You don’t even need to be a parent to know that every holiday season crowns itself an “It” toy. You know the ones I’m talking about: these are the toys that have otherwise sensible and sane parents lining up patiently outside Target and Wal-Mart every morning for weeks on end during the months of October through December, the toys that have sparked brawls and eBay bidding wars in which desperate caregivers bid five to ten times the purchase price of the item in the hopes of making little Junior of Suzie the happiest kid on Christmas morning. Tickle Me Elmo, Furbys, and Cabbage Patch Kids have all held the title at some point during the last quarter-century. But the name of this year’s big ticket toy is one that you might have some trouble pronouncing, if you haven’t spent a lot of time watching kids’ TV programs lately: Zhu Zhu Pets. (That’s “zoo zoo,” by the way.)
These furry, tiny toy hamsters have captured the hearts and minds of the grade school set, and tracking down the Zhu Zhu toys has captured the wallets of parents. The hamsters sell for about eight dollars apiece, at least when you can actually find them on store shelves. Unlucky souls who keep running into signs apologizing for sell-outs may have to content themselves with spending as much as forty bucks apiece through resellers on Amazon, eBay, and Craigslist to obtain these coveted treasures. Parents of slightly older children who have already lived through the struggle of obtaining a hot toy at the risk of disappointing a little one will know the dilemma intimately, and may already have the credit card debt to prove it.
According to experts, another hot toy title this year will be the Bakugan line of action figures, which are tied into a card game. This is technically the second Christmas for Bakugan Battle Brawlers, but analysts say that the toys will be hotter than ever this retail season. Boys tend to favor the Bakugan game pieces, which are played with friends and introduce an element of strategy and combat into their play. On the other hand, the impossible-to-find Zhu Zhu pets tend to be much hotter with little girls. Parents who might be loathe to deal with the scratching, squeaking, and smelliness of a real rodent might be more than willing to track down a mechanical facsimile for their daughters, so everyone really wins out.
Parents struggling with credit card debt, or trying not to get in over their heads in trouble with spending on their plastic may have a tough time justifying the inflated costs of these popular toys if their kids have adamantly decided that these hot items are tops on their Christmas lists. Those households who have cultivated a belief in Santa Claus may face additional difficulties in this area, since small children cannot fully be convinced of the realities of store stockroom levels and holiday gift budgets.
As a parent myself, all I can say to you hardworking moms and dads out there is this: stay strong, and do not give in to the “gimme gimme” temptations of the holiday season. It makes no sense to shell out for cheap plastic toys that might not make it to Memorial Day when the debt they will leave in the wake of their robotic, scrambling feet will last much longer for sure.
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