Is it a collectible or a craze: The Beanie Baby Saga!

I could write a whole blog just about my experiences with Beanie Babies.  If you don't know what they are, they are a toy stuffed with bean-type pellets.  I first became engaged when my brother who was traveling started purchasing them for his young children.  I warned my sister not to buy one for her three young children but the toys were addicting.  For me, the hunt was the most fun.  At one point my brother had a Beanie store in tubs under his bed where his children could "purchase" a Beanie Baby for good behavior.

One of my most memorable experiences was a Memorial Day weekend in 1997 when McDonalds came out with their first Teenie Beanie Baby toy for happy meals.  They had a lot of different animals so we needed three sets for my brother's kids, three sets for my sister's kids, and I wanted a set.  That first year, each McDonalds started with the first Teenie Beanie Baby and sold it until they were out and moved on to the next one.  You had to buy a Happy Meal to get the Teenie Beanie Baby which resulted in a LOT of happy meals.  I was on my mobile phone (it was a BAG phone in my car) with my sister and brother coordinating our purchases.

However, the best day was the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.  My sister lived in the Kileen area of Texas and there were a lot of McDonalds.  We buckled the three kids in the back.  We spent the day driving to eight or nine McDonalds.  We would sometimes go in and get the happy meals and let the kids play in the recreation area.  We also went through drive-throughs.  The boys really only liked catchup on their burgers.  At one restaurant which was apparently trying for a quick pace, when we handed the Happy Meals to the boys to eat, one of them moaned "it has TWO hamburgers in the sack!".  I will say that after that day it was a long time before the boys wanted another happy meal!

In retrospect, how valuable were those Teenie Beanies or any of the Beanie Babies?  They were produced in mass quantities so their long term value is probably not very high.  During the craze period some people paid hundreds of dollars for a single Beanie Baby that they were interested in.  I got one of the first Princess Diana beanies in memory of Princess Diana.  I put it in a raffle auction for a non-profit and it earned $300 with people putting in $1 tickets.  I have more Beanie Baby stories I could share!