NEW YORK, NY | November 18, 2024 — The Toy Association’s Toy Safety Awareness Month is well underway, with the goal of helping parents, grandparents, and other caregivers keep children safe this holiday season and all year long.   Throughout the month of November, The Toy Association and the toy community are joining together to share safety tips across social media, offering shoppers tips for avoiding recalled and counterfeit products sold through untrustworthy e-commerce sites; sharing the importance of following age-labels on toys; and offering advice on how to ensure safe play once the gifts are unwrapped, among other simple steps families can take to ensure children’s safety.   As part of the campaign, The Toy Association is spreading awareness about counterfeit and unsafe toys that may be lurking online with helpful infographics – including one about counterfeit toys and a safe toy shopping checklist.   “Genuine toys sold by reputable brands comply with tough federal safety standards that protect children at play, while counterfeits often fail to meet safety standards, posing a serious risk to kids,” said Joan Lawrence, The Toy Association’s “Toy Safety Mom” and SVP of standards and regulatory affairs.   Small parts have also been an essential topic during Toy Safety Awareness Month, with social posts highlighting the critical importance of checking and following the age-grading on toy packaging and keeping small parts out of reach from children under the age of three, and those who mouth toys.   Families are being warned about non-toy items, like accessories containing high-powered magnets, balloons, and button cell batteries – all of which may be commonly found in the home but should be kept out of children’s reach.   These tips and more can be found in The Toy Association’s “Toy Safety 365 Days a Year” video that includes footage from a toy testing lab and advice from Lawrence and a pediatric emergency medicine physician about safe play at home. “Toys are among the safest consumer products found in the home and are strictly regulated – for example, battery compartments in toys must have a locking mechanism, and high-powered magnets cannot be included in toy parts that are small enough to be swallowed, among many other stringent safety measures,” said Lawrence. “However, kids may come into contact with items that are not meant to be played with, so parents should be knowledgeable about risks and remain vigilant at all times.”   And toy recalls, while rare, are an important part of the safety system – they are an added ‘safety net’ to remove any faulty products from stores and people’s homes.   “Particularly when shopping second-hand, buying from an unauthorized third-party seller, or accepting a hand-me-down from a well-meaning family member or friend, be sure to check that the toy has not previously been recalled,” said Lawrence.   Families are encouraged to sign up for CPSC’s recall notifications at CPSC.gov/Newsroom/Subscribe and to search recalled product listings at CPSC.gov/recalls to know what to avoid.   Toy Safety Awareness Month takes place each November and is sponsored by PlaySafe.org, The Toy Association’s trusted safety resource for parents. To learn more, follow #ToySafetyAwarenessMonth and #PlaySafe on social media for shareable videos, infographics, and advice from The Toy Association.     About The Toy Association™toyassociation.org / toyfoundation.org / peopleofplay.com / thegeniusofplay.org / playsafe.org Founded in 1916, The Toy Association™, Inc. is the business trade association representing all businesses involved in creating and delivering toys and youth entertainment products for kids of all ages. The Toy Association leads the health and growth of the U.S. toy industry, which has an annual U.S. economic impact of $102.8 billion, and its roughly 900 members drive the annual $41 billion U.S. domestic toy market. The Toy Association serves as the industry’s voice on the developmental benefits of play and promotes play’s positive impact on childhood development. The organization has a long history of leadership in toy safety, having helped develop the first comprehensive toy safety standard more than 40 years ago, and remains committed to working with medical experts, governments, consumers, and the industry on ongoing programs to ensure safe and fun play.   As a global leader, The Toy Association produces the world-renowned Toy Fair™ in New York City; hosts marketplace activities in Los Angeles; engages in state, federal, and international advocacy on behalf of its members; supports the inventor and design community through People of Play™ and its numerous assets and events, including the consumer-facing Chicago Toy & Game Fair; sustains the Canadian Toy Association; acts as secretariat for the International Council of Toy Industries and International Toy Industry CEO Roundtable; and chairs the committee that reviews and revises America’s widely emulated ASTM F963 toy safety standard. The Toy Association’s philanthropic arm is The Toy Foundation™, a 501 (c)(3) children's charity that acts as the uniting force for the collective philanthropy of the toy industry. To date, The Toy Foundation has delivered the joy of play to 32 million children in need worldwide.   ###  

STICKI ROLLS BY SKY CASTLE TOYS NAMED THIS YEAR'S DREAM TOY!   November 14th 2024 – London    A hot new craze has swept into playgrounds across the globe, and now it is official - Sticki Rolls is this year’s Dream Toy as named by the Toy Retailers Association on 13th November 2024, with VIP guest presenter Helen Skelton arriving at the event in her very own Sticki Rolls London Taxi!   Sticki Rolls is the brainchild of Seattle-based Sky Castle Toys, is distributed by Character Options in the UK and has captured the imagination of kids everywhere since its introduction this summer.   The innovative line of wearable and shareable sticker bracelets has revolutionized how kids collect, share, and display their favourite stickers. It combines the love of stickers with the latest trends in fashion accessories, offering an unmatched experience for kids ages five and up. Unlike traditional sticker sheets, Sticki Rolls are ingeniously designed as fashionable bracelets that contain rolls of stunning, kawaii-themed holographic stickers. Each Sticki Roll “charm” houses 10 easy-to-peel stickers, for a total of 50 stickers per bracelet.   With the “Eras” influence for swapable bracelets being a 2024 movement, coupled with a new girls’ alternative to the football sticker album, Sticki Rolls has swiftly become the must-have toy of the year, with fans collecting and customizing their own accessories such as water bottles, notebooks, smart devices, footwear and more!   Collectability is a driving force for the range, and the most popular item of the collection has been the pocket-sized Sticki Book. It’s the perfect place to build your Sticki collection! Complete with 50 different activity pages to organise and show off your Stickis, and 120 Stickers, it’s perfect as a pocket money purchase or as a Christmas gift.   The colossal numbers involved since launch is proof of the Sticki Rolls domination… and here’s just a few Since launching in June, over 200,000,000 Sticki Rolls stickers have been shipped, collected, and swapped across the globe. 1,200 designs are already in circulation with over 2,000 more to be released in 2025! YouTube has delivered over 250,000,000 organic views as tubers create masterpieces, from shoes to books and even a toilet!   The global success is highly evident here in the UK where the brand was launched in September, and there is little doubt the Dream Toy accolade is well deserved. So much so that a Sticki Rolled taxi was a main attraction at the Dream Toy event and visitors to London over the following week may catch a glimpse as it drives the city’s streets with Sticki Roll influencers on board!   “The excitement for Sticki Rolls is palpable and has taught us that if you blend creativity with strategy and listen to what kids really want, you can turn a simple toy and concept into a phenomenon,” say Lev Nelson, President of Sky Castle Toys. “Sticki Rolls is more than a brand and we can’t wait to see where this phenomenon takes Sky Castle.”   Dave Middleton, Toy retailer, Owner Midco Toy Planet, Midco Toymaster and Freak Treats, commented: “Combining collectable stickers with on trend kawaii style graphics, Sticki Rolls has resonated with the target market and created a craze that has driven repeat business that will continue into 2025.”   So, what is next? Fans can expect a range of extensions, starting in spring with popular licenses, Series 2 will bring 1,200 new kawaii stickers and Sticki Book ahead of the summer holidays and some amazing Sticki innovations for Christmas 2025.      ###   ABOUT CHARACTER OPTIONS LIMITED   Character Options (the main trading subsidiary of The Character Group plc) is a leading UK-based toy company and designs, manufactures and distributes a wide range of toys, games and playthings. Many of its product’s feature or are based on popular television, film, comic and digital characters, reproduced under licence from the brand owners. The principal markets for its products are UK and Scandinavia, however, the products’ penetration into other international territories is growing, particularly in the USA/North America and other parts of the EU/Europe. Character Options also partners on an ‘exclusive’ basis with other overseas-based toy producers, either to market and distribute their products in the UK or to collaborate to jointly-develop and distribute toy products and ranges worldwide. Character Options’ diverse product ranges focus on key areas within the toy sector; these include Pre-school , Boys, Girls, Activity and Crafts and YouTube / New media.   ABOUT SKY CASTLE TOYS Sky Castle Toys™ was founded by Lev Nelson and Josh Loerzel in 2020. The long-time friends and coworkers took the leap to start a toy company, a dream they had shared and discussed for years. The name "Sky Castle" is an ode to Josh's house where he and Lev lived in the Pacific Northwest mountains of Oregon during their time working together. It was there that the dream of building a company together blossomed and became a reality with the launch of their first product, the LetsGlow Studio in 2021. Since then, the powerhouse duo have developed popular brands such as DoodleJamz, GooGames and Sticki Rolls, cementing themselves as disrupters in the toy industry.   Carve Communications Inc. for Sky Castle Toys Amy Friedland, amy@carvecomms.com