December 21, 2009

Crazy Mom Spends 453 Dollars On Zhu Zhu Pets Hamsters

by Laura Robbinson

Every parent in the country has to be aware of the Zhu Zhu Pets hamsters (often pronounced as Zoo Zoo Pets hamsters and Zu Zu Pets hamsters) craziness that is currently sweeping over our kids and we seem to be constantly bombarded with the commercials everywhere we look. With my daughter’s 6th birthday in September, it didn’t take long before she knew exactly what she wanted for her birthday.

The Zhu Zhu Pet hamster commercials just seemed to get more and more frequent, to the point that we really couldn’t sit in front of the television for long without the adverts appearing and my daughter going into ‘please, please’ mode. Her best friend made matters worse by getting a Zhu Zhu pet hamster called Num Nums and a whole hamster house to go with it.

In a way, thanks to the well chosen timing of the Zhu Zhu commercials and my daughters friends moms ‘must have everything first for my daughter’ personality, the usual difficult process of deciding what present to buy had been made a lot easier. Hamster plus hamster habitat would come to much less than the 100 dollars that we tend to limit each present to, so I would have some money left over for some other things that she would like.

My daughter’s birthday was only a matter of days away, but not a problem with my trusty Walmart and Toy r Us around the corner. I popped down to them to pick the hamsters and accessories up, but they had already run out of stock. I hit the streets driving from one store to another around town, but it was the same story everywhere…sold out. My daughter’s birthday was in a few days and it was looking like I had left it a little late.

Back home and I hit the parent’s haven for all things kids related…the internet. They say that the internet is the largest shopping place in the world and sells everything and usually cheaper than the stores…THEY obviously never tried to buy a Mr Squiggles! All my favorite online stores had basically sold out, but there was stock available from people that had bought up the limited Zhu Zhu Pets hamsters and hamster accessories and were selling them at, what I would call, outrageously stupid prices. No way. Not me. Not again. Mr Squiggles and his hamster house will just have to wait.

As any parent could tell you, when your child has been absorbed in the latest toy craze, all other toys in the world just seem soooo boring, especially when their best friend keeps asking her why she hasn’t got a Zhu Zhu pet hamster as yet…thanks. I should have known better, but I lost a valuable couple of days convinced that she would come up with another toy that she must have…but no it was a Zhu Zhu hamster or nothing!

Early the next morning I tried phoning all of the stores that I knew of that may have a supply of the Zhu Zhu hamsters, but all of them had already sold out as soon as they got in new stock. I started to phone stores outside of the immediate area and was thrilled when a store had a Mr Squiggles and Pipsqueak that they would hold for me till I got there. The store was 43 miles away. What we do for our kids! Traffic jams and getting lost didn’t help, but by the time that I got to the store, they thought that I wasn’t coming and had sold them to another customer. I was less than happy, let me say and I let them know exactly what I thought.

Back home and back to the internet. In hindsight, a crazed, angry, tired mother, in hamster desperation with a three day birthday deadline rapidly approaching, husband’s credit card in hand, is perhaps not the ideal shopping scenario from a budget and practical perspective. The result…one Mr Squiggles Zhu Zhu hamster (37.99), one Chunk hamster (35.71), one Zhu Zhu hamster Funhouse (128.91), one hamster car and garage set (99.95), one hamster carrier, bed and blanket set (in pink of course) (59.99) and one healthy hamster exercise wheel (36.25). Grand total…398.80, plus estimated gas and phone = 453.00!

My daughter’s joy on her birthday was priceless and she loves her Zhu Zhu hamster toys (I should hope so as well). My husband’s face was also priceless, but for less joyous credit card bill reasons. My older eight year old daughter has now caught the Zhu Zhu Pet hamsters bug and she is already dropping hints for Christmas. Not again, not me…OK probably, but prices have come down, there’s still a couple of months till Christmas and I certainly won’t be leaving it till the usual supply shortage and price hikes in the final weeks before Christmas.

About the Author:

Visit Zhu Zhu Hamsters for some great price deals on these toy hamsters and accessories as well as detailed information, parent reviews and hamster action videos. Original article source published under: Zhu Zhu Hamsters