Walmart jump starts the holidays with layaway return; reveals 25 must-have toys

The nation's largest retailer is gearing up for the holidays with the early return of its popular layaway program and stocking up on exclusive toys.



The program went into effect on Sept. 1. Again this year, there is no opening fee for customers to start a layaway account, and they only need to put down 10% (or $10, whichever is greater).



Customers can put items as low as $10 on layaway with a $50 minimum basket, and they have until Dec. 11 to pay off their account. Approximately 40,000 items are available for layaway.



Walmart on Wednesday also announced its list of what it predicts will be the "hottest" toys this holiday season — and nearly a quarter will be available only at Walmart (see list at end of story). To come up with its list, the discounter said it enlisted the help of hundreds of kids, from 18 months to 12 years old, to play with hundreds of contenders.



Between Walmart stores and Walmart.com, the retailer will offer more than 1,000 new toys this holiday season, including more than 300 exclusive items.



Here are Walmart's top 25 holiday toy picks:



• Hatchimals Surprise (details to be released Oct. 6)

• Fingerlings

• littleBits Star Wars Droid Inventor Kit

• Num Noms Nail Polish Maker

• FurReal Friends Roarin’ Tyler The Playful Tiger

• Barbie DreamHorse and Doll

• Fisher-Price Zoom ’n Crawl Monster

• L.O.L. Surprise Fizz Factory

• Soggy Doggy Board Game

• Mayka Toy Block Tape

• Frozen Sleigh (Walmart exclusive)

• Adventure Force Light Command Light-Up Motorized Blaster (*Walmart exclusive)

• Monster Jam Grave Digger (Walmart exclusive)

• Huffy Electric Green Machine Trike

• Nerf Rival Nemesis MXVII-10K

• RECOIL Starter Set

• New Bright Radio Control Tumblebee

• VTech Pop-a-Balls Drop and Pop Ball Pit (Walmart exclusive)

• Radio Control DashCam (Walmart exclusive)

• Dusty the Super Duper Garbage Truck

• Imaginext DC Super Friends Batman Batbot Xtreme

• Paw Patrol My Size Lookout Tower

• Disney/Pixar Cars 3 Ultimate Florida Speedway

• Mickey and the Roadster Racers Transforming Hot Rod Mickey

• Disney Junior Doc McStuffins Baby All in One Nursery