WE have just had the hottest day of the year. Wimbledon isn’t even over, for goodness sake. But already, the festive season has reared its tinsel-draped head.

Top toy shop Hamleys has this week revealed just what toys it most expects our kids will hope to find in their stockings, come December 25.

It predicts that Stinky the garbage truck, which gobbles cars before breaking into a song and dance routine, will be number one on most children’s wish lists. But the £75 Vtech Kidizoom video camera, for youngsters to record their adventures with the help of a built-in video editor, could come a close second.

Most annoying gift will probably be the Ben 10 Ultimate Alien Disc Ultramix, a wristband that requires a mini disk to produce alien sound and light effects and costs “just” £23. And then, of course, there are the Go-Go Hamsters and Dave the Funky Monkey.

If this all sounds like Hamleys hamming it up for the press, then you’re wrong. Woolworth’s, now retailing online, predicted on the same day that Buzz Lightyear will be their Christmas best-seller, with the Sylvanian Families Regency Hotel – a snip at £110 -- coming a close second.

And it’s not just a London/ cyberspace thing. Beales’ toy buyer John Bentley is predicting that Christmas will be Toy Story all the way: “We’re already selling fast,” and that Beyblades (remember them?) are back, along with something called the Paper Jamz Guitar (main picture).

It’s enough to get the Christmas-is-too-commercialised brigade choking on their mince pies. Or they could, if the festive delicacy was on sale all year round as the Mince Pie Club firmly believes it should be. Indeed, they have already started their search for the top Christmas pie for 2010.

The adverts are already out, too, for the Yuletide hotel season – the Hermitage in Bournemouth launched its Christmas brochure in April; and the Pavilion Theatre has already unveiled Cinderella as its pantomime offering, and opened the booking.

The fact is, as anyone involved in retail or public events well understands, you have to get organised for Christmas and in the case of emporia such as Beales, it has to be done early.

While the rest of us were eyeing up the Easter eggs in February and March, the buyers of Beales were attending a round of trade fairs, snapping up the decorations, wrapping and accessories they believe we’ll all want, come December 1.

“It’s a long lead-in time,” admits marketing manager Pam Hudson. “But we can’t start in September. We have to make the orders earlier so that the goods will arrive in time.”

Beales’ popular Christmas shop will open at the beginning of October. That’s still too early for some but, as Pam points out: “We know that many people will start their shopping then, have a big burst on getting lots done and then perhaps wait a while, before returning for their last-minute items in December, when it feels more Christmassy.”

The store also has to decide on its graphics and logo for the festive season, work that got underway at least two months ago.

So what will we all be buying in Christmas 2010? “Gold!” says Pam. “There’s been a huge return to this traditional colour and so there are lots of gold decorations and table ornaments; it’s going to be beautiful.”

Most of us will not have been on our summer break yet. But as I write this, there are only 176 shopping days to Christmas. Ho, ho, ho!