CHRISTMAS GOODS

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19176, 6 December 1927, Page 12

CHRISTMAS GOODS

HUNDREDS OF NOVELTIES.

NEW IDEAS IN TOYS. Window-dressers are having their busiest time of the year, preparing displays of Christmas goods which, for variety and attractiveness, have never been excelled. To state that shop-fronts have undergone a transformation is putting it mildly. The fine weather now being experienced is giving trade a fillip, and some departments report sales ahead of those for corresponding periods of last year.

Toys in endless profusion arc on display, many of them fresh products of the ingenuity of the inventor. For instance, aeroplanes which loop-t lie-loop and Teddy bears which walk have made their first appearance, while the eyes of another toy animal glow with light (from some hidden battery) when a prospective owner picks him up. A spring is wound, and two boxers, connected by a steel band, deal uppercuts to each other, or retreat to the ropes for a fresh rush. In utter defiance of the point-duty policemen who stand near with arm upraised, motor-cars loop-the-loop at incredible speed. In the crowded toy departments may be found every make of ear, from the patrician BollsItovce to the most plebeian product of Detroit.

Countless dolls stand in rows, according to sizes, and the musical toys include novelties certain to thrill the juveniles. Vegetable marrows and bananas emit a shrill sound on being blown, and another toy, by a clever arrangement of flint and steel, sends out sparks in thousands when a wheel is turned by the pulling of a string. Christmas stockings six feet long will appear in some of the shops this week. For the Christmas Tree. Christmas tree decorations have never been so attractive as this year. The Chinese lanterns have discovered new colours, but the blown-glass decorations in gorgeous shades and fruit designs will be the favourite form of decoration. Frosted tinsel and silver tinsel rope will give wonderful effects when the electric lights play on them. The latest in surprise bombs and Christmas crackers have a present in each. Every department has its novelties, and, on the whole, tho prices are a little lower than last year.

Christmas cards and calendars are having as big a vogue as ever. The latter are in endless variety, scenic effects being introduced with great success. Oxidised copper ornaments and others in glassware make admirable presents, and tho variety from which to choose satisfies all tastes. The pottery trade is doing wonderful things nowadays in Jacobean ornaments. Xylonite ware, such as trinket-boxes, powder-bowls, clocks, and bruslnvare, makes ideal gifts. Soaps in fancy boxes are on display from tho world's best makers, and the same is true of perfumery, which is put up in novelty bottles and boxes. The scents themselves are better than in any previous year. Serviceable presents are handbags and purses in. suede, leather, and brocaded silks in every conceivable colour and design. In the clothing departments special efforts have been made to stock attractive goods for shoppers in the next few weeks. The celebration of Christmas is one of our customs which ripens with age, and the 1927 Festival will lose nothing by the fact that hundreds of others have preceded it.