Kids Get Cooking With Toy Food

“I find that the boys are buying a lot of kitchen stuff.” — Terry Myers, Kaleidoscope Toys

When it comes to pizza, tiny tots prefer theirs wooden, retailers told TDmonthly Magazine. Kids picked the hard stuff over plush when going for fake veggies, cakes and fruits. Cooking and kitchen sets are also good sellers with small buyers, but tea sets are usually a “Grandma gift,” all agreed.

In Wappingers Falls, N.Y., Toys and More co-owner Jean Zoeller said that in pretend play food and kitchen products, "Melissa & Doug has the market cornered." The best sellers? Pizza and birthday cake held together with Velcro (until little chefs wield a toy cutting device).

“The Melissa & Doug birthday cake and pizza are the best,” agreed Terry Myers, owner of Kaleidoscope Toys in Round Rock, Texas, and six out of eight retailers agreed with her. “I also do pretty well with the fruits and vegetables from International Playthings. People like that Velcro.”

But Manhattan Toy’s (ToyDirectory) softer Take and Make Cake and Take and Make Pizza are also hits, said Angela Toljan, owner of Wayland Toy and Stationery in Providence, R.I.

"Haba (ToyShow) makes a food cart that always sells well," she added. She parks the cart in the store and kids shop for child-sized wooden fruits and veggies with their mini canvas tote bags.

Lea Culliton, vice president of sales and marketing for Habermaass Corp. (Haba), explained that the Market Trolley is a high-end item that “does very well in certain stores. We also have a small tabletop display and a freestanding display.”

Haba’s newest addition is a Fried Egg, she told TDmonthly. “It has been very well received, since the child actually breaks the plastic egg open and the egg white and yolk fall out.”

Brand New World (ToyDirectory) makes fruits and vegetables that aren’t cuttable, but peelable. “They’re totally fabric and vinyl and they unzip so the kids can see inside,” said Kathy Palker, vice president of sales and marketing for Brand New World. “They’re easy to clean and disinfect.”

“I find that the boys are buying a lot of kitchen stuff,” noted Terry Myers, owner of Kaleidoscope Toys. “Among their favs are Learning Resources’ educational counting cupcakes and stacking rainbow ice cream cones, she said.

Once they’ve bought their produce, kids can whip up a feast on KidKraft’s all-in-one kitchen set.

“The large kitchen in pastel colors with a refrigerator, stove and sink is the most popular,” commented Andrea Keyes, manager of Dilly Dally’s LLC in Rogers, Ark.

As far as after-dinner tea, Amanda Toups, manager of Magic Box Ltd. in New Orleans told TDmonthly, “I’m all out of the porcelain tea sets and baskets by Alex. Schylling makes a tin tea set, ToySmith and Small World Toys make great porcelain sets, and Creativity for Kids has a “paint your own” tea set.”

“The lady bug tea set from Schylling does really well,” said Beth Howard, owner of Cat and Fiddle in Jenks, Okla. “It’s cute and it’s something not pink.”

Three other retailers mentioned Schylling’s pink butterfly porcelain set in a basket with cloth tablecloth and napkins as their best-selling tea set. Melissa & Doug’s wooden tea set is also a top seller.

“Grandmas buy tea sets because it’s such an old fashioned thing,” concluded Howard. “Every little girl has to have a tea set. That and paper dolls.”

Here are the kitchen, food and tea sets mentioned by retailers and manufacturers as being among their best selling: