- Mark Dolliver

NEW YORK If the phrase "Christmas shopping" evokes an image of harried adults rummaging around in stores' toy departments, your imagination may need some updating. Reflecting the fact that a declining number of U.S. households now include children, fewer than half the respondents to a new Harris Poll said they expect to buy toys this holiday season. Released this week (and analyzing data collected late last month), the survey found 47 percent of respondents saying they plan to buy toys as gifts this year -- 19 percent "definitely" and 28 percent "probably."

Among those who are in the market for toys, what will they be buying? Children's books (which the young recipients may or may not smilingly regard as toys) were cited by 47 percent, games for consoles by 38 percent, board games by 33 percent, arts and crafts by 33 percent, dolls by 32 percent, hand-held electronic games by 25 percent and building blocks/bricks by 23 percent.

If you wonder why kids look unathletic, note that just 22 percent of toy purchasers expect to buy sports equipment. Men, predictably, are more likely than women to say they plan to include sports gear among their toy purchases (31 percent vs. 15 percent). Equally predictably, women are more likely than men to say they'll be buying children's books (52 percent vs. 40 percent).

Toy purchases will not be immune to the cutbacks consumers are making in their holiday spending, the survey said. Among respondents who said they'll be buying toys this year, 44 percent expect to spend less on them than they did last year, vs. 16 percent expecting to spend more.