In early September, Kmart aired the first commercial for the holiday. Much to everyone’s surprise, this commercial aired right at the beginning of the fall TV season and the start of the NFL season as well. Normally, the first Christmas commercial start airing after Halloween, but this Kmart commercial aired towards the end of summer.

Kmart released a “Top 15” must-buy toy list for the 2013 holiday season.  They call it their “Fab 15” list and on top of unveiling the hottest toys of the season, they implore Kmart shoppers to “pay it forward” and donate these toys to charity.

Here’s the Kmart Fab 15 ultimate list. It includes standards like Hot Wheels, LEGO, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Elmo.

-Playskool Sesame Street Big Hugs Elmo by Hasbro®

-Disney Doc McStuffins Get Better Check-Up Center by Just Play

-LEGO® Eglor's Twin Bike

-Flutterbye Fairy by Spin Master(TM)

-Furby Boom by Hasbro®

-Holiday Auburn Barbie(TM) 2013 Doll by Mattel® (Kmart exclusive)

-Hot Wheels® Car Maker by Mattel®

-Lalaloopsy(TM) Loopy Hair Doll by MGA Entertainment

-LeapFrog LeapPad(TM) Ultra

-Monster High® 13 Wishes(TM) Party Doll by Mattel®

-Disney Planes Pilot Pals(TM) Dusty Crophopper Remote Control Plane by Mattel®

-NERF® Rebelle Heartbreaker Bow

-Fisher-Price® Imaginext Rescue City Center

-Disney Sofia the First Transforming Dress & Trunk by Jakks Pacific® (Kmart exclusive)

-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles® Shellraiser by Playmates Toys, Inc.

To further promote this list, Kmart has their webpage dedicated to viewing and ordering these toys online: www.kmart.com/fab15 -- You can purchase these toys via desktop or mobile. There’s another feature on this site where the user can see which local Kmart may have the toy in stock.

Kmart is using social media as well. To promote the “Fab 15”, they staged a Twitter party, inviting Kmart followers to tweet #KmartFab15 in a span of an hour. Lucky Tweeters won prizes and toys from the “Fab 15” list from Kmart.

Is it too early to already start shopping for Christmas? Nowadays, it’s never too early. Kmart is kicking off the season early and they are using social media to their advantage. This list is already making waves and most of all, giving the shoppers an idea of what to buy.

Image credit: Fan of Retail of Flickr