Kids' 2005 wish list, scientific-style

Though we at Houstonist do our best to stay on top of the latest fads and fashions, there's one pop-culture demographic with which we've fallen woefully out of touch: kids 11 and under. Pre-teens these days have so many more options than Houstonist did — back when we were in elementary school, there were no PS2s, no folding scooters, no iPods, no Heelys. All we had were a bunch of cast-iron pistols and a Pong game.

Fortunately, a group of local elementary school students took it upon themselves to research the hottest kid gifts of 2005. The students spent two months studying advertisements to figure out 20 gifts they expect to be popular this Christmas, and then they asked their classmates to rank the picks. Here's what they found:

• Astros stuff tops the wish list. "The team's first World Series appearance left an impression on kids," the Chronicle reported. It left an impression on us, too, but it's more socially acceptable for us to get drunk.
• Chatnow Communicators, which are walkie-talkies disguised as cell phones, are hot. As one Amazon reviewer wrote: "My friend kiana is getting one right now as I type this her mom said this was so cool and that she needed to keep in touch with her kiana so why not. My teacher said this is a good toy but why do 13 years old need it it's bad enough you guys talk on the house phone. The whole class said because it's cool." So, uh, yeah, we can't argue with that. We think.
• The Bratz empire also has its tentacles around the kids, it seems. The Bratz dolls look vaguely like Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, which is harrowing enough, but the Bratz line also includes things like a lip-shaped telephone and a lipstick-shaped MP3 player. There's a trend developing here, and we don't like it — there is absolutely no way we're going to carry a messenger bag shaped like a unicorn.
• Also on the list: gift cards. Wha? Houstonist thought gift cards were only popular for adults you don't really care about! (Sorry, Mom.) But the kids said they like having the option to pick their own gifts — and when you think about it, that really is a little better than another bad sweater.

If you're planning to take the kids' advice, better do it fast: A Wal-Mart district manager said their picks are "dead on" and predicted all the items on the list will fly off the shelves. Even the lip-shaped phones.

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Photo: Jessica Kourkounis/Chronicle