As Christmas looms once more on the horizon, the retailers stock their shelves in the hope of a bumper season. Parents try their level best to appease the kids at great expense but the era of the train set and doll houses is over and the pressure and financial strain on parents increases. The increasing trend towards technology-based toys means increasingly sophisticated products at increasingly sophisticated prices.

The year's most wanted toys ( ) reflect this trend with increasing emphasis on i-Pods and Sony PSP and a movement away from the traditional toys and gifts is more acute this year than any other. A case in point is this year's most sought after gift - the Robosapien V2 as it pervades the stores and online retail pages ( ). Billed as a walking, talking humanoid, the Robosapien V2 threatens not only the place of traditional Christmas toys, but the traditional household pet as well. The Robosapien V2 is just the latest in a long line of recent products which mark a sea change in the type of gifts and toys that we shop for.

The market for techno toys is booming - perhaps a result of a two tier market where toys and gifts are marketed to 'big boys' as well as to kids. The techno-based lifestyle where we are surrounded by plasma screen TVs, the latest audio equipment and game consoles is upon us and could be at the heart of this paradigm shift. This is, of course, felt more acutely online than anywhere, where retail sites providing secondary products around this market are evident. One such example is Stand and Deliver ( ) a site dedicated to contemporary furniture to house the techno products that we surround ourselves with.

All of which requires considerable financial outlay - something which will be felt in the forthcoming months that at any point previously.