Has anyone seen the film Jingle All The Way? Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a work obsessed Dad who leaves it too late to get the top Christmas toys for his son, and the disasters that follow on from this one mistake. If you haven't seen the movie, I won't spoil it for you, but I will give you one word of advice.

Don't become that work obsessed parent at the expense of your child's favorite Xmas gift this year!

The trick is to plan ahead and know what the Top Christmas Toys are and then to subtlety discover which one your child prefers, and to do this in plenty of time. Many sites will tell you which are the hot Christmas gifts this year, which is a great starting point.

Then biggest thing is to give yourself lots of time to prepare. Rushing around at the last minute is a big mistake. because you will run out of time or out of choice, and either way, you child could end up disappointed.

The advent of the Internet has helped beleaguered parents immensely, because you can order everything from home, and get great prices at the same time. Virtual Shops do not carry the same overheads as the real world variety, so the prices for toys online are much better than those you would find in your local mall.

The online stores also tend to carry more stocks of the top Christmas toys, or at least have access to plentiful supplies. That doesn't mean that they don't sell out however, because they do, but your chances of finding what you want are greatly increased by shopping online.

Some people simply enjoy shopping at the mall of course, and that is fine. I personally don't enjoy being trampled on and getting verbally abused, not risking my car getting scratched by irate shoppers in the car parks. Shopping online is almost relaxing by comparison.