Some 100,000 applications have been made for RTÉ's annual The Late Late Toy Show which will air on Friday, December 2nd.

The rush to grab one of the highly sought-after tickets for the Toy Show kicked off on October 12th when the application process opened.

There are 200 seats available for the Toy Show studio audience and tickets will be allocated on a lottery basis.

Meanwhile, the Toy Show team is busy travelling around the country holding auditions in Cork, Galway and Dundalk in the search for the best of Ireland's young singers, dancers and musicians to take part in the show.

High standard of performers

The show’s producer Katherine Drohan said the team was very impressed by the high standard of performers seen at auditions, adding that they had “definitely uncovered some hidden gems who are going shine on the big night”.

There were a total of 120,000 applications for tickets for last year's show. Fans of the Christmas special show are encouraged to apply for tickets though the RTÉ website.

The closing date for applications has yet to be decided, a spokesman for RTÉ said.

A three-part documentary entitled The Late Late Toy Show Unwrapped will screen the week of the Toy Show, giving viewers behind-the-scenes access of what it's like to produce the annual Christmas show.

Last year's Beauty and Beast-themed show attracted 1.56 million viewers.