The National Retail Federation’s latest report confirms that Hello Kitty is at the top of the list for favorite characters when parents are doing back-to-school shopping for their children in grades K-12. Duh! Tell us something us Hello Kitty Lovers don’t already know! Tee hee hee! Just teasing, National Retail Federation! Great report! We love it when Kitty gets good press!

For the first time this year, NRF asked parents of K-12 students if they had purchased or were planning to purchase character-themed merchandise for back to school. Nearly half of parents (43.4%) said they would purchase at least one character item, with Disney’s CARS and Star Wars taking the top slots for boys and Dora the Explorer and Hello Kitty at the top of the list for girls.