Egg overload? Unlike Christmas and birthdays, where children receive a range of gifts, Easter is monopolised by chocolate eggs. But do children really want them? After all, chocolate is available all year round, even if it’s not always egg-shaped.
97 per cent of the 500 children surveyed by Dubit (aged between eight and 13) get chocolate eggs at Easter and 87 per cent get other chocolate gifts. Only 33 per cent are bought toys. Surprisingly, a quarter say they get too many eggs. Only 63 per cent think they get enough, while
of eight to nine year- olds would like more toys at Easter
41% APRIL 2012
a small number of chocoholics (ten per cent) actually want more. If children could influence what
they’re bought at Easter, 71 per cent would still choose a chocolate egg. 49 per cent don’t care about the shape and would be happy with any chocolate gift.
Although eggs are the most popular Easter treat, in these frugal times money isn’t far behind, chosen by 70 per cent of the kids. Video games are fourth at 39 per cent. Toys were chosen by 26 per cent, behind DVDs/music, clothes and books. The age group most eager for toys to come with Easter eggs are eight to nine year-olds. When looking only at this demographic, toys fare slightly better and are chosen by 41 per cent of children of that age. Chocolate eggs still come top with 76 per cent and even at this age, money is chosen by 64 per cent. Other chocolate and video games were chosen by 44 per cent and 42 per cent respectively.
Toys with an egg is a cracking idea Considering the success of Kinder eggs, it’s puzzling that more Easter eggs don’t come with a toy. We’re sure children aren’t too bothered about a free egg cup or branded mug. So we asked the children if they were given a toy-egg package, whether they would be more interested in the toy or the egg. For young children, packaging a small toy with a chocolate egg would make them want the package more than an egg on its own. 61 per cent of eight to nine year-olds say the toy would be more important than the egg, but that declines to 38 per cent and 19 per cent with 10 to 11 and 12 to 13 year-olds respectively.
Moshi and Lego would be good eggs To determine which toys would make the perfect egg we presented the children with seven of the most popular toy brands of last year: Lego, Moshi Monsters, Star Wars, Ben 10,
Getting a small toy with a
chocolate egg would make young children want the
package more.
Match Attax, Beyblade and Cars 2. Lego and Moshi Monsters would be the most popular toy-egg combos with 53 per cent and 49 per cent of the respective voting. Lego picked up the highest number of votes from boys (66 per cent), while Moshi Monsters got the girls votes (71 per cent). None of the other brands picked up more than 50 per cent of the female vote, although this may have been influenced by the other brands leaning towards the boy market.
Looking at children aged eight to nine (the age group most interested in toys with eggs), they would rather