Canton Fair Toys: Dates, Halls and a Buyer’s Plan for Phase 3
Toys get five days at the Canton Fair. They sit in three halls, in one phase, at the far end of the complex. Turn up in the wrong week, or walk the wrong area, and you will spend a day finding nobody. This guide gives you the dates and the exact halls. It shows what you can really buy there, what those orders cost, and how to join the fair to the factories behind them.
1. When Are Toys at the Canton Fair?
Toys are a Phase 3 category. Not Phase 1, not Phase 2. This is the mistake that costs buyers a whole trip, and plenty of guides online still get it wrong.
The 140th Canton Fair runs in three phases in autumn 2026:
| Phase | Theme | Dates | What is inside |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Advanced Manufacturing | 15–19 October | Electronics, appliances, machinery, vehicles, hardware, lighting, new energy |
| 2 | Quality Home Life | 23–27 October | Ceramics, kitchenware, household goods, glass, garden, gifts and premiums, furniture, building materials |
| 3 | Better Life | 31 October – 4 November | Toys, baby and maternity, clothing, footwear, bags, home textiles, stationery, sports, pet products |
Halls open 9:30 to 18:00 every day. Two breaks sit between the phases — 20 to 22 October and 28 to 30 October — when the halls close and the stands get rebuilt. Nothing is on show during those days.
The whole fair is big: 1.55 million m², 54 product sections, more than 75,000 booths and about 32,000 exhibitors across the three phases. The last edition, the 139th in spring 2026, drew 314,000 overseas buyers from 220 countries and regions. You are not going to see all of it. You only need one section of it.
Two things follow from those dates.
First, book your flight for Phase 3 only if toys are what you came for. If you also buy gifts or festival items, those are Phase 2 — a different week. Some buyers do both. That turns a five-day trip into a twelve-day one, with three dead days in the middle.
Second, those three dead days are useful. The halls are shut, but the factories are not. Section 6 shows you how to use them.
For planning ahead: the spring session usually runs the same pattern in April and early May, with Phase 3 in the first week of May. Confirm on the official Canton Fair site before you book, because the organiser sets each session’s dates separately.
2. Which Halls Are the Toys In? (And How to Read a Booth Number)
Toys sit in Area D, halls 17.1, 18.1 and 19.1. Baby and maternity products are next door in 20.1. Cases and bags take the floor below, in 17.2 to 20.2.
Area D is the last block at the southern end of the complex. Here is how Phase 3 splits up, so you can see where you are not going:
| Area | What is inside | Halls |
|---|---|---|
| A | Men’s and women’s clothing, kids’ wear, sportswear, underwear, shoes, furs and leather, carpets | 1.1–8.1 |
| B | Personal care, pet products, sports and travel, toiletries, medicines and medical devices, food, office supplies | 9.x–13.x |
| C | Home textiles, textile raw materials and fabrics | 14.x–16.x |
| D | Toys (17.1, 18.1, 19.1), children / baby / maternity (20.1), cases and bags (17.2–20.2) | 17–21 |
The practical point: a toy buyer can ignore three quarters of the complex. Area A is a garment show. If you find yourself between rows of winter coats, you are in the wrong block. Getting back to Area D costs you 30 to 40 minutes of walking.
Booth numbers look cryptic but they read left to right, and they get narrower as they go. Take 18.1 A8-12:
18is the hall.1is the floor (.0is ground level,.1is the floor above)Ais the aisle8-12is the position along that aisle
So 18.1 A8-12 is hall 18, upper floor, aisle A, booths 8 to 12. Sort your shortlist by hall, then floor, then aisle letter before you fly. Twenty booths in walking order is half a day. The same twenty in random order is two days.
One more thing worth knowing. The buyer registration office is in Area D, so you can collect your badge and walk straight into the toy halls. Metro Line 8, Xingangdong Station, exit A, is the stop for Areas A and D.
3. What Kinds of Toys Can You Actually See?
The toy section at the last edition carried more than 800 exhibitors across toys and baby products. That sounds small next to 32,000, and it is — which is good news. You can see it properly.
The official product list for the toy section breaks down into eleven groups:
- Baby and infant toys
- Electric, remote-control and wind-up toys
- Action toys
- Games and educational toys
- Plush and fabric toys
- Dolls
- Ride-on toys
- Toy musical instruments
- Inflatable toys
- Other toys and toy parts
On the floor, buyers tend to group what they see into six working categories: plastic and novelty, educational and wooden, RC and electronic, plush, ride-ons and kids’ vehicles, and seasonal and outdoor.
Still deciding where to spend your budget? Our category pages go deeper on each one: educational toys, STEM toys, plush toys and fidget and sensory toys. We also cover building blocks, RC and car toys, dolls, arts and crafts and board games.
Narrower lines have their own notes too: drone toys, fidget toys wholesale, dinosaur toys, interactive toys and beach and outdoor toys.
Three trends were visible across the halls at the last two editions, and all three change what you should put on your list.
Smart toys have moved from gimmick to shelf. Voice recognition, sound sensors and app pairing now turn up in ordinary plush and STEM lines, not just in demo robots. Shantou set up an AI Toy Innovation Centre in March 2026 and is pushing hard to brand itself China’s AI toy capital. For you this means two things. Unit values go up. And there is more compliance work, because anything with a chip adds EMC, wireless and battery transport approvals on top of toy safety.
Trend and collectible toys are now a mainstream category. China’s trend toy market was worth about ¥88 billion in 2025, up 21%, and the industry body expects roughly ¥110 billion in 2026. Blind boxes, art toys and licensed characters sit inside the toy halls now, not on the fringe. If that is new ground for you, read our notes on the art and designer toy business before you walk in.
Chinese cultural IP sells. Suppliers are building lines around classic stories and national landmarks, and overseas buyers are buying them. If your market has any appetite for that, ask to see the IP paperwork along with the product.
Building a range rather than a single order? Our breakdown of different types of toys maps the categories by age group and material. Our 2026 novelty toy list covers what is moving right now, and our toy industry market analysis gives you the demand side by region.
4. What Do Toy Orders Cost, and What Are the Minimums?
Nobody at a fair will quote you a price you can take to the bank. But you need a number in your head before you land. Otherwise you cannot tell a good offer from a bad one in ten minutes.
These are rough guides from recent orders, not a promise of a price:
| Category | Typical MOQ | Typical FOB | Certificates to ask for |
|---|---|---|---|
| RC, electric and wind-up | 1,000 pcs per model | $3–15 | EN 71, ASTM F963, battery compartment screw lock |
| Plush and fabric | 500–1,000 pcs per design | $1.50–8 | EN 71 or ASTM, plus new (not recycled) fill |
| Educational and wooden | 500–2,000 sets | $2–12 | EN 71, ASTM, low-formaldehyde glue, surface-coating heavy metals |
| Bubble toys and novelty | 2,000–5,000 pcs | $0.30–2 | EN 71 or ASTM, plus liquid composition data |
| Light-up and sound | 1,000–3,000 pcs | $1–6 | EN 71, ASTM, battery safety |
| Ride-ons and kids’ vehicles | Higher — tooling is expensive | Varies | EN 71, ASTM, stability and load tests |
Two things in that table matter more than the numbers.
MOQ is per model or per design, not per order. One factory may want 1,000 units of a single RC car. But it will often accept 300 each of four colours, because the tooling and the line are the same. Ask what you can mix. Our baby toy wholesale price guide shows how the same rule plays out on smaller items.
FOB is not your cost. A $5 FOB toy lands closer to $5.85. That is freight, insurance at about 0.3% of cargo value, duty and clearance. Port handling and inspection fees come on top. Plush, inflatables and ride-ons are worse: they are light and bulky, so freight is charged on volume, not weight. Always get the FOB price with carton size and gross weight in writing. Otherwise you will compare two offers that were never measuring the same thing.
On certificates, ask one question before you ask the price: which test reports do you already hold, for which market? Here is the short version. The EU wants EN 71 plus CE and a Declaration of Conformity, with REACH on top. The US wants ASTM F963, CPSIA compliance and a CPC. That CPC is issued by you, the importer, backed by a report from a CPSC-accepted lab. Our guide to toy testing labs and the EN 71 / ASTM standards goes through what each report actually covers.
5. Is the Canton Fair the Right Place for Your Toy Order?
Honestly: it depends on what kind of order you have. The Canton Fair is strong at some things and weak at others.
| Canton Fair Phase 3 | Chenghai (Shantou) | Hong Kong Toys & Games Fair | Yiwu market | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Five-day fair, 800+ toy and baby exhibitors | Factory town, 64,000+ toy businesses | Four-day international fair | Permanent market |
| When | 31 Oct – 4 Nov 2026 | All year; big fair 29 Oct – 1 Nov 2026 | 11–14 Jan 2027 | Open almost all year |
| Who is at the booth | Exporters, factories and some traders | Mostly factories | Mix of Asian suppliers | Mostly trading companies |
| Best for | Comparing many suppliers fast, mixed containers | OEM, tooling, custom work, factory visits | Seeing the widest range in one room | Small mixed orders, low minimums |
| Weak at | Custom tooling takes longer to arrange | English is thinner, needs a guide | Prices include an extra layer | Most booths are not factories |
The short version: the Canton Fair is the best place in China to compare a lot of toy suppliers in a short time. You see the product, you meet the export manager, and you leave with a shortlist you could not build from a screen.
It is weaker if your product needs new tooling. Custom moulds, your own character, a changed material — that conversation is better had at the factory, where the engineers are. That is why the next section matters.
It is also weaker for tiny orders. If you want 200 pieces across thirty items, go to Yiwu instead. Our China toy wholesale market guide covers where that works better, and our 2025 update has current prices by district. Our comparison of Alibaba against buying direct from toy factories explains where each route saves money.
Want to skip the middle layer? Our page on buying premium toys wholesale from China starts from the factory side. So does our China toy supplier directory.
6. The October 2026 Calendar: How to Add the Factory Floor
This is the part most buyers miss, and it is the part that turns a fair visit into a sourcing trip.
Look at the dates again. Phase 2 ends on 27 October. The halls shut from 28 to 30 October. Phase 3 opens on 31 October. Most buyers treat that gap as dead time and sit in a hotel.
But the 25th Shantou Chenghai International Toy and Gifts Fair runs 29 October to 1 November 2026. That lands right inside the gap, and it overlaps the first two days of Phase 3. We have covered this fair before, in our notes on the Chenghai Shantou toy and gift fair and our China toy fair round-up.
That matters because Chenghai is where much of what you will see in Guangzhou is actually made.
Chenghai is a district of under 400 km² that produces more than half of China’s plastic toys and roughly a third of the world’s. It holds around 64,000 toy businesses, about 300,000 workers, and a full-chain industry worth over ¥50 billion. New products come out at more than 1,000 a day. The listed names — Aofei, Rastar, Shifeng — all sit there. The 2026 fair is set for 100,000 m², 11 halls and over 2,500 brands. It is also the first UFI-approved trade fair in the Chaoshan region.
Guangzhou to Shantou is about two to three hours by high-speed rail, or a short flight to Jieyang Chaoshan Airport.
So here are two routes that work.
Route 1 — factory first, fair second. Finish Phase 2 on 27 October. Travel to Shantou on the 28th. Spend 29 and 30 October at the Chenghai fair and in factory showrooms. Come back to Guangzhou on the evening of the 30th and walk the toy halls from 31 October with a list you already trust. This is the stronger of the two, because you arrive in Area D knowing what things should cost.
Route 2 — fair first, factory after. Do Phase 3 from 31 October to 4 November. Shortlist on the floor. Then spend 5 to 7 November in Shantou and Dongguan, visiting the factories that survived. Better if you are still deciding what to buy.
If your team has two people, split them: one in Guangzhou, one in Chenghai, comparing notes each evening.
October is crowded for a reason. The same month also holds CTE China Toy Expo in Shanghai (21–23 October) and Yiwu Fair (21–24 October). MEGA SHOW runs in Hong Kong on 20–23 and 27–29 October. Yiwu is worth a day if your orders are small and mixed — see our guide to buying from the Yiwu market. Then in January comes the Hong Kong Toys & Games Fair (11–14 January 2027). It is the widest international range in Asia: 1,815 exhibitors and 41,215 buyers from 121 countries at the 2026 edition.
Our own team works out of Shantou as well as Yiwu, so we walk Chenghai whether or not a fair is running. If the dates do not work for you, the factories are still there in November. And if Yiwu is on your list too, start with our questions and answers about the Yiwu market.
7. How Do You Get In? Badge, Invitation Letter and Visa
The overseas buyer badge is free. New badges, replacements and changes are all free, and the organiser has never authorised any agency to sell them. If someone offers you a badge for a fee, walk away.
Pre-registration for the 140th Canton Fair is open all year for the first time. Register on the official site or in the Canton Fair app:
- Returning buyers log in, confirm your details, and you are done.
- First-time buyers register, fill in the questionnaire, and apply for the badge and the invitation letter in the same flow.
The invitation letter is generated automatically once you submit. You can download it and print it. You need it for a business visa, so apply early rather than a week before you fly.
You can collect your badge at several places, which saves you the queue at the hall:
1. Baiyun Airport — a remote desk opened in Terminal 3 international arrivals 2. Guangzhou South Railway Station 3. Pazhou Hong Kong-Macau Passenger Port 4. About 60 designated hotels across Guangzhou 5. The Canton Fair’s Hong Kong office 6. At the venue, in Area D
Bring your passport and a business card. You need the card to register, so carry more than you think you need — you will hand out dozens at the booths.
More detail on timing, hotels and transport is in our Canton Fair guide and our Canton Fair overview.
8. How Do You Work Five Days in the Toy Halls?
Before you fly. Write the list. Not “some plush” — the item, the material, the size, your target FOB, the certificates your market needs, and how many you would really order. Factories quote faster and more accurately against a spec sheet than against a photo. Then export the exhibitor list from the app, and sort it by hall, floor and aisle. If this is your first import, our case study on importing toys from China with zero experience walks the whole path from sample to shipment.
Day 1 and 2 — walk, do not negotiate. Cover all three halls without stopping to talk numbers. Photograph the booth number, not just the product. Notice which booths are busy: a crowded stand usually means an exporter with live orders, which tells you something about whether they can ship.
Day 3 and 4 — go deep. Visit your shortlist and ask the four questions that decide everything:
1. Where is this made? A factory names the town and invites you to visit. A trader talks about the factory in the abstract. 2. What is the MOQ, and what can I mix across colours or models? 3. What is the FOB price including carton size and gross weight? 4. Can I see a pre-production sample?
Ask for the catalogues, the price list and a sample. Most factories charge for samples and will refund the fee against your first order — ask, it is normal.
Day 5 — terms. MOQ, lead time, payment, and which port the FOB price refers to. Standard practice is 30% deposit and 70% against the bill of lading copy; some factories take 20% for a first order. Ask whether the quoted price includes the compliance test reports. A supplier who says yes has already spent money on the market you sell into.
The week after the fair decides what the fair was worth. Follow up while the conversation is fresh. Compare what different exhibitors quoted for the same thing. And move every promise made at the booth into writing — a WeChat voice message is not a specification. Ask for the company’s registration number, a pro forma invoice, and a sample before you commit to any quantity.
Then give yourself one more day for a factory visit. The Pearl River Delta is dense — Dongguan, Foshan, Shenzhen are all within reach — and Shantou is a train ride away. A supplier who will not let you see where the goods are made has told you what you needed to know.
If you cannot staff that last step, it is what a China sourcing agent is for. Our sourcing agent guide explains what they do and what they should charge. Typical commission runs 3% to 10% of order value, and go with one who is paid by you, not by the factory.
9. What Do Toy Buyers Get Wrong?
Coming in the wrong phase. Toys are Phase 3. Phase 2 has gifts and premiums, not toys.
Walking the wrong area. Toys are in Area D. Area A is clothing.
Treating the booth sample as the product. The sample on the table was made carefully. The ten-thousandth unit may not be. Ask for a pre-production sample and look at it in daylight, not under booth lighting.
Assuming every exhibitor owns a factory. Ask where it is made, what they make in house, and who owns the moulds. A factory answers in specifics — fabric weight, stitch count, tooling. A trader answers in generalities. That said, a trader is not automatically bad: for a small test order across several makers, a good trader is faster and more flexible. Use a trader to test, move to the factory once the item sells.
Accepting a certificate without checking it. Ask for the certificate number and check it with the issuing lab. Borrowed certificates are common.
Ignoring phthalates and small parts. Toys are among the most heavily regulated products you can import. Soft PVC often uses phthalates to make hard plastic flexible, and they are banned in children’s products in the US and EU. For anything aimed at children under three, any part that fits inside a small parts cylinder fails. So eyes, wheels and buttons should be moulded in, not glued on. Importing toys without a valid report is how containers get seized and destroyed.
Copying branded designs. The fair runs an IP complaint desk. Do not photograph a licensed character and ask for “the same with my logo”. Your own customs will stop it too.
Buying on volume alone. Plush and inflatables are cheap per unit and expensive per cubic metre. Get the dimensional weight.
Underestimating how long development takes. A product you like at a booth is a starting point, not a finished line. Tooling, artwork, packaging and testing all add weeks. Our notes on toy product development set out the realistic timeline. Our creative toys wholesale page shows how much of a design you can change without new tooling.
10. Frequently Asked Questions
When is the Canton Fair toy section in 2026?
31 October to 4 November 2026, in Phase 3. Halls open 9:30 to 18:00 daily. The spring session usually puts Phase 3 in early May — check the official site for the next edition.
Which hall are toys at the Canton Fair?
Area D, halls 17.1, 18.1 and 19.1. Baby and maternity products are in hall 20.1, and cases and bags are on the floor below in 17.2 to 20.2. The buyer registration office is also in Area D.
How many toy exhibitors are at the Canton Fair?
More than 800 exhibitors across toys and baby products at the last edition. That is small enough to cover properly in two days, which is not true of the fair as a whole.
Is the Canton Fair good for toy sourcing?
Yes, if you want to compare many suppliers fast. It is less good for custom tooling, which is better handled at the factory in Chenghai or Dongguan.
What is the MOQ for toys at the Canton Fair?
It depends on the category. Plush runs 500–1,000 pieces per design. RC and electric sit around 1,000 per model. Wooden educational is 500–2,000 sets, and bubble or novelty items 2,000–5,000. Ask what you can mix across colours, because that often brings the number down.
Do I need a buyer badge, and is it free?
Yes, and it is free for overseas buyers. Pre-register on the official site or app. Then collect your badge at the airport, the railway station, a designated hotel, the Hong Kong office, or the venue in Area D. Bring your passport and a business card.
How do I get an invitation letter for the Canton Fair?
Apply during pre-registration and the system generates it automatically. You can download and print it. You need it for a business visa, so apply well before you fly.
What certifications do Canton Fair toy suppliers have?
For the EU, EN 71 with CE and a Declaration of Conformity, plus REACH. For the US, ASTM F963, CPSIA compliance and a CPC backed by a CPSC-accepted lab report. Anything with electronics adds EMC, wireless and battery transport approvals. Ask which reports the supplier already holds before you ask the price.
Can I visit toy factories during the Canton Fair?
Not during show hours, but the three-day changeover between phases is the best window you will get. The 2026 gap runs 28 to 30 October. The Chenghai toy fair runs 29 October to 1 November, a two-to-three-hour train ride from Guangzhou.
What is the difference between the Canton Fair and the Chenghai Toy Fair?
The Canton Fair is where you compare suppliers; Chenghai is where the toys are made. Chenghai is a factory town with around 64,000 toy businesses and roughly a third of the world’s plastic toys. Go to Chenghai for OEM, tooling and custom work; go to Guangzhou to shortlist.
Should I go to the Canton Fair or the Hong Kong Toys and Games Fair?
They do different jobs. Hong Kong (11–14 January 2027) has the widest international range — 1,815 exhibitors and 41,215 buyers from 121 countries at the 2026 edition. The Canton Fair puts you in front of more Chinese factories at lower prices. Many buyers use Hong Kong in January to spot trends and Guangzhou in October to place orders.
Can I put my own brand and packaging on the toys?
Yes. Logo printing and custom packaging are widely available, usually with a higher minimum than plain stock. Changing the mould, the material or the shape is a bigger project and is better quoted at the factory. See our guide to custom toy packaging and our custom plush toy manufacturing page.
How do I tell a factory from a trading company?
Ask where the goods are made, what they make in house, and who owns the moulds. A factory answers with a town, a process and specifics about materials. A trader stays general. Then ask for a live video of the production line — a real factory will show it immediately.
How many days do I need for the toy halls?
Two days covers the toy halls properly. Add a day for follow-up meetings and one or two days for factory visits. With the Chenghai trip, plan on six to eight days.
Can I mix toys from several suppliers into one container?
Yes, and that is what most toy importers do. Your freight forwarder consolidates across suppliers. Just make sure every supplier quotes on the same basis: FOB, same port, carton dimensions included. Otherwise you will compare prices that were never measuring the same thing.
Do I need a sourcing agent at the Canton Fair?
Not required, but an agent earns their fee when you are consolidating across many suppliers, running inspections, or do not speak Chinese. Commission is typically 3% to 10% of order value. Use one who is paid by you, not by the factory.
Wrapping Up
Canton Fair toys come down to three facts. Toys are Phase 3, 31 October to 4 November 2026. They sit in Area D, halls 17.1 to 19.1. And more than 800 exhibitors fit in there, which is enough to build a serious shortlist and small enough that you can actually do it.
The buyers who get value from this fair are the ones who treat it as half a trip. The halls tell you who can supply; the factory floor tells you what it should cost. October 2026 hands you both for the price of one ticket. The halls shut for three days from 28 October. The Chenghai toy fair runs straight through that gap, two to three hours away by train.
If you take one habit from this guide, make it this one. Ask where it is made, and ask for the certificate number before you ask the price. Those two questions cost you nothing at a booth and save you a container.
We work out of Yiwu and Shantou year-round, which means we walk Chenghai and the Guangzhou halls whether or not a fair is on. Send us your product list and your target prices. We will turn them into a hall-by-hall route with booth numbers before you book your flight. And if you would rather not travel, we can walk the same aisles on a video call, so you see the product on the stand in real time. Leave a comment or send us your list, and we will put a plan together for you.
