He Was Cute At First, But Before Too Long He Got Kind Of Annoying

Slacker Mommy laments pressure to possess the latest whatever:

"Snuggle-Kins Musical Moves Stroller is now in stock at Fisher-Price for the low price of $20 and $5.95 shipping!

One of last year's hot toys was this. It could be bought for nearly double the price on Ebay and now this year my Target couldn't seem to sell the one they had on their shelf until a week ago.

I find this whole auction phenomena quite intriguing. Fisher Price has a Snuggle-Kins Musical Stroller that is sold out everywhere but parents/grandparents are paying as much as $120 for this $20 stroller on Ebay. You heard me right. A $20 stroller that will probably fall apart before the credit card bill arrives. So who really wants this stroller? The parents or the toddler?"

I remember people standing in line and breaking bones over Cabbage Patch dolls and pink Power Rangers.  I even remember Wayne Walker.  My mother, Schpilkes, would have pummeled old ladies and Sunday School teachers to get her hands on the newest Beanie Babies, ostensibly for her precious grandchildren.  She still keeps her stash in a drawer, which the kids may look at and carefully arrange, but not otherwise touch, play with, sneeze on or for that matter think about, without her permission. 

I never participated in most of the looniness, not due to an elevated Scrooginess quotient, but primarily because the timing wasn't right -- I just didn't have access to appropriately aged children. 

About ten years ago, however, I worked with a resume client who marketed toys and games.  This guy really knew his stuff; in fact his father and uncle had been the founders of an extremely well-known toy company, so it was in his blood.  At the time my niece and two nephews were quite young; the baby was less than a year old.  I asked my client if he could recommend something for the third child of a family that had almost everything, and he told me about a toy that he thought was cute, called Tickle Me Elmo.

You can see where this is heading, can't you?

I found two TMEs tipped over on a high shelf at Target.  I bought one and put it away for then-toddler-nephew's birthday in November, 1996.

Then Rosie O'Donnell played with a Tickle Me Elmo on her show, and gave one to every audience member.  The rest was history. 

Had I bought  both Elmos that day I probably could have paid for a full year's college tuition for then-toddler-nephew.  Guess I should have taken my client's recommendation a bit more seriously.

Comments

[slackermommy]

Thanks for the shout out! Would you believe people are still buying that stroller for more than double its worth when it can be purchased from Fisher-Price for $20? I just don't get it.