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webkinz

Moms, just say no to babysitting Webkinz

Now I have heard everything. On top of all the duties that moms are supposed to do, some are now babysitting their kids' Webkinz online pets while the children are away at summer camp.

In the world of overintensive parenting and martyred moms, can we all agree that spending a half hour to an hour a day caring for pretend critters is a good place to draw the line at ridiculous demands that are made of our time? (Of course there is no mention of dads being asked to take over this ridiculous "duty.")

Webkinz never die but … Read more

Webkinz.com: How much is that doggy in the virtual window?

Throw away those beanie babies; they are old news. There is a new sheriff in munchkin town.

Webkinz.com is a Web site children can join and interact in an online society while adopting a physical representation of the pet. The catch is that a Webkinz stuffed animal must be purchased first, followed by entering the "secret code" found on an attached tag. The cute plush toys have been quite popular, grossing over $45 million last year for Canadian gift company Ganz, the creators of Webkinz. Like its TY Beanie-Baby predecessor, Webkinz also has a high collection value, … Read more

$3,000 for a cuddly social-networking toy?

In the '80s, it was the Cabbage Patch doll. In the 1990s, Beanie Babies.

What better toy to rule the millennium age than with a social-networking stuffed animal? A relatively Web-savvy concept by gift company Ganz, these plushies hope to usher in elementary-level children into the Web 2.0 realm.

Webkinz--stuffed animals that also live virtually through avatars that interact with others in their own online world--have become increasingly popular since their introduction in 2005. Like Beanie Babies, certain they're available for a only limited time, then retired. On eBay, the retired Webkinz Cheeky Pet Dog and CatRead more