Forget Mom! Kids Are the Market!

The Kids Market in the US, from market researcher Packaged Facts, details the latest HOT demographic in the USA -- KIDS!

Children 3-11 years old make up a consumer market of 36 million members, with purchasing power of over $18 million AND, which is slated to reach $21.4 billion in disposable income by 2010.

Beyond what the kids spent themselves, families spent an additional $115 billion on the children. Almost half of the total, $58.3 billion, went for food, the rest to such things as clothing, personal-care items, entertainment and reading materials.

We moms know this. We could detailed every penny spent on non-essentials, or detail the necessitiies as defined by a 3-11 year old boy. Now, this list is a bit dated as my son is now 16, but you get the idea...

• airplane models
• animal slippers
• arcade tokens
• arrows and dart guns
  
• balloons and water balloons
• baseballs
• basketballs
• bats and softball
• BMX bike
• artist case with paints, brushes, markers and charcoal
• batteries
• bb guns
• bicycles (at least 2 per year)
• board games
• boots of every kind: cowboy, military, rubber
• boxes of cereal purchased for toys only
• camera and film
• camouflage clothes
• cap guns and cap rifles
• cheap toys (at least one per trip to store)
• checkers
• CO2 cartridges
• coin counting machines
• comic books
• computer
• computer games
• cowboy holster and 6-shooters
  
• crayons
• diving toys
• dog training whistles
• drum sets
• duck calls
• duck tape
• educational toys (a mom has to have hope)
• electric keyboards
• ever-increasingly larger water guns
• ever-increasingly larger remote control cars
• every movie made by Disney
• expensive hand carved walking sticks from State parks
• firecrackers and bottle rockets
• fishing poles
• flashlights (more batteries)
• flat penny souvenirs
• floating toys
• flutes
• foreign coins
• wooden fort with tire swing, rope ladder, firefighter’s pole and slide
• gadgets they would lose part of immediately
• GI Joe
• glow sticks
• Goosebumps everything: books, toys, rugs...
• guinea pigs and aquarium
• guitars
• hair dye (red, blue, aqua)
• Happy Meals
• harmonicas
• hats of every kid: cowboy, military, gimme
• Hot wheels, carrying case and race track
• iguana and accoutrements
• inline skates
  
• Jedi swords
• karaoke machine
• kites
• knives and swords
• laser pointers
• lock boxes, wooden boxes, ammo boxes
• magic markers
• military dog tags
• military figures to stage battles
• model trains, play planes and miniature automobiles
• more hair dye (brown and blonde) to cover the above hair dye so they could attend school
• more legos
• mountains of legos
• newts and different accoutrements
• Nintendo machine and games
• Ninja Turtles
• paintballs
• pellet guns
• pellets
• playing cards
• POGS (do not ask)
• Pokemon cards (at least one package per trip to store)
• Polaroid camera and film (more fun than waiting)
• posters
• Power Rangers masks, costumes and swords
• rope, string, rubber bands and bubble wrap
  
• scooters
  
• Sega machine and games
• skates
• skateboards
• silly string
• soccer balls
• soccer socks, shin guards and shoes
• stuffed animals
• styling gel
• sunglasses (at least one pair a week)
• superhero sheets and curtains
• swimming pools
• swing set
• temporary tattoos
• tents and sleeping bags
• tools (their own or anyone else’s)
• transformers (from vehicle to monster)
• wooden tree house with retractable ladder
• turkeys, doves, tree frogs, hermit crabs, puppies and kittiens
• various superhero PJs
• VCR and TV in their room
• walkie-talkies
• walkman
• wallets with chains
• wooden cork guns
• X-Men