for ASTRA’s Star Play Award Winners!

Wait a minute. What happened to Best Toys for Kids?

By Tammy Clower, Giggle Monkey Toys, Dahlonega, Georgia

Keep reading to understand how the ASTRA Star Play Awards came to be.

In the meantime, let’s set the stage for the last meeting! The committee has a problem…

Sitting among dozens of nominated toys and games in an undisclosed hotel conference room outside of Denver, a group of 5 retailers sit silently, each appearing perplexed trying to wrap their heads around a new storytelling game that plays like something between Clue, an Escape Room and a comic book. Five individuals who haven’t been at a loss for words all day are suddenly transfixed at the illustrated cards in front of them.

“Well...” begins committee chair David Castillo, “THIS should be interesting.”

Castillo, owner of The Red Balloon Toy Store, takes lead on this cooperative game, effortlessly incorporating improv, tour guide and emcee skills as he gets everyone involved. Twenty minutes later, a game that began as a bit daunting has revealed its secrets and other committee members are now smiling and nodding their heads at the satisfying unfolding of events.

One game down, many more to go.

No committee may have a more fun - or stressful - set of tasks to accomplish over the course of 48 hours than those who are part of the ASTRA Play Awards. These volunteer retailers meet virtually 2-3 times a year as lead-up to their in-person gathering each March.

New members often go into their first in-person session assuming that picking toy and game finalists in multiple categories will be loads of fun. And, of course, it is. What they don’t anticipate is the amount of time, teamwork, debate, mental capacity and physical stamina the two-day session will require.

“Before I was on the committee I thought, ‘Oh, that would be fun. How difficult could it be?’” says Kas Sharma, owner of Henry Bear’s Park. “Now? I just had no idea what goes into narrowing all these nominees down to a few finalists in each category. It’s fun - but also rather exhausting, if I’m being honest.”

The past two committee meetings have also resulted in time spent by the group analyzing the award process and judging criteria to ensure what has been put in place in the past makes sense for the future. This leads us back to how the name change came to be.

One of the issues we struggled with was the idea that many of the items we were looking at as finalists were not necessarily toys and they were not limited to kids. We felt that Best Toys for Kids did not encompass our task. The BTFK committee decided it was time to change the name for our awards. We are now ASTRA Star Play Awards because play can be inspired by such a wide range of products! We think this title is a better fit.

This year’s committee members are: David Castillo, Red Balloon; Carah Killian, Beyond the Blackboard; Kas Sharma, Henry Bear’s Park; Cynthia Compton (not pictured), 4 Kids Toys and Books; and Tammy Clower, Giggle Monkey Toys. We also appreciated the guidance of ASTRA board member Patrick Holland. Sue Warfield was even able to join us for a couple of hours and we were all extremely happy to see her smiling face!

As in years past, manufacturers, sales reps, and toy store owners nominated toys, games, puzzles, plush, craft sets, etc. that they thought were the ‘best’. Choosing the ‘best’ is always difficult. So many great items are nominated and the committee must narrow the list down to just a few per category. Just because an item does not make it as a finalist, does not mean that it’s not a good item. It’s probably something we want to carry in our stores but doesn’t fully meet the requirements.

The ASTRA Star Play Awards committee once again met by zoom for a couple of preliminary meetings and then we met in person in Denver so we could try out all of the nominees. The process is a lot of fun, as well as exhausting. We have a little less than two full days to unbox, play games, try out science and craft kits, and defend the reason an item should be considered a finalist. Sometimes we have given feedback to manufacturers on ways to improve their game or toy. The committee takes this process seriously. We understand that we are the representatives for all of you, our friends and colleagues.

Please take the time to vote for the ‘best’ ASTRA Star Play Awards. Your votes are important to the success of this program. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve the ASTRA community!