Webkinz, the Newest Thing

What do you get when you cross a tomagotchi pet with a beanie baby? The answer is a WebKinz. WebKinz' are the newest sensation to be hitting the scene Recently, I asked a niece what she wanted for her birthday the answer was for a dog Webkinz I had no idea what she was talking about, shortly after that I was on eBay and there they were on the front page advertising they had new and retired WebKinz up for auction. I went to Pat Catans, the local craft store and they had a huge sign saying we have WebKinz.

What exactly is the WebKinz? According to the website http://www.webkinz.com:
"Webkinz pets are lovable plush pets that each come with a unique Secret Code. With it, you enter Webkinz World where you care for your virtual pet, answer trivia, earn KinzCash, and play the best kids games on the net"

Once you get one, what do you do with them? According to the Webkinz site:

" First, you adopt your pet and name it. Then you can custom design a room for it. You can play games in the Arcade, or compete against other players in tournaments. You can answer quizzes in Quizzy's Question Corner and enter contests, too. All of these things earn you KinzCash, which you can use to go shopping for your pet in our W Shop, where you can buy toys, furniture and clothes. There are stories to read and fun daily activities. The best part is that we add things to Webkinz World frequently, so it's always getting bigger and better."

For Collectors, The pets without a 'W' on them are part of the first generation of Webkinz pets! We now put the letter 'W' on every Webkinz pet's paw, so if you see a pet without a W, you know it is a first generation Webkinz pet.

How did they even start?
Webkinz World began on April 28, 2005. GANZ Inc. who is the creator behind the Webkinz, has loved stuffed animals for a very long time. So the thought was thought, wouldn't it be great to have a place where your stuffed animal came to life so that you could care for it like a real pet? To make the pet more real, the decided it could be happy or sad, healthy or sick, hungry or full. Taking care of your pet matters

The stuffed animals are not just animated toys, they are also trading cards as I found out, so that opens up a whole different type of item for the collector's.