<p>I admit that while I smirk at Zhu Zhu Hamsters, I have in the past searched Seattle for a Mouse with a Bottle ( and finally found it), when my D was about six, I think it took me weeks or at least it felt like weeks to find it.</p>
<p>I am sure there are other toys that I felt I had to find to make my childs Christmas - but I need my memory jogged.</p>
<p>What sort of things do you remember feeling like you had to find?</p>
<p>Teddy Ruxpin?
Furby? ;)</p>
<p>Furby. Then it got on all our nerves (including the recipient who wanted it soo much) so much we took the batteries out.</p>
<p>oops can this be moved?
:o</p>
<p>What was the name of that calico cat Beanie Baby? That’s the one I searched for and ended up paying 10 bucks for at a swap meet - double the price! But it made DD’s Christmas that year, and she played with the cat until the filling started falling out of it.</p>
<p>In the height of the Power Ranger mania in our house, the White Ranger Tigerzord. After checking daily for new shipments at the local toy stores, by chance I found one hidden in the back of a different section of our Toys R Us. Probably someone had hidden it there so they could come back and get it another day, but I foiled their plan!</p>
<p>Nerf Bow and Arrow. One year I saw one mother put all of them from walmart in her cart and hobble to the front…she was selling them for profit above cost and you should have seen the other mom’s go after her! It was a scene!</p>
<p>A sat outside a Game Stop in the freezing cold all night long until 10:00 a.m. to get a Wii for my kids. That is what I resorted to after hunting for 4 weeks and stalking UPS delivery trucks going to the varoius Game Stops by us. I would literally sit outside the store til the UPS truck showed up and then follow the poor delivery guy into the store demanding to know what he had in his boxes. I think I had lost my mind looking back on it. LOL!</p>
<p>How about Cabbage Patch Kids and Tickle Me Elmo? I’m embarrassed to admit I also tracked down a Furby. That toy got really old really fast!</p>
<p>Beanie Babies here too! We tracked them everywhere and waited in line for hours! DD wanted the hard to find manatee because she loved manatees…my save the earth child from an early age. Ha! Just remembered he was called “Manny the manatee”!</p>
<p>Also Cabbage Patch Kids! My mom and I actually bought DD the same exact cabbage patch for Christmas separately without realizing it… and we did that sort of thing more than once.</p>
<p>My daughter would make the strangest requests…she wanted a stuffed “Goopy” (aka Goofy) that I searched all over for and a Flounder and then once it was a stuffed flamingo. I always felt like I was on a scavenger hunt.</p>
<p>D1 wanted a polar bear at age 3. Found one at the local toy store (whew!). D2 announced at 3 that she wanted a wood duck for Christmas. And that was all. Nothing else would do. Fortunately the internet existed then, and I was able to track a large stuffed wood duck down.</p>
<p>Thankfully we seemed to miss most of the “had to get it toys”. The only thing I remember looking for was a Wii two years ago. Waited in line at Target for about a half hour. That’s all.</p>
<p>The only thing we wanted that everyone wanted was a Wii. I think we just waited for mathson’s birthday - by then they weren’t nearly so hard to find.</p>
<p>Nothing remotely close to this experience. </p>
<p>The kids just never watched much TV, never wanted the latest anything (still like this-- in fact if they found out something was ‘in’ it would turn them off the object of desire), Just as well, too, as we’d not have spent much time looking for it!</p>
<p>Searched the earth for a Little Tykes workshop around the year of 1992 or so. Never found one as it must have been popular for 3-4 year olds (?), maybe a little younger. Instead, had to settle for the Little Tykes kitchen!</p>
<p>Beanie babies, the Furby and the Nintendo Wii.</p>
<p>I don’t think television had necessarily a lot to do with what kids thought were " their hearts desire", mine were in preschool ( not at the same time, they are 8 years apart), and for a few years in there we didn’t have a Tv.
But just like names seem to go in spurts ( my older daughters name starts with a J, as do many of her friends around the same age), I think there is some sort of osmosis with toys that will “prove” that there is or isn’t a Santa, or just sound appealing- so that many kids are talking about the same thing.</p>
<p>The mouse with a bottle for instance, was this little toy mechanical mouse- anthromorphized a bit- it was pink and white, and it could " suck" aided by a small bottle that contained two batteries. D had seen it at a store like in * August* and at Christmas decided that was the thing she really, really wanted.</p>
<p>Playmobile was also a big attraction, D was entranced by pioneers, and we found her a covered wagon set.
Younger D received a little tykes mini van- that was similar to the van I drove- they were both blue and had a sunroof ( although mine didn’t have a phone)
She really loved that thing, and actually we still have it!</p>
<p>Ninja Turtles, especially the actual turtles one year, and the Turtle Van another. Nintendo64. </p>
<p>They didn’t have to have these things, but at each of those times, I felt like I really needed to give it a whirl. Luckily D, at the prime age for Cabbage Patch Dolls, wouldn’t have touched one with a ten foot pole, as we had neither the time or the money to find one then.</p>
<p>Edit: agree with EK. For us, it wasn’t TV as much as pre-school and other kids.</p>
<p>Literally searched the world for a Lego Airport set, circa 1990’s. Found a guy in The Netherlands willing to sell one, but we had to send cash ($127) to him and just trust him. Sure… But he came through, and the set was a big success!</p>
<p>Oh - ages ago I had my husband stand in line at Target @ 4:00 in the morning to get one of 3 tickets for a N64. He got one, and we were one of the first ones to actually get one the first Christmas they came out. They put paper bags over it and escorted me to my car to hide it when I went to pick it up. Now that was crazy looking back! What in the world was I thinking?</p>
<p>However…my DS now has his ancient N64 at school! Apparently a lot of kids bring them to school. Who would have even guessed that. His roommate has an old PS2. So - this Christmas I am at stores asking if they sell any used N64 games LOL. The guys that work there laugh & ask “college student”?</p>
<p>DVC Daisy,LOL at N64. S1 graduated from college in May. When packing up to move from his college house, he asked S2, a college soph, if there was anything he wanted from the house. S2’s answer was “I want the N64. You’ve had it for four years”.
And so the ancient N64 completes college at one university and transfers for further studies at another.</p>
<p>We also spent lots of time searching for certain Lego sets,Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers. S1 was really into GI Joe and one year wanted some sort of GI Joe Command Center. We finally found it. The darn thing was huge. It took DH hours to put together on Christmas Eve.</p>