It seems that Zhu Zhu Pets will be this Christmas season's hard to find must have toy.
What was your worst memory of searching and/or paying a ridiculous price for that one toy your kid just had to have.
My daughter wanted the My Little Pony Paradise Estates one year. I must have called every toy store in 3 states day after day after day. The stupid thing cost $100 and finally our local Toys R Us got a shipment a couple of days before Christmas. She played with that thing for years, though.
The only hot toy I ever remember searching high and low for was Power Rangers. Somehow people would hear when the shipment was coming and I would be right there with the other Moms when the store opened pushing my way through the crowd to get one. By the end of the Power Rangers craze my 2 boys had probably 100 of them. Funny how a month after Christmas every store has a huge supply of them.
Well my boys are only 6 so there haven't been too many crazy toy buying stories yet... The year before last (I believe) they really wanted that "Fisher price kid tough digital camera"... I couldn't find it anywhere - well I found ONE pink one at Toys R us. We didn't want to buy them the hot pink one so I did some searching online, and was able to find one on Amazon. I paid $50 more than the one at the store, and it BROKE. After maybe two weeks the stupid thing broke... My boys loved it, but I was not happy at all. They used it as a pretend camera for a while, but I would have gotten them a much cheaper camera if I knew it wasn't going to last.
Last year was pretty easy, but the year before we ordered the Step 2 "Grand Walk-in Kitchen" from 2 places (in October). One went out of stock and the other finally made it to use the week before Christmas (after no less than 30 phone calls and stern e-mails).
We were running around buying back-up toys just in case it didnt come.
Those Zhu Zhu pets are adorable though, I almost want one myself lol.
I was just looking on Ebay at those Zhu Zhu pets because that's what my DD wants...THEY ARE GOING FOR AROUND $50 FOR A $8 TOY! WOW That's rediculous!!! What people won't do for money. I'll just wait in line one night There's no way I'm paying $50 for an $8 toys That just blew me away what a big difference.
Quoting helloitsme:
I was just looking on Ebay at those Zhu Zhu pets because that's what my DD wants...THEY ARE GOING FOR AROUND $50 FOR A $8 TOY! WOW That's rediculous!!! What people won't do for money. I'll just wait in line one night There's no way I'm paying $50 for an $8 toys That just blew me away what a big difference.
I got lucky enough to find one of the fun houses for them, but now I cant find a darn hamster to save my life. Except for on E-bay or Amazon, like you said. Damn price gouging! Im with you mama, no way am I paying $50 for a $10 toy.
We got the Zhu Zhu pets in Oct. The girls were due for a reward (my older one brought her Language Arts grade up from 74 to 89 and my younger dd had 100s on everything!) so when we went to TRU shopping for my goddaughter's birthday, I told them they could each have one small toy. Lo and behold, there were Zhu Zhu pets! The store clerks were suprised they were still there. I bought each girl one, then my dh came in and bought two for our goddaughter plus the track. We paid the original price. I have to say they are really fun, but I think they are only worth the original price, maybe slightly more. Definitely not $50!!!
Somehow my friend who is a SAHM and always thinking of ways to earn a little extra money bought a couple cases of Zhu Zhu pets in early October. She is selling them for $25 last I heard and more than doubling her investment (comes in handy at the holidays!). She did the same thing with Furbys. She is always trying to figure out the year's must-have toy. She told me that she felt Zhu Zhu pets were manipulated into being this year's must-have. They had commercials all summer long but the shipments were delayed at the stores so demand was being generated and there was no supply to speak of, even back in September. She feels that the toy manufacturer knew exactly what they were doing to create this frenzy.
I don't do it. And in today's world, it takes a conscious effort NOT to do it, or to stop oneself from doing it. It goes deeper than wanting your child to have a toy you think he'd like, and becomes a lesson in values. If a toy is so "hot" that its price is being jacked up & we (supposedly the level-headed & mature adults) are running ourselves ragged trying to find it in order to please our child, I step back & take a long hard look at the situation and ask myself if these are the values I want to impart to my child. That his happiness can be "won" by jumping through hoops to purchase a material possession. After all that hoop jumping, am I going to be annoyed if the kid doesn't play with the darn toy after a week? Will it be worth the effort if that happens? Also, do I really think he'd like the toy or do I just want him to keep up with what's "cool" and be able to return to school saying he got one? Even if he truly would love one and play with it constantly, is it fair to ME to be manipulated by the retailers into jumping through those hoops? Perhaps my child would be better served by NOT getting one now, and buying it instead several months down the road when the frenzy has waned. Waiting for something is a valuable lesson that most people nowadays never learn in our society of instant gratification. And there is also a value in really wanting a certain gift and NOT getting it. Sometimes, imparting values is a gift in itself.
The last big fad I've seen was either those Elmo's from last yr and I clearly remember women beating eachother in the head over those darn Furbies.
Jen wife to Sam and mom to 3 boys Zachary, Daniel, and Jasper. Jasper is a CDH baby.
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on Nov. 24, 2009 at 5:44 AM