The Consumers' Association has warned desperate present-buyers to look before they leap into shoddy gifts this Christmas, advising that particular care should be applied to gifts bought for children. A few consistent quality standards reign in this area, all of which will be easily recognisable to those consumers who take the time to seek them out. The most basic standard is the CE mark, which stands for "ConformitΘ EuropΘenne. Consumers are guaranteed that goods carrying the CE logo conform to all the EU legal requirements that apply to products of that type, and it is illegal to sell a toy in the EU that doesn't carry the mark.

In the Republic, a further safety guarantee can be found in the IS:EN71 standard, a benchmark provided by the National Standards Authority of Ireland.