LI designers get ready for the toy shows

Christmas 2011 is a memory and Christmas 2012 not yet even a thought. But toy-makers on Long Island are busier than ever these days -- getting ready for the International Toy Fair at the Javits Center in Manhattan in mid-February.

At Great Neck-based i-Star Entertainment Inc., managers and workers are planning to show three new toys, an increase from the company's offering of one toy in last year's show. I-Star will launch fyrwyrkz, a powderless firework that lights up using a light-emitting diode, which is a semiconductor light source. It also creates noises that sound like real fireworks. But since it's powderless, i-Star executives say, there is no chance of children or users getting burns.

The company will also introduce Pillow Fighters, colored pillows that make bonging sounds, and Snoballz, made of foam.

Big Bertha, a toy that lights up, will be on display as well. I-Star also will expand its offering of FyrFlyz, a precision-balanced instrument designed to spin on its axis and allow kids to create a light show in their hands.

Matt Nuccio, owner of Merrick-based Design Edge Inc., a family-run toy design business, said he will have a new line of PetCakes, a collectible series of stuffed animals. He will also present Faux Cabulary, a word game.

Nuccio, Marty Abrams, chief executive of i-Star, and Joel Rosenzweig, i-Star's president, all just returned from a major toy show held last week in Hong Kong. Next week, they will be at another show in London, and then another in Germany, all before the show in Manhattan.

"We're making tons of samples now," said Nuccio. "It's not unheard of to work weekends and nights this time of year."

Even after Manhattan, there's no rest for the toy people. It's on to another show in Dallas.