It's billed as the 'ultimate male lifestyle show'. But Breda Heffernan finds plenty of pricey geegaws and gadgets for gals as well.
Toys 4 Big Boys is a misnomer. Look beyond the garish Formula One leather jackets, banks of flashing computer games and the blonde, stilettoed PR lovelies encouraging you to gasp at the latest in luxury beer coolers, and women will find that some of their consumer needs are also catered for.
Billed as the "ultimate male lifestyle show", last year's exhibition saw more than 22,000 visitors traipse through the RDS - yet 40 per cent of these were women. Organisers expect to top this figure, and exhibitors have cottoned on to the fact that girlfriends and wives can have sizeable bank balances too.
A case in point is the clay-pigeon shooting exhibit. While Madonna may have made inroads into this bastion of the country gent - she's often photographed with a trusty shotgun slung over her shoulder - the sport is still very much perceived as the reserve of wellington-booted men.
Exhibitor Áine Flynn of Courtlough Shooting Grounds in Balbriggan begs to differ. Having represented Ireland in the clay-pigeon championships earlier this year, Flynn has seen an increasing number of women develop an interest in the sport. "It's something women don't try very often and they really should because it's fantastic. There's a big market for the sport among women."
The centrepiece of her display is a computerised simulator game where would-be Calamity Janes can practise their sharp-shooting skills picking off mallards and prairie dogs with a laser guided gun. For the fashion-conscious shooter, there's an assortment of firearms on sale. From the latest in camouflage chic shotguns to rifles decorated with hand-engraved pictures of birds of prey and pheasants.
Men don't deserve to be pigeonholed either. While many lads traditionally had only a passing relationship with a toothbrush and razor, the modern man has become a discerning user of quality beauty treatments and skin products, according to exhibitor Elizabeth McKeon of Facialworks in Dublin. McKeon has nabbed a prime spot opposite the Xbox display, where hordes of young men are maintaining a weekend-long vigil.
"The male skincare industry in Ireland is growing at an extraordinary rate," she says. "Twenty per cent of my clients are men." But while men are plucking up the courage to enter the beauty salon, they are reluctant to admit it. "Women will tell all their friends and colleagues about their visit to the salon, but men will only sneak in and out." Still, she adds, "a lot of men are looking to find out more about their skin. Some of them suffer from acne or shaving rashes, and that's why I came here."
Fresh-faced Capt John Toal, a flying instructor with Eagle Helicopters, based at Weston airport in Co Kildare, is signing up aspiring pilots, male and female, for 20- and 30-minute introductory lessons. Standing in full flight gear beside his stunning black Schweizer 300 CBi - and, more worryingly, alongside a giant flatscreen television playing scenes from the helicopter disaster movie Black Hawk Down - Toal guarantees your first flight in a chopper will be a "memorable" experience. "But it's very addictive," he warns.
Other highlights include the eircom Lads' Pad (a high-tech, Peter-Stringfellow-meets-the-Jetsons-style apartment); vintage military vehicles; a Formula One race car as driven by Michael Schumacher; and the Hov Pod, a leisure hovercraft that apparently is all the rage among farmers.
The exhibit runs until tomorrow and there is a plentiful supply of ATM machines facilitating easy separation from your cash.
Toys 4 Big Boys is at Dublin's RDS, Saturday, November 8th (10 a.m.-7 p.m.) and Sunday, November 9th (10 a.m.-6 p.m. www.toys4bigboys.ie