The current 'must have' toy for girls in America is this...........

[Earlybird]

Here's the advert blurb:

'Webkinz pets are lovable plush pets (soft toys) 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!'

If you can bear the dire music and voiceover, click on the 'take a tour' banner to get more information.

www.webkinz.com

Most every girl I've met here in the States in the 6-9 age range wants/has one of these - there's a bear, a dog, cat, unicorn, monkey, elephant, pig, etc. No idea if/when it will be available in the UK, but if demand crosses the Atlantic, be prepared for this to be one of the impossible-to-find Christmas toys.

sounds like an irresistable combination. dd1 has got a robot dog.

Thanks for the heads up earlybird. I can see why this has caught on. Well worth trying to get now ahead of the Christmas rush.

I'm not sure if they're available in Australia, although there are (positive) reviews for them in the Sydney Morning Herald. Hard to say if people are buying them on Ebay from the US or if Toys R US are stocking (very little online shopping here).

Aw they do look nice, can see them coming over here too. What price range are they out of curiosity?

You can buy them on ebay and amazon - about £10.

Oh yes, our friends in New York have these- the dad (a very eminent scientist) said he thought it was such a sweet innocuous idea, a free website, how lovely, and now spends half his waking hours on eBay trying to track down the latest Webkinz. He has twins with about 30 each so far... You have been warned.

Kind of a bit like fluffy tamagotchis

Anyway have just ordered one as I know dd will love it (think I might too)! Will be saving it for Xmas.

My Dd has a lion one. Had no idea they were so popular tbh. It was a gift and we still havent registered it yet!

It's a good thing I'm not there then.

Because that toy would do my nut.

One of dd's classmates was given this by her American grandparents. They arrived in London for a visit proudly bearing 2 of these toys, and were met with a blank stare.

Now that we've been in America for about 4 weeks, every girl that we meet that is in dd's age range either has one of these or wants one.

No idea how much they cost Kay. Sorry not to be more helpful.

Stripey - I thought the same thing about the similarity to a Tamagotchi, just more cuddly and interactive.

I was about to start a thread asking if anyone has one!

dd was drawn into it by her best friend and saved up her money for one. She absolutely loves it now but /sigh its such a money sucker cos there are trading cards to buy with codes on and now charms that allow you into another part of the site. Only we couldn't find a uk seller of the charms so now more pocket money has been spent and one is (hopefully) winging its way across the atlantic.

I suppose its better than spending the money on sweets

(and its quite good fun helping her earn kinzcash by secretly playing at night )

a friend's boy has aboaut 8 of these creatures - they're in Canada. I think he's about 8? Was told they are v v popular