Puppets Ireland and the Late Late Toy Show 2026

The answer is: I genuinely don’t know!

But there is a connection between Puppets Ireland and the Late Late Toy Show that you might not know about.

First, a little bit about Mimitoys and Puppets Ireland

If you’ve only recently discovered Puppets Ireland, you may not know that it grew from my original toy business, Mimitoys.ie, that I started in 2004.

Over the years, puppets became a bigger and bigger part of Mimitoys. In 2024, I decided they deserved a home of their own and launched PuppetsIreland.ie.

So while they are two different websites, Mimitoys and Puppets Ireland are very much part of the same small Irish business (and I’m the person behind both of them).

So what does that have to do with the Late Late Toy Show?

Every year, the Late Late Toy Show team contacts me through Mimitoys looking for toys to consider for the programme.

I suggest toys, they consider them and sometimes they come back looking for something else. Eventually my part is done and I wait to see what, if anything, makes it onto the show.

I’ve written about the whole process in Behind the Scenes: Mimitoys and the Late Late Toy Show 2026.

But there’s one particular part of the story that belongs here on Puppets Ireland...

A puppet has made it onto the Late Late Toy Show before!

In 2022, one of my Living Puppets, Lischa, appeared on the Late Late Toy Show and was demonstrated by Ryan Tubridy.

For me, that was a particularly cool Toy Show moment.

Puppets as a range, had already become a very important part of my business by then. 

Actually, puppets and the Toy Show make a lot of sense together

One of the things I love about the Late Late Toy Show is that, despite all the excitement about toys, the children are really the stars of the show.

And that is exactly what I love about puppets.

A puppet doesn’t really do very much sitting on a shelf. Give it to a child and suddenly it has a name, a voice and a personality. It might be funny, shy, cheeky, noisy or completely different from anything the adults expected!

Children can make up stories, create characters, change their voices, make people laugh and take the play in whatever direction they want.

That freedom is a big part of what makes puppets special to me, and it's also part of what makes the Late Late Toy Show so enjoyable to watch. You never quite know what a child is going to say or do next.

So, have I suggested puppets for the Late Late Toy Show 2026?

Nice try!

I’m keeping my 2026 suggestions to myself for now.

My part in this year’s Toy Show process is finished and, as always, being asked to suggest toys certainly doesn’t mean that anything I’ve suggested will eventually appear on television.

There’s also another lovely part of the process: the toys sent in for the Toy Show are donated to charities afterwards, so whatever happens on the night, they’ll go on to be enjoyed by children.

And now I wait.

When is the Late Late Toy Show 2026?

The Late Late Toy Show 2026 is on Friday, 4 December 2026, with Patrick Kielty back as host.

Will there be a puppet?

Will it be one I recognise?

I genuinely don’t know.

But considering what happened with Lischa in 2022, I’ll certainly be keeping a very close eye on the screen!

Myriam - Puppets Ireland