The children have a new obsession – Webkinz. They heard about this new, exciting entertainment from some friends. It’s as if Beanie Babies married a computer programmer (a gamer, no less). You buy one of many adorable stuffed animals and with it (on it’s sacred tag) comes a code number. This number allows you to log on to the webkinz website and create a world for your pet. You play the games in order to earn money (realistic, I must say, that’s what we all know Tim is doing at work – playing games on his laptop). With the money you buy furnishings and other things for your pet. I’ll have to see if Daniel and Rachel will post a blog about their newfound fun.
I thought this sounded like a fun new game but didn’t give it much thought beyond that as we do not have ANY money in our budget these days for more stuffed animals (even if they do come with cool computer/web access). Lo and behold, we had visitors to our house and what were they hiding behind their backs? Not one but TWO Webkinz animals. One for Daniel and Rachel! Wow! What a huge gift! Thank you, Julee and girls. You are too kind.
So now Rachel and Daniel are extremely motivated to clean their rooms and do other chores as well as finish their school in record time, all in order to get time on the computer. Rachel told me, “I guess I won’t be a chip horder any more, Mom, with this fun game to play.” Joshua, who is NOT a stuffed animal lover and generally eschews these type of childish interests, has been seen helping Daniel with his pet for long periods of time. No doubt just doing a little consulting work on the side, I’m sure he isn’t really interested in the games. 
Anyone else in on this craze? I felt vaguely comforted when the women’s ministry’s director of our church came over yesterday and immediately recognized the Webkinz game page. “Oh, do you guys have Webkinz?” She then launched into a long description of one aspect of the game. No doubt, like Joshua, she’s just “helping” her kids play. Nice to see people being so considerate. Lol!
Kathy
NEVER heard of Webkinz! I guess being out of the country has its benefits… um, I mean drawbacks!
After an exhaustive study, our analysts indicate that chip hoarding has ended — we had nearly as many chips spent last week as were issued (short by a half-hour). Of course, Kathy (aka Chairwoman of the Fed) keeps talking about tightening the chip supply (scaling back to 3 hours a week instead of 3.5) — a proposal that has not been well-received by our equivalent of Wall Street.
For Daniel’s upcoming birthday, Joshua gave him a one-week certificate of unlimited play, such that Joshua will pay any computer time Daniel uses out of his (Joshua’s) extensive chip hoard. It is interesting to see how that plays out. Will Daniel restrain himself out of appreciation for the generosity of his brother, or will he manage to put Joshua in the chip poor house? Did Joshua know what he was getting into? Will Kathy let Daniel play computer games around the clock? Can Daniel find an unoccupied computer in these days of WebKinz frenzy? Burning questions, all.
Perhaps my reign of “Supreme chip hoarder” has come to an end. Though I don’t know who will succeed me. I think that what with Rachel playing as many chips as Mom will let her get away with, that she will not have too many at the end of the week. Who knows? I guess only time will tell.
Wow. Webkinz? This sounds like a high tech. toy. Kathy what a cool project. I was deleting some old emails and came across Mom and Dad’s costa rico blog and decided to see what else you guys are up to. I love seeing all the pictures of my nephews and nieces. Have a great spring.
This is a new one for me. Where do you get the little pets? This sounds like a lot of fun. I hope the kids will blog about it and share pictures of their new pets.
My mom was going to give our 3 year old something like that for Christmas, but then decided it would be too hard for him. It sounded fun though… going online to feed, water, etc.,
Hmm, I’ve never heard of them, but I already will guess they’ll be in my house soon. My kids enjoy Neopets and Millsberry quite a bit already . . .
The latest thing that I’ve noticed is Attacktix for the boys, but it’s been around for a while . . .
Second try at a comment. Nothing profound but I want to comment. LOL I’ve never heard of these toys but they sound much cleaner than a real pet….LOL
The bookstore where I work is right next to a toy store, and kids are always coming in very excited about their new Webkinz. My coworker’s 14yo. and 11yo. love theirs, too!
Cool, Webkinz sound like alot of fun. My cousin and I use Neopets sometimes, which sounds basically like the same thing but it is all web based.
Yes, Emma has 2 Webkinz and enjoys time making new rooms for them and buying things for them. I like a game that is on it like the old Frogger game. Remember that? Anyway, the craze is in MI as well. Have fun!!
Hayley and Colin, my middle two are anxiously awaiting webkinz which they bought with leftover Christmas money. We had to order online since we live in the boonies, they keep hoping they can start to play soon. They love club penguin, especially Hayley but think Webkinz will be much more fun since you get a real animal to play with while you play online. Hayley has ordered a panda and Colin a bullfrog.
Okay, HOW is it possible that all of you people knew about these cool Webkinz animals and didn’t share them with me??? My kids are so crazy about them. I don’t even want to think about how many HOURS of computer games were played while I was at the Women’s Retreat. Let’s just say those computer chips (equaling HOURS of play) were piling up by my desk. Sigh. While the moms are away, the dads do let the kids play. Ha!!
Liz – don’t worry, we can be certain Samuel is introduced to the world of Webkinz. Isn’t his birthday right around the corner?
Insert maniacal laughter here.
After all, what is family for?
Debbie – there was a sign on the billboard for the florist shop near our house saying, “We have Webkinz here!” Since I had no idea what Webkinz were, I didn’t really give it much thought. Ha! When a friend brought some home from FL for her girls, she looked up stores online. I think Hallmark was a big distributor. Of course, I had to tell her that the florist nearby was carrying them. She was totally surprised – had obviously ignored the sign as well, herself.
Cindy – I think these are much more fun for older kids. My 6 year old would love one but mainly enjoys watching the big kids play. I don’t think he would really understand/enjoy the process of building up the house and buying things.
Of course, what do I know, he plays all sorts of games that seem WAY too hard for him and does fine.
Anyway, it’s been a fun new game for the children. My dd (age 11) is CRAZY about animals and lives with a mother who is NOT so into them. She does have a guinea pig but longs to bring home more beloved creatures. She finds it very satisfying to play with online pets.
As De’Etta said, they are much cleaner when they stay in the cyber world.
Hi, Kath–We are definitely into Webkinz. Not me, but you know, everyone else. Abby got one accidentally when she was allowed to pick out a toy and just discovered that it had a website connected. So, everyone else has been helping with her pet for a long time, and they were all thrilled to get a Webkinz in their Easter baskets last week. And of course, our neighbors are now into them, too. And they all try to connect online. Dave often sneaks on, too, after the kids are in bed. Crazy!!
Rach – No way! You too. My goodness. It seems everyone is into Webkinz these days. It is a fun concept, isn’t it. Do you let Abby connect with friends on the website? Rachel and Daniel go into each other’s rooms (when they play at the same time, on different computers) and were tickled to find out how to invite their friends from down the street to “come over to their house to play.” Who needs real friends when you have cyber ones. Ha!!!
My younger two both have “virtual” pets but we have never heard of Webkinz. I am going to have to check them out!