Where is My Child's Toy Made? My Daughter's American Girl was Made in . . .

I was surprised today when I received in the mail by daughter's new American Girl Elizabeth Doll. This is our first purchase of American Girl products and when I went to enter the doll into my SmartToyChoice.com account, I noticed the doll was MADE IN CHINA.

You can find out where some of your children's favorite toys are made by going to the Toy Information page at www.SmartToyChoice.com (or click here http://www.smarttoychoice.com/index.php?action=Toy%20Information) and searching on the toy name or manufacturer. The toys we have in our system will list the country they were made in. Interesting to see where Barbie's, Transformer's, and Lego's are made!

Second Round of Playground Equipment Recalled

Today the CPSC recalled 11,000 Adventure Play Sets and Create N Adventure Wooden Play Sets sold at Wal-Mart and Toys R Us since the beginning of this year. Backyard Leisure has received 114 reports of the hangers for the glider swings breaking, including three reports of minor injuries to children. These wooden play sets were made in China.

This comes a month after the CPSC recalled 17,000 play sets sold to day care centers again due to fall hazards. The Playworld Systems Swing Sets which were recalled were made in the United States.

Rising Toy Prices and the Cost to Parents of Recalled Toys

Toy makers expect toy prices to increase by 5 to 10% by the end of the year. This price increase is apparently not due to all of the toy recalls last year but due to higher wages in China, higher costs of raw materials (plastic has risen by 25% over the past two years due to higher gas prices), and a weaker dollar compared to the Chinese yuan which makes it more expensive to buy Chinese goods.

While we as parents are going to have to pay more for our children’s toys, I would like to point out a statistic that SmartToyChoice follows which is the estimated amount of money parents spend on toys that are recalled. For the 30 toy recalls so far in 2008, the retail value of the toys recalled is $74 million ($611 million in 2007).

1992 Toy Recall Statistics

I read in a blog recently, that in 1992 less than 40% of toys purchased in the US were from China. So I wondered if back in 1992 less than 40% of the recalled toys were from China. Here are my findings for 1992

21 Toy Recalls
1 Made in the USA
1 Made in Singapore
2 Made in Taiwan
3 Made in Hong Kong
5 Recalls didn't list where the toy was made
9 Made in China (42%)

No Future Change to Made in China

Over 75% of the toys sold in the United States are made in China. As of January 25,2008, there have been seven recalls of over 200,000 toys. All of the toys have been made in China or Taiwan. Will there be a change in where the toys are made?

In a recent article in the International Herald Tribune by Donald Greenlees titled Toy Industry Tries to Regain Parents' Trust, the author summarizes the articles stating that it

"is unlikely to see any fundamental change in where toys are made.Despite the product scares of 2007 and the prospect of higher costs, toy companies say there is no realistic alternative to China.Philip Shoptaugh, who owns the Oakland, California-based Shoptaugh Games, an educational toy maker, said China's toy industry infrastructure and labor rates still give it a big edge over alternatives "I think there are probably a lot of shoppers who made an effort over Christmas to read the box and say 'it's made in China, I won't buy made in China this year,"' he said."But having said that, are you going to pay twice as much for a doll because it's not made in China? The thing is you cannot make these products in the United States and have them be competitive on the shelf."

After hearing of all the toy recalls last year and the problem products (like antifreeze in toothpaste) from China, I decided to ban all toys from China in our house. I looked at all the toys in our house and found ONE made in Germany - all the rest - China. So I started looking for alternatives - and for some toys there are definitely alternatives. But while we may be willing to pay more for toys not made in China - in some toy categories there just aren't good alternatives.

In starting SmartToyChoice.com, I read a very interesting book called A Year Without "Made in China": One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy by Sara Bongiorni (which you can purchase for $16 through the Amazon link on our website.) A story about a family's struggle in going an entire year without buying products made in China. It was amazing to me to realize what all comes from China.

While it doesn't look like there will be a change in where the majority of toys are made, in the end, I decided I couldn't completely ban China. I definitely look at labels (especially toothpaste) and when I can buy out of China, I definitely do. As a result, I feel like I am at least now making an informed decision when I buy toys.