Devon...the country is very beautiful! In this city I'm doing my first experience working. I work in a fantastic toy shop called toyday!!! the toys they sell are beautiful because they are all from the most classic toys that children love!!!! In the country everyone loves this store !! I like working here;help as much as I can because I still have a few small problems with the language!!! This experience will be very important for me,and for this I thank all..especially: toyday, the school of Totnes,home stay and my school who organized the wonderful study trip!!! Thank you!

It is the half term holiday at last and it feels like the long cold winter is finally coming to an end. Looe is buzzing today and everyone seems to be in the town taking in the sights and enjoying themselves. The beach was empty early this morning, except for the Gig rowers when I took this photo and as you can see it was a perfect start to the day. I expect there are plenty of people on it now and I am sure there are buckets and spades everywhere with all varieties of sand castles being made. We have a great range of outdoors games and toys as well to keep everyone happy whether you are on the beach, staying at a holiday park or maybe having a barbeque in your garden with many traditional favourites like juggling or rope quoits for all the family to join in and have fun with.

It is undeniable that Children love to dress up their dolls a nd with our Dress Up Cats and People proving popular, we've added two new products to our stock . These Dress Up Dolls featured in the ASTRA Best-For-Kids Toy List and come from our popular supplier, Manhattan who have won many other awards and are renowned for making high quality soft baby toys and dolls . The Dress Up Princess Doll has blond woolly hair and a princess crown. P lus, she comes with a butterfly friend tucked neatly in her pocket. Usua lly Dress Up Dolls are very girly and rarely suitable for boys. However we have the Pirate Doll - perfect for boys as well and he also comes with a parrot pal! These Dolls are great for teaching children dressing skills with a button , s nap, hook-and-loop closure, zipper, and shoe tie featured on both - sure to profide hours of fun!

Baby's love toys that they can make light up and make noises by pressing buttons. The only down side to these types of toys is that they usually need endless supplies of batteries which is not only annoying and expensive but is bad for the environment as well. If your anything like me, it takes a while before you a) remember to buy batteries and then b) find the time to unscrew the toy and replace the batteries. This is my main reasoning behind stocking our two new products the Eco Toy Telephone and the Eco Toy Radio. Both toys are dynamo powered, simply wind up or shake - NO BATTERIES REQUIRED!! Absolutely brilliant in my opinion and we will diffinately be adding more products to the range in the future.

Well as I write this it is snowing steadily outside and I took this photo on my walk along the Quay this morning heading to the shop. Everyone here has taken down their decorations and the Christmas and the New Year celebrations are all over and done with for another year. It was a busy December here in Looe and as usual the New Year was celebrated with style around the streets and pubs with a brilliant firework display on the Banjo Pier to end it. A big thank you to the organisers again and thankfully the weather held off although it was a bitter cold night. January is a quiet month in Looe but you can notice the evenings starting to pull out and once we get into February you can almost feel the warmth of the sun. I have heard that there are already a lot of provisional bookings from visitors for the coming season and it is always nice to have people in the shop that have been coming to Looe for many years and can even remember what they bought in here the last time they popped in alt...