Old School, Inexpensive Toys to Steal the Show This Christmas

New twists on classic toys sold at reasonable prices are expected to be the rage this Christmas season, according to industry experts at Timetoplaymag.com.

The latest Barbie incarnation, Barbie Fashionistas, whcih retail for $12 each, is expected to be one of the hottest toys this holiday season, according to Timetoplaymag.com.

(Courtesy Mattel)

The annual list of the toys predicted to be the breakout hits of the holiday season, include a fashion-conscious Barbie, a battery-operated hamster, a "Star Wars" spacecraft from Lego, a robotic riff on the old yellow dump truck and a video game that lets you pretend to be the Beatles.

Consumer spending is expected to be flat this season, economists say, and in response, prices for this year's toys will be the lowest they have been in years in an effort to get shoppers out of their homes and into the mall.

"[Consumers] need to see the price-value relationship. You don't have a lot of toys over $200. There were a couple last year," said Jim Silver, who, with partner Christopher Byrne, have compiled the list for the past ten years.

At the bargain price of $8, motorized hamsters – or Zhu Zhu Pets -- that can be set to two modes: "nurturing mode where the hamsters coo and purr and adventure mode where the hamsters explore their habitat" are expected to be the runaway hit of the season.

Zhu Zhu Pets

"This is probably the big one for the holiday. This right now is the toughest to find and it's not going to be easier to find over the next three months," Silver told ABC News.

Another predicted big seller is the latest Barbie incarnation, Barbie Fashionistas, $12 dolls, which allow kids to pose them in 100 ways and style them in countless permutations.

Timetoplaymag says the dolls play to young girls' "increasingly sophisticated fashion sense and look as if they just stepped off the runway."

The magazine lists three robot-themed toys this year -- a spinoff of the popular "Transformers" movies called Construction Devastator ($100) that shapeshifts into five different vehicles; the similarly morphing Bakugan Maxus Dragonoid ($40); and Rocky the Robot Truck ($60) a kind of "Transformers" for the toddler set.

Rocky the Robot Truck