zhu zhu apocalypse - wth is up?

This is really my first year as a parent being focused enough on getting toys for Christmas to know/care what the "it" toy might be. But the kids, they seem to have had a spidey sense about what it was going to be. Like pigs sniffing out fine truffles, every time the commercial for zhu zhu pets would come on, they'd break out in a chorus of, "I WANT DAT!"



The zhu zhu pets are pretend hampsters, and they run around their own habitrail-type environments. They're supposedly smart about their environments. So I figured hey, that's kind of cool, let's get those for them, honey...

And then this week, hampster hell broke loose. It was the week we randomly decided to get the zhu zhus, and, it would seem, so did the rest of the human race. Last night, we ordered the set of 4 for about $80, including shipping. That seemed stupid expensive to me, but hey, we did it. I ran to the toy store at lunchtime to pick up a My Little Pony baby, and noticed this sign on the door:



Weird (bear with them, it seems they made this sign in a panic, in fear of their very lives). I guess I don't mind so much now that my husband snagged the set last night for the price he did. Then I get a text from him that the same set of 4 is now going for like $150...

WTH just happened? They're cute, but come on, they're not THAT amazing, are they? I'm hearing reports of people lining up for Toys R Us and Wal-Mart shipment trucks in the hopes of getting one. Word on this blog that Wal-Mart put a freeze on zhu zhu sales to ensure product in stock for their big weekend sale.

It's zhu zhu mania, the perfect storm of furry cuteness and engineered demand! Stay indoors, folks, this could get ugly like we haven't seen since the cabbage patch years.