Top gifts on most festive wish lists

In homes around Northland, kids were tearing through Christmas wrapping hoping to find something on their wish list.

In a survey of four stores in Whangarei, the Northern Advocate found out what children, teens and adults would have likely discovered beneath their tree yesterday.

If you have children it might come as no surprise that dolls, colouring-in books, and puzzles from Disney movie Frozen were one of the most popular gifts this Christmas. Kids are crazy about all things related to the movie, about two sisters and princesses Anna and Elsa.

Displays in Whitcoulls and Paperplus showed off the assortment of colouring books, arts and crafts and stories related to film.

"Anything and everything Frozen," said Whangarei Whitcoulls manager Jean Soper "People have just loved that." It was the same story further along the strip at Paperplus Whangarei. Manager Chris Juddery said Frozen products had sold well there too.

"Frozen is huge -- you're probably getting this everywhere you go," he said.

The two stores also said books and toys from the computer game Minecraft, a game where you can build houses, mine for gold, silver and coal, gather food and fight off monsters, were popular purchases.

In the world of gadgets, Bluetooth speakers and remote controlled helicopters and cars were listed as top sellers by Whangarei electronic stores.

Dick Smith Okara Park manager Robert Ahchee said the wireless speakers were one of the most popular Christmas purchases. "People have been ordering them in. Everyone has mobiles these days so they want the speakers to take with them and play their music out loud."

For the adults, books were popular. Ms Soper said the local Northland stories sold well at Whitcoulls.

Patient: Portraits from a doctor's surgery by Northland GP Chris Reid was popular at the Whangarei store along with For the Love of Horses by Kelly Wilson, a true story based in rural Northland about the Wilson sisters on their journey to tame the Kaimanawa horses that many people believed were untrainable, which also sold hot at Paperplus Whangarei.

The Magic Bullet food processor, Kindles and FitBit, a wristband that monitors fitness by connecting wirelessly to a mobile phone, were also popular products for adults.